Legendary American folk singer Pete Seeger, known for renditions of songs like If I Had A Hammer and Where Have All The Flowers Gone, has died at the age of 94, US media reported.
Seeger died in New York after being in hospital for a week.
He is also known for popularising the hymn of the civil rights movement, We Shall Overcome.
His death was confirmed by his grandson, Kitama Cahill Jackson, who said he died of natural causes at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, the New York Times reported.
Legendary American folk singer Pete Seeger, known for renditions of songs like If I Had A Hammer and Where Have All The Flowers Gone, has died at the age of 94, US media reported.
Seeger died in New York after being in hospital for a week.
He is also known for popularising the hymn of the civil rights movement, We Shall Overcome.
His death was confirmed by his grandson, Kitama Cahill Jackson, who said he died of natural causes at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, the New York Times reported.
Seeger played 12-string guitar or five-string banjo.
He sang topical songs often mirroring the concerns of the American left, children’s tunes, as well as anthems and often urged his audience to sing along.
Folk-rock band The Byrds had a number-one hit with a version of Seeger’s song Turn! Turn! Turn! in 1965.
He was a mentor to folk and topical singers in the ’50s and ’60s, among them Bob Dylan and Don McLean.
Seeger also sang for the labour movement in the 1940s and 1950s, for civil rights marches and anti-Vietnam War rallies in the 1960s.
He also intoned for environmental and anti-war causes in the 1970s and beyond.
In 1961 he was jailed for refusing to testify to Congress about his time in the Communist Party.
Pete Seeger was a messenger of universal love and peace. He was my first inspiration to write songs and share music in my own way. God bless
Nearly a half-century later he performed at a 2009 concert marking the inauguration of president Barack Obama.
“He believed in the power of community – to stand up for what’s right, speak out against what’s wrong, and move this country closer to the America he knew we could be,” Mr Obama said in a statement.
“For reminding us where we come from and showing us where we need to go, we will always be grateful to Pete Seeger.”
In 2009 Seeger celebrated his 90th birthday with a concert in New York’s Madison Square Garden, performing to a crowd of 15,000 alongside stars such as Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Emmylou Harris and Kris Kristofferson.
Springsteen introduced him as “a living archive of America’s music and conscience, a testament of the power of song and culture to nudge history along”, The Times said.
Springsteen drew on Seeger’s work in his 2006 album, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, from Seeger’s repertoire of traditional music about turbulent American life.
Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore recalled on Twitter how in October 2011 he saw Seeger leading an impromptu protest march in New York.
“Pete Seeger. What can I say. He said it and sang it and lived it all. Our paths crossed many times, and I am the better for it,” Moore tweeted.
Singer Neil Diamond described Seeger as a messenger of universal love and peace, tweeting: “He was my first inspiration to write songs and share music in my own way. God bless.”
