Phil Ochs

< Image with unknown copyright status removed: frame|right|Phil Ochs (1940-76) Photograph from the Michael Ochs Archives -->

Philip David Ochs (December 19, 1940 – April 9, 1976) was a U.S. protest singer (or, as he preferred, a "topical singer") popular during the 1960s. Ochs was a member of the IWW. His best known songs include "Power and the Glory", "There But for Fortune", "Changes", "When I'm Gone", and "I Ain't Marching Anymore".

== Early career =

Born in El Paso, Texas, and raised in Columbus, Ohio, he grew up in a non-political middle-class family. His father, who suffered from bipolar disorder, committed suicide. After attending the Staunton Military Academy in rural Virginia, he studied journalism at Ohio State University, but dropped out in his last year. While in Miami, the 18-year-old Ochs was imprisoned for sleeping on a park bench, an incident he would later recall: "Somewhere during the course of those fifteen days I decided to become a writer. My primary thought was journalism ... so in a flash I decided — I'll be a writer and a major in journalism.&q...