When the New York folk group the Weavers burst into the American and British pop charts in 1950 with the Lead Belly song, Goodnight Irene, it was Ronnie Gilbert’s contralto voice that soared above her fellow group members – Pete Seeger, Lee Hays and Fred Hellerman. Like the other members of the group, Ronnie, who has died aged 88, had leftwing political sympathies, and suffered when the group was blacklisted in the FBI’s anti-communist campaigns of the 1950s. But the music endured and Gilbert continued with the group through several personnel changes and reunions.
The Weavers started off singing informally and at trade union meetings, and were about to disband when, in 1949, they were offered a season singing at the Village Vanguard in New York. Learning their craft in this new, nightclub setting, they soon became a huge success, staying six months, and were offered a recording contract with Decca.
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