Ronnie Gilbert
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Ronnie Gilbert | |
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| Born | Ruth Alice Gilbert Script error: No such module "person date". |
| Died | Script error: No such module "person date". Mill Valley, California, U.S. |
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| Page Module:Infobox/styles.css has no content.Musical career | |
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| InstrumentTemplate:Pluralize from text | Vocals |
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| Formerly of | The Weavers |
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Ruth Alice "Ronnie" Gilbert (September 7, 1926 – June 6, 2015), was an American folk singer, songwriter, actress and political activist. She was one of the original members of the music quartet the Weavers, as a contralto with Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, and Fred Hellerman.
Early life
Gilbert was born in Brooklyn, New York City[1]Template:R/superscript and considered herself a native New Yorker her whole life.[2]Template:R/superscript Her parents were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe.[3]Template:R/superscript Her mother, Sarah, came from Warsaw, Poland[4]Template:R/superscript and was a dressmaker and trade unionist. Her father, Charles Gilbert, came from Ukraine and was a factory worker.[1]Template:R/superscript[5]Template:R/superscript
From a young age, she had a strong sense of social justice and gave credit for this to her mother who had been involved with the Polish-Jewish Bund.[6]Template:R/superscript She went to Anacostia High School and was almost expelled because of her resistance to participating in a blackface minstrel show with white students, citing Paul Robeson's "denunciations of racism."[6]Template:R/superscript Gilbert came to Washington, D.C., during World War II at the age of 16, took a government job and joined a protest folk-singing group, the Priority Ramblers.[7]Template:R/superscript She performed with this group before founding the Weavers with Pete Seeger.[5]Template:R/superscript When she returned to New York, Gilbert became involved in organising the Office Workers' Union and worked for the Textile Workers' Union.[7]Template:R/superscript She encountered Library of Congress folklorist Alan Lomax and Woody Guthrie and other folk singers.
Career
Gilbert's singing was characterized as "a crystalline, bold contralto."[1]Template:R/superscript Her voice is heard, blending with and rising over the others, in Weavers tracks such as "This Land Is Your Land", "If I Had a Hammer", "On Top of Old Smoky", "Goodnight, Irene", "Kisses Sweeter than Wine", and "Tzena, Tzena, Tzena".[5]Template:R/superscript
Early music and activism
The Weavers were an influential folk-singing group that was blacklisted in the early 1950s, during a period of widespread anti-communist hysteria, because of the group's left-wing sympathies. Following the Weavers' dissolution in 1953 due to the blacklist,[8]Template:R/superscript she continued her activism on a personal level, traveling to Cuba in 1961 on a trip that brought her back to the United States on the same day that country banned travel to Cuba. She also participated in the Parisian protests of 1968 after traveling to that country to work with British theatrical director Peter Brook.[9]Template:R/superscript[10]Template:R/superscript
In 1968, she appeared on Broadway in a dramatic, non-musical role—the concentration camp survivor Mrs. Rosen—in the original production of Robert Shaw's play The Man in the Glass Booth.[11]
Gilbert moved to Berkeley in 1971, and began to learn and offer therapy. The next year, she entered graduate school. By 1974, she had earned an MA in clinical psychology and worked as a therapist for a few years.[5]Template:R/superscript[12]Template:R/superscript Gilbert later said that at the time, she needed a change from her career on Broadway, her daughter was grown up and she "fell into" therapy, including Gestalt, Freudian and Jungian practices.[13]Template:R/superscript
Music with Holly Near and HARP
In 1974, Holly Near dedicated her album A Live Album to Gilbert.[10]Template:R/superscript At the time, Near didn't even know if she was still alive, so she didn't ask Gilbert for permission.[12]Template:R/superscript Gilbert found out about the dedication from her daughter and met Near soon after. This is how Gilbert describes meeting Near:
I told her about how her record was astonishing to me ... I was so moved. First I was kind of teed off about it and then ... I was just in tears the whole time, and figured out this has been going on while I haven't been looking ... This consciousness, this woman consciousness has been happening and was happening in music ... Of course, I loved her because she was ... the coming together of all the things I loved in music, from folk music to Broadway ... she had that kind of delivery and voice and she could handle pretty much anything. It was like she had the social consciousness in a new contemporary way that the Weavers had.[12]Template:R/superscript
In 1980, part of The Weavers: Wasn't That a Time! was filmed in the loft Gilbert was living in. The film-maker left the camera running after the Near interview, capturing Near and Gilbert as they sang "Hay Una Mujer." That song was left in the film and some of the audience called Near's record company to see if/when she and Gilbert would be touring. Gilbert says that this "jump started [her and Near] into a musical partnership."[12]Template:R/superscript They toured together nationally in 1983 for their first live album, Lifeline.[10]Template:R/superscript
Near and Gilbert joined Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger for the 1984 quartet album HARP (an acronym for "Holly, Arlo, Ronnie, and Pete").[1]Template:R/superscript During this tour, Gilbert met and fell in love with her future wife, Donna Korones. She came out as a lesbian soon after she started dating Korones.[12]Template:R/superscript
In 1985, Gilbert performed with Near, Guthrie, and Seeger at the Ohio State Fair. She performed at the 10th Michigan Womyn's Music Festival and the first Redwood Festival with Near. She also performed at the Vancouver Folk Festival, the National Women's Music Festival, and Sisterfire.[10]Template:R/superscript
In 1986, she and Near recorded Singing With You.[10]Template:R/superscript
During that period Gilbert wrote and appeared in a one-woman show about Mary Harris "Mother" Jones, the Irish-American activist and labor organizer, and in a second work based on author Studs Terkel's book, Coming of Age.[9]Template:R/superscript[10]Template:R/superscript[14]Template:R/superscript In her portrayal of Jones, Gilbert aimed to portray a woman who was at once "spunky and sarcastic, fearless and opinionated", and the show's songs, most of which were written by Gilbert, provide an insight into a time of resistance to injustice in the United States.[6]Template:R/superscript
Later music and activism
In 1991, Gilbert recorded "Lincoln and Liberty" and "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" for the compilation album, Songs of the Civil War.[9]Template:R/superscript
In 1992, she accompanied the Vancouver Men's Chorus on the song "Music in My Mother's House" from their album Signature.[9]Template:R/superscript
At the age of 10, after hearing Paul Robeson sing for the first time, Gilbert commented: "Songs are dangerous, songs are subversive and can change your life."[15]Template:R/superscript
She continued to tour and appear in plays, folk festivals, and music festivals well into her 80s. She continued her protest work, participating in groups such as Women in Black to protest Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories in addition to United States policies in the Middle East.[15]Template:R/superscript[16]Template:R/superscript
In 2006, the Weavers received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Gilbert and Hellerman accepted the award. Pete Seeger was unable to attend the ceremony, and Hays had died in 1981.[9]Template:R/superscript Seeger died in 2014.[17]Template:R/superscript
Personal life
Gilbert was married to Martin Weg from 1950 until 1959, and the couple have one daughter, Lisa (born 1952).[10]Template:R/superscript Their marriage ended in divorce.[1]Template:R/superscript In 2004, when gay marriage was temporarily legalized in San Francisco, Gilbert married Donna Korones, her manager and partner of almost two decades.[18]Template:R/superscript[9]Template:R/superscript Gilbert moved to Caspar, California in 2006.[19]Template:R/superscript
Gilbert died on June 6, 2015, at a nursing facility in Mill Valley, California, from natural causes, at age 88.[1]Template:R/superscript[5]Template:R/superscript
References
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- ^ a b c d e f Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Weber, Bruce (June 6, 2015). "Ronnie Gilbert, Bold-voiced Singer for the Weavers, is dead at 88". New York Times. Archived from the original on December 1, 2021. Retrieved June 7, 2015.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Ronnie Gilbert: A radical life with songs". ronnie.gilbert.com. Archived from the original on August 11, 2007. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Ronnie Gilbert, folk singer - obituary". The Telegraph. June 7, 2015. Archived from the original on November 4, 2016. Retrieved November 2, 2016.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Schofield, Derek (June 8, 2016). "Ronnie Gilbert obituary". The Guardian. Archived from the original on June 8, 2015. Retrieved November 2, 2016.
- ^ a b c d e Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Langer, Emily (June 8, 2015). "Ronnie Gilbert, founding member of the Weavers, dies at 88". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on June 10, 2015. Retrieved November 2, 2016.
- ^ a b c Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Gilbert, Ronnie (1926—)". Encyclopedia.com. 2019. Archived from the original on November 22, 2021. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Kolson, Anne (November 3, 1983). "Singer Ronnie Gilbert is no ordinary folk". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. p. 55. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Kandell, Leslie (September 22, 1998). "Together Again: Two Women With a Multiplicity of Messages". New York Times. Archived from the original on July 25, 2022. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Beacham, Frank (September 7, 2021). "Ronnie Gilbert, an original member of The Weavers, was born 95 years ago today". Frank Beacham's Journal. Archived from the original on November 29, 2021. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Banks, Amy; Howden, Melissa (1986). "Holly & Ronnie: A Timeline". Holly Near. Archived from the original on December 31, 2010.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Ronnie L. Gilbert – Broadway Cast & Staff | IBDB".
- ^ a b c d e Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Gilbert, Ronnie (March 10, 2004). "Ronnie Gilbert" (PDF) (Interview). Interviewed by Kate Weigand. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Voices of Feminism Oral History Project Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 16, 2016. Retrieved January 10, 2018.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Marcel, Joyce (March 29, 1990). "This musical legend is still going strong". Brattleboro Reformer. Retrieved July 26, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.McKenna, Barbara (November 15, 1999). "Folksinger-activist presents public lecture at UCSC". UCSC. Archived from the original on July 25, 2022. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Hochanadel, Michael (May 7, 2005). "Ronnie Gilbert tells and sings her story — and our history". WAMC Performing Arts Studio. First published in the Daily Gazette of Schenectady, NY. Archived from the original on September 10, 2006. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Gilbert, Ronnie (February 23, 2006). "A New Weaver's Song". The Progressive Magazine. Archived from the original on July 25, 2021. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Pareless, John (January 28, 2014). "Pete Seeger, Champion of Folk Music and Social Change, Dies at 94". New York Times. Archived from the original on August 22, 2019. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Gordon, Rachel (March 9, 2004). "State lawmaker joins S.F.'s gay wedding waltz / Republicans demand Newsom halt same-sex marriages and focus on city's 'critical issues'". The Chronicle. Archived from the original on July 25, 2022. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Levene, Bruce (Summer 2009), An Interview With Ronnie Gilbert (PDF), Mendocino Art Center, archived from the original (PDF) on April 22, 2012, retrieved December 25, 2011
External links
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