American folk singer and activist Pete Seeger whose songs include Turn, Turn, Turn! and If I Had a Hammer, has died at the age of 94.
Pete Seeger at a New York concert marking his 90th birthday in 2009. Photo: AFP
Seeger died at a New York hospital after a short illness, a family member said.
He was firstly successful in The Weavers from the late 1940s and continued to perform in his own right in a career spanning six decades, the BBC reports.
Once called the tuning fork of America, after dropping out of Harvard Seeger hitch-hiked around the country playing at union meetings and political rallies.
But in the 1950s, he became a victim of McCarthyism and was blacklisted and shunned by the television networks.
In his latter years, he channelled his energies into environmental causes. His songs never threatened to overthrow governments, but helped to change many people's way of thinking.
