부산대학교 도서관

American folk and blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter. Dave Van Ronk was born to working-class parents during the Great Depression. His father left soon after the birth, and Van Ronk was raised by his mother and her family and friends. Van Ronk wrote that he never missed his father since he never knew him. He spent his early life on the streets of his Brooklyn neighborhood, getting in trouble at school for his impudent nature and absorbing the jazz music of the period. In 1945 he and his mother moved to Richmond Hill in Queens, a suburban neighborhood. He took piano lessons for a few years, and then he taught himself the ukulele. He dropped out of high school, and he began taking guitar lessons from jazz guitarist Jack Norton. When he was around seventeen, he began playing jazz professionally but not regularly. In addition to playing guitar, Van Ronk sang.