Ronnie Gilbert Biography

Fast Facts

• Got her big break with the Weavers when the group was booked to play at the Village Vanguard in Manhattan over Christmas in 1949, where they were so successful that they stayed for six months and later signed with Decca Records
• Got her start as a member of the folk group the Priority Ramblers before meeting Fred Hellerman when they were both counselors at a New Jersey summer camp
• First became interested in singing at the age of 10, when her mother took her to a union rally where Paul Robeson was performing, which she described as the beginning of her life as "a singer with social conscience․"
• Quote: "We sang songs of hope in that strange time after World War II, when already the world was preparing for Cold War․ We still had the feeling that if we could sing loud enough and strong enough and hopefully enough, it would make a difference․"
• Folk singer and songwriter who was an original member of the quartet the Weavers, whose hit songs include "On Top of Old Smoky" and "Goodnight, Irene․"
• After the Weavers disbanded in 1964, she worked in theater, appearing in the 1968 Broadway production of "The Man in the Glass Booth," and later as a therapist
• Formed the Weavers with Pete Seeger, Lee Hays and Fred Hellerman in the late 1940s