Pete Seeger(1919-2014)
- Composer
- Actor
- Music Department
Sixteen-year-old Pete Seeger enrolled at the Avon Old Farms School in
Connecticut and then decided to become a hermit. His life since then
has been one social cause after another, buoyed by an almost
indefatigable career as a self-described "sing-along leader."
During the 1930s he attended Harvard, from which his musicologist
father Charles Seeger (a member of the Industrial Workers of the World
and a conscientious objector during World War I) had graduated in 1908.
As an alternative to his major, Sociology (which he disliked), he
played tenor banjo (failing to make the Harvard Jazz Band) and
participated in the pacifist/communist Harvard Student Union so much
that he lost his scholarship, leaving Harvard in 1938. In 1939
actor/folksinger 'Will
Geer' organized the
"All-American Left-Wing Folk-Song Revival Movement," a benefit concert
for migrant workers in California. It was there that Pete met
Woody Guthrie and began touring with him.
In 1940 Seeger started the Almanac Singers with
Lee Hays, Pete Hawes and
Millard Lampell; during his tours with
this pro-union, anti-war group the FBI began a file on him. The group
broke up at the start of World War II (Seeger enlisted in the army;
Guthrie entered the Merchant Marine). After the war he started People's
Songs (later Sing Out!), and in 1949 formed a new group,
The Weavers, with Lee Hays,
Fred Hellerman and Ronnie Gilbert'.
For years he had trouble with the House UnAmerican Activities Committee
and was, effectively, blacklisted. He recorded dozens of albums
(Columbia, Folkways) and wrote thousands of songs, among which are
"Where Have All the Flowers Gone," "If I Had a Hammer," and "Turn,
Turn, Turn" (which in the 1960s became a huge hit for
The Byrds). He helped start the Greenwich
Village music magazine Broadside in the 1960s and reorganized the
Newport Folk Festival. In 1996 the North American Folk Music and Dance
Alliance awarded him its first Lifetime Achievement Award. He helped
start Clearwater, an organization which sails a 106-foot boat along the
Hudson River to show children the dangers of pollution.
Connecticut and then decided to become a hermit. His life since then
has been one social cause after another, buoyed by an almost
indefatigable career as a self-described "sing-along leader."
During the 1930s he attended Harvard, from which his musicologist
father Charles Seeger (a member of the Industrial Workers of the World
and a conscientious objector during World War I) had graduated in 1908.
As an alternative to his major, Sociology (which he disliked), he
played tenor banjo (failing to make the Harvard Jazz Band) and
participated in the pacifist/communist Harvard Student Union so much
that he lost his scholarship, leaving Harvard in 1938. In 1939
actor/folksinger 'Will
Geer' organized the
"All-American Left-Wing Folk-Song Revival Movement," a benefit concert
for migrant workers in California. It was there that Pete met
Woody Guthrie and began touring with him.
In 1940 Seeger started the Almanac Singers with
Lee Hays, Pete Hawes and
Millard Lampell; during his tours with
this pro-union, anti-war group the FBI began a file on him. The group
broke up at the start of World War II (Seeger enlisted in the army;
Guthrie entered the Merchant Marine). After the war he started People's
Songs (later Sing Out!), and in 1949 formed a new group,
The Weavers, with Lee Hays,
Fred Hellerman and Ronnie Gilbert'.
For years he had trouble with the House UnAmerican Activities Committee
and was, effectively, blacklisted. He recorded dozens of albums
(Columbia, Folkways) and wrote thousands of songs, among which are
"Where Have All the Flowers Gone," "If I Had a Hammer," and "Turn,
Turn, Turn" (which in the 1960s became a huge hit for
The Byrds). He helped start the Greenwich
Village music magazine Broadside in the 1960s and reorganized the
Newport Folk Festival. In 1996 the North American Folk Music and Dance
Alliance awarded him its first Lifetime Achievement Award. He helped
start Clearwater, an organization which sails a 106-foot boat along the
Hudson River to show children the dangers of pollution.