Ronnie Gilbert
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Ronnie Gilbert
- Genres: Folk
Biography
Ronnie Gilbert is no stranger to success or to controversy. Born to working class Jewish parents in New York City, she refused to participate in her 1940s high school senior play because she was convinced of the racial injustice of the minstrel show theme. In the 1950s, Gilbert melded her joyous contralto with the radical voices of Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, and Fred Hellerman in their celebrated group The Weavers, which brought folk rhythms and social activism to the mainstream even while being branded as subversives, in the hysteria of the McCarthy era, and blacklisted.In 1963, divorced both from her husband and from the cultural expectations of a wife, Gilbert was beginning to build a solo singing career when she met Joseph Chaikin, then a young actor/director with a fledgling experimental troupe, The Open Theater. In the 1970s, Gilbert's career took yet another surprising turn, when she earned an M.A. in Clinical Psychology and worked as a therapist for a few years.
The 1980s saw Gilbert make her debut appearance at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, reading a lesbian-themed poem. Gilbert met, was inspired by, and sang with Holly Near, recording Lifeline (live, 1983) and Singing With You (1986) with Near, and Harp (1985) with Near, Arlo Guthrie, and Pete Seeger. Gilbert's debut solo release, The Spirit Is Free (1985) was released on the feminist Redwood label; the live Love Will Find A Way followed, in 1989, on the Abbe Alice label, the collaborative product of a new alliance with manager/partner Donna Korones. In 1990, Gilbert gave the keynote speech at the annual conference of the Association of Women's Music and Culture (AWMAC). Currently, Gilbert is performing her one-woman theater piece on the life of the legendary American labor activator, Mother Jones. ~ Laura Post, Rovi
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Ronnie Gilbert
Ronnie Gilbert was also the name of the bass player for the rock band Blues Magoos.
Ronnie Gilbert (born September 7, 1926) is an American folk-singer. She is one of the original members of the Weavers with Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, and Fred Hellerman.
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Contents
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Biography
Career
The Weavers were an influential folk-singing group that was blacklisted in the early 1950s, during a period of widespread anti-communist feeling, because of the group's left-wing sympathies.
Following the Weavers' dissolution in 1953 due to the blacklist,[1] Gilbert 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.[2] In the 1970s, Gilbert earned an M.A. in clinical psychology and worked as a therapist for a few years.
Various well-known younger singers honor Ms. Gilbert for the example she set for them, and the influence she had on their careers, particularly Holly Near, with whom Gilbert has released three duet albums: 1983's Lifelines, 1989's Singing With You, and 1997's The Train Still Runs. Near and Gilbert also joined Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger for the 1984 quartet album HARP (an acronym for "Holly, Arlo, Ronnie and Pete"). During that period, Gilbert wrote and appeared in a one-woman show about Mary Harris "Mother" Jones, the American labor organizer, and in a second work based on author Studs Terkel's book Coming Of Age.[2][3] In 1992 she accompanied the Vancouver Men's Chorus on the song Music in My Mother's House from their album Signature.
In 1991, Gilbert recorded "Lincoln and Liberty" and "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" for the compilation album, Songs of the Civil War, joining artists such as Kathy Mattea, Judy Collins, John Hartford, Hoyt Axton, and the United States Military Academy Band of West Point.
| “ | Songs are dangerous, songs are subversive and can change your life. | ” |
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—Ronnie Gilbert, On the effects of hearing Paul Robeson sing when she was 10[4] |
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Now in her 80s, Gilbert continues to tour and appears in plays, folk festivals, and Jewish music festivals. She also continues her protest work, participating in groups such as Women in Black to protest "Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories."[4][5] In 2006, the Weavers received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys. Gilbert and Hellerman accepted the award alone. Seeger was unable to attend the ceremony, and Hays had died in 1981.
Personal life
Gilbert was born in New York City, daughter of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe.[6] Her mother, Sarah, was a dressmaker and trade unionist, and her father, Charles Gilbert, was a factory worker.[7][8]
Gilbert is bisexual.[1] She was married to Martin Weg from 1950 until 1959, and the couple have one daughter, Lisa, who was born in 1952.[2] In 2004, Gilbert married her partner of 19 years, Donna Korones, when Gavin Newsom temporarily legalized gay marriage in San Francisco.[9] She moved to Caspar, California in 2006.[10]
References
- ^ a b Leslie Kandell. "Together Again: Two Women With a Multiplicity of Messages" (Holly Near and Ronnie Gilbert concert tour), The New York Times, September 22, 1996
- ^ a b c Amy Bank and Melissa Howden. We're not the First and We're not the Last": An Informal History -- a timeline showing personal activism in relation to historical events, ©1983, 1986 Redwood Records.
- ^ Barbara McKenna. Folksinger-activist presents public lecture at UCSC,", UC Santa Cruz Currents Online, November 15, 1999
- ^ a b Michael Hochanadel. "Ronnie Gilbert tells and sings her story — and our history" Daily Gazette (Schenectady, NY), May 7, 2005
- ^ Ronnie Gilbert. A New Weaver’s Song (on the origins of her participation in Women in Black), The Progressive, February 2006
- ^ Time Line
- ^ Ronnie Gilbert Biography (1926-)
- ^ ronnie gilbert - "Ronnie Gilbert: A RADICAL LIFE WITH SONGS"
- ^ Rachel Gordon. "State lawmaker joins S.F.'s gay wedding waltz: Republicans demand Newsom halt same-sex marriages and focus on city's 'critical issues,'", San Francisco Chronicle, March 9, 2004, p. A-11.
- ^ Levene, Bruce (Summer 2009), An Interview With Ronnie Gilbert, Mendocino Art Center, http://www.mendocinoartcenter.org/MendoArts/Su09/Pg48-59_Su09.pdf.
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Mentioned in
Lifeline
(1983 Album by Holly Near & Ronnie Gilbert)
We Wish You a Merry Christmas
(1952 Album by The Weavers)
Hard Travelling: The Best of Pete Seeger
(2008 Album by Pete Seeger)
Lifeline Extended
(2002 Album by Holly Near & Ronnie Gilbert)
Lorin Grean
(New Age Artist, '90s)
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