Singer, songwriter, and civil rights activist Odetta was a pivotal figure in the ‘50s and ‘60s folk era. Born Odetta Holmes, the vocalist got her start as a teenager singing opera. She began releasing folk albums in the ‘50s, and would inspire a wide range of musicians including Bob Dylan, Harry Belafonte, and Janis Joplin. During the Civil Rights movement, Martin Luther King, Jr. dubbed her “The Queen of American Folk Music,” when she sang at the March on Washington in 1963. Odetta devoted much of her later career to jazz. She would continue to perform until her death in 2008.