Odetta (December 31, 1930 - December 2, 2008) was an African-American singer whose repertoire consists largely of American folk music, blues, and spirituals.
She was born Odetta Holmes in Birmingham, Alabama, grew up in Los Angeles, California, and studied music at Los Angeles City College. Having operatic training from the age of 13, her first professional experience was in musical theater, with a touring company of the musical Finian's Rainbow in 1949. Read more on Last.fm
The 6ths is a band featuring various artists and notable guest singers created by Stephin Merritt, also the prime mover behind The Magnetic Fields, The Gothic Archies and Future Bible Heroes.
The two albums released to date are Wasps' Nests (1995) and Hyacinths and Thistles (1999). The names of both albums, and the name of the band, are deliberate tongue-twisters. The words are chosen for their abundance of s and th sounds. Sixths packs one th and three s sounds into one syllable. Read more on Last.fm