U.S. #5708
2022 60¢ Pete Seeger: Music Icons Series
Issue Date: July 21, 2022
First Day City: Newport, RI
Type of Stamp: Commemorative
Printed by: Banknote Corporation of America
Printing Method: Offset, Microprint
Format: Pane of 16
Self-Adhesive
Quantity Printed: 22,000,000
On July 21, 2022, the United States Postal Service issued a new stamp in the popular Music Icons Series. The design pictured Pete Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014), an American folk singer who rose to fame in the 1940s and 50s.
Pete Seeger was born in Manhattan to a family he referred to as "enormously Christian, in the Puritan, Calvinist New England tradition." His father was a composer and musicologist while his mother was a concert violinist and teacher at Juilliard. Music was in Seeger's blood, though his parents never pressured him to pursue it. He was drawn to music from an early age, and began playing the ukelele in grade school. After hearing a five-string banjo for the first time at a music festival in North Carolina, Seeger became determined to master it. The rest is history.
Seeger's career spanned more than seven decades. He used his music to promote social, environmental, and political reform during this time. Seeger remained active until the very end. Upon his death, President Obama said "Over the years, Pete used his voice and his 'hammer' to strike blows for workers' rights and civil rights, world peace and environmental conservation. And he always invited us to sing along. For reminding us where we come from and showing us where we need to go, we will always be grateful to Pete Seeger."