Singer Ronnie Gilbert, a member of the influential 1950s folk quartet the Weavers, has died. She was 88.
Her longtime partner, Donna Korones, says Gilbert died of natural causes Saturday at a retirement community in Mill Valley.
With the Weavers, whose other members were Pete Seeger, Lee Hays and Fred Hellerman, Gilbert helped spark a national folk revival with hit recordings of Goodnight Irene, On Top of Old Smokey, If I Had A Hammer, Kisses Sweeter Than Wine and Wimoweh.
The group was hugely popular before being targeted by anti-communists and blacklisted during the Red Scare. After disbanding in 1964, Gilbert worked as a stage actor and psychologist.
She is survived by her daughter, Lisa, and Korones, her partner of 30 years.
Ronnie Gilbert, R.I.P.
Goodnight Irene, On Top of Old Smokey, If I Had A Hammer,
Kisses Sweeter Than Wine and Wimoweh.....
are quite a folk song panorama
but do they still matter today?
Time has a way
of putting things in proportion
and correcting errors of distortion
as yesterday's invective
gets put into perspective,
although this comes at a cost:
many youthful ideals are then lost
for, eventually , as we go along
we may find ourselves deceived
and find that a song can still be wrong
even when beautifully Weaved.
HZL
6/8/15
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