Oscar Brand (February 7, 1920 – September 30, 2016) was a Canadian-born American folk singer-songwriter, radio host, and author. In his career, spanning 70 years, he composed at least 300 songs and released nearly 100 albums, among them Canadian and American patriotic songs. Brand's music ran the gamut from novelty songs to serious social commentary and spanned a number of genres.
Brand also wrote a number of short stories. For 70 years, he was the host of a weekly folk music show on WNYC Radio in New York City, which is credited as the longest running radio show with only one host in broadcasting history.
Life and career
Brand was born to a Jewish family in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. His father was a Romanian-born flooring contractor, Isidore Brand. His mother was named Beatrice. In 1927, the family moved to Minneapolis, then to Chicago and ultimately to New York City. As a young man, Oscar lived in Borough Park, Brooklyn, and graduated from Erasmus Hall High School and later from Brooklyn College with a BS in psychology.
In his long career he played alongside such legends of folk music as Lead Belly, Woody Guthrie, Josh White, Jean Ritchie, the Weavers and Pete Seeger. He wrote various books on the folk song and folk song collections, including The Ballad Mongers: Rise of the American Folk Song, Songs Of '76: A Folksinger's History Of The Revolution and Bawdy Songs & Backroom Ballads, the latter comprising four volumes.
Brand was known for composing catchy and themed folk songs, including the eponymous theme to his initially CTV and then CBC television show Let's Sing Out and the Canadian patriotic song "Something to Sing About" (actual title: "This Land of Ours"), which is one of Canada's national songs. He was also a frequent performer at the Mariposa Folk Festival during this period, including performances in 1962, 1968, 1969, and 1987, as well as the 50th anniversary in 2010. He collaborated on a number of musicals, most notably The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N (a musical version of Leo Rosten's stories about the fictional Jewish character Hyman Kaplan), How to Steal an Election, and A Joyful Noise.
He hosted the radio show Oscar Brand's Folksong Festival on Saturdays at 10:00 p.m. on WNYC-AM 820 in New York City, which ran into its 70th year. The show ran more or less continuously from its debut on December 10, 1945 to September 2016, making it the longest-running radio show with the same host, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Over its run it introduced such talents to the world as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Woody Guthrie, Arlo Guthrie, Huddie Ledbetter, Joni Mitchell, Peter, Paul & Mary, Judy Collins, the Kingston Trio, Pete Seeger and the Weavers. In order to make sure that his radio program could not be censored he refused to be paid by WNYC for the next 70 years.
He wrote the lyrics to the song "A Guy is a Guy" (1952), which became a hit for Doris Day. He also wrote the English lyrics to the song "Shlub-a-Dubba-Dub" (1961) which became a minor hit for Mitch Miller.
He contributed stories and songs for the "Young People's Records" label, including "Noah's Ark".
He was a friend of the folksinger Jean Ritchie for many years. They recorded several duets together, including the British song "Keys to Canterbury".
Although Brand was anti-Stalinist and was never a member of any Communist party, the House Committee on Un-American Activities referred to his show as a "pipeline of communism", because of his belief in the rights under the First Amendment of blacklisted artists to have a platform to reach the public. Accordingly, in June 1950, Brand was named in the premier issue of Red Channels as a Communist sympathizer, along with Paul Robeson, Josh White and Pete Seeger.
While Brand was not as well-known or radical an activist as some of his contemporaries, he was a long-standing supporter of civil rights. However, after Brand was contacted by HUAC, he "broke with the left-wing folk music world. He then met privately with a representative from HUAC"
He told stories of buying food for Lead Belly when the two traveled together in segregated areas, and participated in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches.
Brand was one of the original organizers of the Newport Folk Festival which began in 1959.
