Folksinger and labor activist Joe Glazer was born in New York City in 1918. As a child he often sang in synagogues, and inspired by Hollywood’s singing cowboys he bought a guitar from the Sears Roebuck catalog, taking his first lesson through the Works Progress Administration program. Though his Polish-born father was a member of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, politics were never a subject at home, and Glazer was not directly exposed to labor activism until he arrived at Brooklyn College in 1936.
Though friendly with members of the radical groups on campus, he largely steered clear of their efforts, and upon graduating pursued a career in songwriting, placing only the novelty tune “Yogi, Yogi the Fakir Man” with singer Reggie Childs. After briefly aligning with the Theater Arts Committee, sponsors of the political revue Cabaret T.A.C., Glazer in 1944 accepted the assistant education director position for the New York City Textile Workers Union, an experience that launched his interest in labor songs and lore. While visiting Southern textile communities to conduct educational meetings, he was introduced to countless labor hymns, and in 1950 recorded the LP Eight New Songs for Labor for a private label operated by the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).
In 1961 Glazer exited the United Rubber Workers to accept a position as labor specialist with the U.S. Information Agency, where he remained for 19 years. The job required that he frequently travel overseas, and he seized the opportunity to employ music to transmit the message of the American labor movement to its foreign counterparts. In 1968 Glazer founded his own label, Collector, to release his own material (including the LPs Joe Glazer Sings Labor Songs, Glazer Sings Glazer, American Dream, and the 12″ single “The Ballad of Bobby Fischer”) as well as recordings from a new generation of singers/labor activists.
