Singer-Songwriter Roger Whittaker, 1936-2023

Roger Whittaker, a Nairobi, Kenya-born and raised British singer-songwriter and musician, died September 13, 2023 at the age of 87. A resident of southern France, where he and his wife Natalie had retired to in 2012, Whittaker was an internationally acclaimed artist whose career spanned six decades. His music was a mix of folk and easy listening-style pop songs, both original compositions and choice covers. [Click on the headline to continue reading this article and listen to a couple of Roger Whittaker's hit songs.]

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David Olney, Beloved Singer-Songwriter, 1948-2020

David Olney, a revered folk and Americana singer-songwriter, died after suffering an apparent heart attack on Saturday night, Jan. 18, while onstage at the 30A Songwriters Festival in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. During a musical career that spanned more than four decades, Olney, 71, recorded and released more than 20 albums and had his songs covered or co-written by such other notable artists as Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Laurie Lewis, Del McCoury, and Linda Ronstadt. [To continue reading this article and to view a few videos, click on the headline.]

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Read more about the article Remembering Rosalie Sorrels, 1933-2017

Remembering Rosalie Sorrels, 1933-2017

Rosalie Sorrels, an Idaho songbird who wrote heartfelt, expressive, often deeply personal songs of love and loss, loneliness, poverty and social injustice, and sung them in her fluid, mellifluous yet sometimes heartbreaking voice, passed away June 11 at the Reno, Nevada home of her daughter, where she had been living for the past several years. [To read an article about the much-admired singer-songwriter and storyteller, from which the above is excerpted, click on the headline.]

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Read more about the article Remembering Oscar Brand, 1920-2016

Remembering Oscar Brand, 1920-2016

Oscar Brand may well have been the first folksinger and songwriter who I saw perform live when I was a youngster. My parents brought me to see him at a local library on Long Island, NY, where Brand, who died of pneumonia Sept. 30 at age 96, also lived with his family. Over the years, I saw him perform in concert and at festivals and special events many times -- most recently at the opening reception for the “Folk City” exhibit at The Museum of the City of New York last year. [To continue reading this article, click on the headline.]

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Read more about the article Remembering Jean Ritchie, 1922-2015

Remembering Jean Ritchie, 1922-2015

Jean Ritchie, the Kentucky-born folksinger, songwriter and song collector who helped to popularize hundreds of traditional Appalachian ballads and spur the so-called folk revival of the mid-20th century in the U.S., died June 1, 2015 at her home in Berea, KY. Ritchie, 92, was surrounded by members of her family, who sang at her bedside during her last hours. [To continue reading this article, click on the headline.]

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Remembering Richie Havens, 1941-2013

I wasn’t at Max Yasgur’s Farm in 1969 when Richie Havens impressed throngs of people at the Woodstock festival. I was just a youngster then. But I did get to hear him up close and personal in the late 1970s at my alma mater, Huntington High School, in Huntington, New York. He was performing in the auditorium, along with Harry Chapin, at one of the late singer-songwriter’s many benefit concerts. Richie joined his fellow Brooklyn NY-born folksinger in heaven or wherever kindhearted gentle souls go, on April 22, after suffering a heart attack at home in Jersey City, New Jersey. He was 72. [To read the full article, click on the headline.]

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Jack Hardy, Singer-Songwriter and Fast Folk Founder, 1947-2011

Jack Hardy, a singer-songwriter who played a pivotal role in the New York folk/songwriting scene for several decades and influenced and inspired many other songwriters, died on March 11. His death at age 63 sent shockwaves through the folk community, with many posting short remembrances and tributes on Facebook -- the social networking platform. [To read the article in its entirety, click on the headline.]

Continue ReadingJack Hardy, Singer-Songwriter and Fast Folk Founder, 1947-2011