Goodnight, Brooklyn native Fred Hellerman
Last Surviving Member of The Weavers Dies at 89
Fred Hellerman, the last surviving member of The Weavers, died on Sept. 1 at age 89. Born in Brooklyn on May 13, 1927, Hellerman was the son of Latvian Jewish immigrants and he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Brooklyn College in 1949.
Hellerman was one of the original members of The Weavers, one of the most popular groups of the late ’40s and ’50s, along with Ronnie Gilbert, Lee Hays and Pete Seeger. The Weavers’ roots were in folk music, and they helped inspire other groups and artists including The Kingston Trio; Peter, Paul and Mary; Joan Baez and Bob Dylan. Of the four original members, Seeger went on to achieve the greatest solo success.
Seeger and Hays co-founded the Almanac Singers in 1941, along with Millard Lampell and Woody Guthrie. In 1948, The Weavers were formed, and it was Hellerman who suggested the group’s name, which was taken from the 1892 play “Die Weber (The Weavers)” about a 19th-century workers uprising.