Fred Hellerman (May 13, 1927 – September 1, 2016) was an American

folk singer Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

, guitarist, producer, and songwriter. Hellerman was an original member of the seminal American folk group

The Weavers The Weavers were an American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City originally consisting of Lee Hays, Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, and Fred Hellerman. Founded in 1948, the group sang traditional folk songs from ...

, together with

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and social activist. He was a fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s and had a string of hit records in the early 1950s as a member of The Weav ...

Lee Hays Lee Elhardt Hays (March 14, 1914 – August 26, 1981) was an American folk singer and songwriter, best known for singing bass with the Weavers. Throughout his life, he was concerned with overcoming racism, inequality, and violence in soc ...

, and Ronnie Gilbert. He produced the record album ''

Alice's Restaurant "Alice's Restaurant Massacree", commonly known as "Alice's Restaurant", is a satirical talking blues song by singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie, released as the title track to his 1967 debut album Alice's Restaurant (album), ''Alice's Restaurant''. ...

'' (1967) for

Arlo Guthrie Arlo Davy Guthrie (born July 10, 1947) is an American folk music, folk singer-songwriter. He is known for singing protest song, songs of protest against social injustice, and storytelling while performing songs, following the tradition of his fa ...

, played accompaniment guitar on scores of folk albums, and wrote a number of folk and protest songs.

Life and career

Born on May 13, 1927, in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

to Jewish parents, Hellerman was the youngest of three children. His father, Harry, was an immigrant from

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

and mother, Clara (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Robinson), was born in the United States to immigrants from Riga. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1949 at

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...

. In 1948, Hellerman formed

the Weavers The Weavers were an American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City originally consisting of Lee Hays, Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, and Fred Hellerman. Founded in 1948, the group sang traditional folk songs from ...

with Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, and

. Hellerman wrote and co-wrote some of their hits. He also wrote under the aliases Fred Brooks and Bob Hill. Because of his involvement with

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

groups during the 1930s and 1940s, Hellerman came under suspicion of

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

sympathies during the

McCarthy era McCarthyism is a political practice defined by the political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a campaign spreading fear of communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage in the United S ...

. In 1950, Hellerman was named, along with the rest of

, in the anti-communist tract ''

Red Channels ''Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television'' was an anti-Communist document published in the United States at the start of the 1950s. Issued by the right-wing journal ''Counterattack'' on June 22, 1950, the pamphle ...

'' and was placed on the industry blacklist. In February 1952, an FBI informant testified that the Weavers were members of the Communist party. The group, unable to perform on television, radio, or in most music halls, broke up in 1952, but resumed singing in 1955. They continued together until 1963 (with changes in personnel). He also played on

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (, ; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing mo ...

's eponymous first album in 1960. The Weavers held several reunion concerts in 1980, shortly before Hays' death, which were documented in the film '' The Weavers: Wasn't That a Time!'' (1982). Hellerman, using the pseudonym Fred Brooks, adapted "Green Grow the Lilacs" for Harry Belafonte's 1959 album, Love is a Gentle Thing. The song, rooted in a traditional Irish tune popular in the 19th century United States, received new lyrics with two original verses penned by Hellerman, who also reworked the chorus. Hellerman married the writer Susan Lardner, the daughter of John Lardner, in 1970. The Hellermans had two children, Caleb and Simeon, and three grandchildren. Hellerman was the last surviving original member of the Weavers. He died on September 1, 2016, at his home in Weston, Connecticut, at the age of 89.

References

External links

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...

(1966)
The ASCAP Biographical Dictionary, 3rd ed., p. 324
'. *

(1980)
The ASCAP Biographical Dictionary, 4th ed., p. 222
' * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hellerman, Fred 1927 births 2016 deaths Singers from Brooklyn The Weavers members Folk musicians from New York (state) American folk singers Singer-songwriters from New York (state) Record producers from New York (state) Jewish American musicians Jewish folk singers American people of Latvian-Jewish descent People from Weston, Connecticut Guitarists from New York (state) American male guitarists American folk guitarists American male singer-songwriters American acoustic guitarists 20th-century American guitarists Brooklyn College alumni Lafayette High School (New York City) alumni 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American singer-songwriters 21st-century American Jews Singer-songwriters from Connecticut

Life and career

See also

References

External links