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Len Chandler (PL Gould/Images Press/Getty Images)

Len Chandler (1935–2023), folk and protest musician

by Eric San Juan

Len Chandler was a musician during the 1960s folk revival and protest music scene whose work drew the attention of Pete Seeger (1919–2014), Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968), and others. 

Len Chandler’s legacy 

Born in Akron, Ohio, Chandler was already studying music by the age of 8. He became a classically trained musician who played piano, oboe, and other instruments before making his name with the guitar. He played in the Akron Symphony Orchestra as a high school senior, then earned his bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Akron and his master’s degree in music Columbia University. 

In the early 1960s, Chandler became drawn to the growing protest and civil rights movement. Living in New York City at the time, he began to sing at protests, demonstrations, and rallies. He also began to write politically charged music. One of his songs, “Beans in My Ears,” was covered by Seeger. Seeger also sang Chandler’s “Run Come See the Sun,” and Chandler became involved in Seeger’s environmental organization, CLEARWATER.  

By the end of the decade, he’d released two albums, “To Be a Man” and “The Lovin’ People,” and had written several songs for the anthology album, “An Album of Political Pornography.” In the early 1970s, he performed in the traveling anti-war troupe, F.T.A., and Dr. King used his song, “Keep On Keepin’ On,” in a speech. Chandler eventually moved to the Los Angeles area, where he retired.  

Tributes to Len Chandler 

Full obituary: The New York Times 

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