Peter LaFarge, missed since October 27, 1965 (dead at 34 by misadventure - possibly a drug induced heart attack)
LaFarge, a former rodeo performer, was of the inner circle of Greenwich Village folk singer/songwriters. His fame rests largely on songs sympathetic to the plight of Native Americans, “The Ballad of Ira Hayes” being the chief case in point. This song was a big country hit for Johnny Cash in 1964. LaFarge continually claimed an Indian heritage for himself, but this now seems to have been definitively exposed as a fabrication.
Click thru the image for a truly remarkable article on LaFarge’s ‘Indian-ness’…
Towards the end of his life LaFarge was apparently living a happy, stable life with Danish folk-singer Inger Nielsen, with whom he had a child, Karen.
LaFarge’s liner notes for her Folkways album of Danish songs are incredibly tender and sincere in expressing his love and admiration for her. How did he end up dead so soon after, his daughter just two months old?
See also my further work on LaFarge…
