Pete Seeger, the man considered to
be one of the pioneers of contemporary folk music who inspired legions of
activist singer-songwriters died Monday. He was 94.
Seeger's best known songs include
"Where Have All the Flowers Gone," "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To
Everything There Is a Season)" and "If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer
Song)."
But his influence extended far
beyond individual hits.
His grandson Kitama Cahill Jackson
told CNN that the singer died of natural causes at New York Presbyterian
Hospital on Monday evening.
Familiar
with controversy
In a career spanning more than 70
years, Seeger frequently courted controversy.
"He lived at a time when so
many things hadn't been done yet, the idea of making music about something
hadn't really been done," Jackson said. "And now people do it all the
time."
Seeger's opinions didn't always sit
well with authorities.
"From the start, he aspired to
use folk music to promote his left-wing political views, and in times of
national turmoil that brought him into direct confrontation with the U.S.
government, corporate interests, and people who did not share his
beliefs," William Ruhlmann wrote in a biography on allmusic.com. "These conflicts
shaped his career."
Early career
In 2009, Seeger talked to CNN about
the beginnings of his music career in the late 1930s.
"I come from a family of
teachers, and I was looking for a job on a newspaper and not getting one,"
he said in the interview. "I had an aunt who said,
'Peter, I can get five dollars for you if you come and sing some of your songs
in my class.' Five dollars? In 1939, you would have to work all day or two days
to make five dollars. It seemed like stealing."
But Seeger said he took his aunt up
on the offer.
"Pretty soon I was playing
school after school, and I never did work on a newspaper," he said
"You don't have to play at nightclubs, you don't have to play on TV, just
go from college to college to college, and the kids will sing along with
you."
Last days
Jackson, Seeger's grandson, said the
singer-songwriter had heart surgery in December to replace a valve, which had
gone well and had nothing to do with his death.
He said Seeger was in the hospital
for six days before his death.
He couldn't speak for the last three
days, Jackson said, but his mind never went away and he continued to recognize
people.
"He was a second father to me,
he was a friend, he was a best friend," Jackson said. "He was just
this wonderful, genuine person."
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