Although they did not know it at the time, attendees at the Bermuda International Film Festival's Reel World Weekend witnessed what is believed to be the second last performance gospel legend Odetta ever gave.

Odetta performed in Bermuda for the first and last time on Sunday, October 12 at the Fairmont Southampton's Mid-Ocean Amphitheatre.

She went to Lenox Memorial Hospital in New York less than a month later for simple intravenous therapy, but suffered kidney failure on November 9.

On December 2, at the age of 77, she died of a heart attack.

In addition to being renowned for her music, Odetta was also a well-known civil rights campaigner who once marched with Martin Luther King Junior.

At the time of her hospitalisation, her manager Doug Yeager, posted a message to fans on a music industry blog about her determination to sing at President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration in January:

"Odetta believes she is going to sing at Obama's inauguration, and I believe that is the reason she is still alive. She has a big poster of Barack Obama taped on the wall across from her bed."

Although she died before she could fulfil this wish, she did live long enough to bear witness to the historic US election of the first African-American president.

Those who met Odetta during her three-night stay in the Fairmont Southampton describe her as a consummate professional and a really nice lady.

BIFF director Aideen Ratteray Pryse was involved in bringing the legend to Bermuda.

"This was the first time she had been to Bermuda," she said. "She loved the Island and thought it was beautiful."

Asked whether Odetta was showing obvious signs of ill health at the time, Mrs. Ratteray Pryse said: "She was for the most part in a wheelchair but that did not stop her putting on an emotional and excellent performance.

"She was obviously a bit frail and off-stage was on the quiet side, but came alive when she performed."

She added: "She was full of joy for being able to still be performing at her age."

Reviewer Krystal McKenzie likened Odetta's performance to "an enjoyable mixture of cornbread and molasses – warm, hearty, gritty squares complemented by thick, syrupy darkness".

In hindsight perhaps prophetically, she added: "I enjoyed this performance immensely, and had to purchase some of her music to remember her by."

Although the one and only chance to see Odetta perform live in Bermuda may have passed, there seems little doubt that her legend will indeed live on through the music by which she can always be remembered.

According to her manager, a memorial service for the singer is scheduled for January 2009.