Cynthia Gooding
| Cynthia Gooding | |
|---|---|
| Born |
August 12, 1924 Rochester, Minnesota, United States |
| Died | February 10, 1988 (aged 63) Kingston, New Jersey, US |
| Genres | Traditional folk music, world music |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, guitarist |
| Years active | Mid 1940s - 1970s |
| Labels | Elektra, Riverside, Prestige Int., Camden |
| Associated acts | Theodore Bikel |
| Website | http://www.cynthiagooding.com/ |
Cynthia Gooding (August 12, 1924 – February 10, 1988) was an American folk singer who recorded traditional songs from various countries for Elektra Records in the 1950s and 1960s. Judy Collins wrote that she had been "inspired" by her.
She was born in Rochester, Minnesota, and grew up in Lake Forest, Illinois. In her late teens she lived in Mexico City, where she acquired a love of folk music and the blues, learned Spanish, and developed her talents as a singer and guitar player. On returning to the US in the mid-1940s, she moved to New York City, and - encouraged by Josh White - began singing folk songs in Greenwich Village clubs, particularly with regular appearances at the Soho club and, later, Gerdes Folk City. Described as tall and elegant, she developed a following in New York, and her repertoire expanded to include Turkish as well as traditional English songs, and Spanish, Mexican and Italian folk songs. She married Turkish-born Hasan Özbekhan in 1949; they divorced in the late 1950s.
After meeting Jac Holzman, who had recently set up Elektra Records, she recorded four 10-inch LPs for the label in 1953 and 1954. The cover sleeves were designed by Maurice Sendak, and the albums helped establish Elektra as a source of folk and world music and allowed Holzman to expand into new business premises. Holzman later said:
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