Pete Seeger

Artist Playlists

About Pete Seeger

Singer/songwriter Pete Seeger was both a massive cultural and political figure in America and one of the most important U.S. folk artists ever. Born in 1919 in New York City to a musicologist father and violinist mother, Seeger was so captivated by the banjo in his teens that it turned him forever toward folk music. A humanist, progressive and activist from an early age, Seeger cofounded the politically minded group The Almanac Singers in the early ’40s with Millard Lampell and folk icons Woody Guthrie and Cisco Houston. In 1950, Seeger started the similarly inclined quartet The Weavers, who became hugely popular with songs like the Seeger-penned “If I Had a Hammer” but were waylaid by McCarthyist blacklisting in 1953. From the late ’50s through the ’60s, Seeger was a driving force in the folk revival as a solo artist with compositions like “Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)” (later made famous by The Byrds). He continued working tirelessly to spread his beliefs through music and activism until his death in 2014 at the age of 94.

HOMETOWN
New York, NY, United States
BORN
3 May 1919
GENRE
Singer/Songwriter

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