Phil Ochs

Phil Ochs
Born	Philip David Ochs December 19, 1940 El Paso, Texas, United States of America
Died	April 9, 1976 New York City, State of New York, United States of America
Cause of death	Suicide

Philip David Ochs was a Statesian Left-wing protest singer and songwriter, mostly within the Folk genre.

He participated in the Folk Revival musical movement in the United States, as well as several political movements including the Civil Rights Movement, the Anti-Vietnam War movement, and the Labor Rights movement.

His political views changed throughout his life, with him advocating for the Democratic Party in his early years, before identifying as a Marxist and a Communist later.

Early Life

Phil Ochs was born December 19, 1940 in El Paso Texas to Jacob and Gertrude Phin Ochs. His father was Jewish and his mother was raised in Scotland, where she and Jacob met. He was raised with his older sister Sonia, nicknamed Sonny, and a younger brother Michael.

Jacob Ochs was a military doctor, and as a result of this occupation was made to move often. After the entry by the United States into the Second World War Ochs' was sent to Europe to treat wounded soldiers. Ochs suffered from bipolar depression, then called manic depression. This, compounded with trauma from his work treating wounded soldiers at the Battle of the Bulge in the Second World War, led to Ochs' honorable discharge from the military in 1945.

In late 1945 the Ochs family moved to Far Rockway, New York. Jacob Ochs was hospitalized in Long Island for psychiatric treatment soon after, where he spent two years. In February 1947 Gertrude Ochs took her children to Scotland to stay with her family. They stayed for six months. When Jacob Ochs was released from treatment he started a small private medical practice.

Jacob and Gertrude Ochs' marriage was strained and unhappy from this point, with Jacob Ochs becoming reclusive and distant from his family, described later by Sonny Ochs as being, "like a phantom." Jacob moved without his family to Otisville, New York to work in a small tuberculosis clinic.

In June 1951 the Ochs family moved again, this time to Perrysburg, New York, for Jacob's work. Here, all three children began playing instruments, with Phil choosing the clarinet. Here, Phil Ochs' lifelong passion for music first became evident.

In 1954 the clinic Jacob Ochs worked at closed, and the family, now without Sonny, who was at school in Switzerland, moved again, this time to Columbus, Ohio, where Jacob found work at another tuberculosis clinic. Noticing Phil's talent, his clarinet teacher offered to let Ochs stay with him to continue his studies, but Gertrude refused, and Phil moved with his family.