Pete Seeger (born Peter R. Seeger) is an American folk singer, songwriter, political activist, and banjo player. Pete Seeger was born on May 3, 1919, in Patterson, New York, to musicologist Charles Seeger and violinist Constance Seeger, both of whom were Juilliard professors. Ruth Crawford, Pete Seeger’s stepmother, was a well-known composer.
Seeger’s first encounter with the five-string banjo, which he had planned to become a painter, was the catalyst for his musical career. After two years as an undergraduate at Harvard, he left to collect field recordings of folk songs in the Southern United States with musicologist Alan Lomax.
Although the blacklist of leftist entertainers hampered his career at times, Pete Seeger managed to carve out a multi-faceted career that included solo performances as well as collaborations with groups such as the Almanac Singers and the Weavers. He also wrote songs and instructional material for the five-string banjo and twelve-string guitar, as well as working to preserve the country’s folk song heritage and raise awareness of political and environmental issues.
The Weavers’ recordings of Leadbelly’s “Goodnight, Irene,” Woody Guthrie’s “So Long, It’s Been Good to Know You,” Jose Marti’s “Guantanamera,” and Leadbelly and Campbell’s “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine,” as well as “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” with Joe Hickerson and “If I Had a Hammer” with Levon Helm, are among Pete Seeger’s best-known songs His collaborations are frequently credited solely to him, but this is incorrect.
Many artists, including The Byrds, Judy Collins, Ani DiFranco, Indigo Girls, the Kingston Trio, Odetta, Peter, Paul & Mary, Bonnie Raitt, and Bruce Springsteen, recorded Pete Seeger’s songs. For the album Pete, Seeger won a Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album in 1996, as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993. In 1994, he was honored with the Kennedy Center Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 1996, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.