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Richie Havens, Musician, Activist Dead Sudden Heart Attack on Earth Day 2013
“I saw the Village as a place to escape to in order to express yourself.” ~ Richie Havens in his 2008 biography.
Richie Havens, the very first musician to perform during the 1969 Woodstock music festival held on Max Yasgur’s dairy farm in the town of Bethel, New York, near White Lake, New York, has died of a sudden heart attack at his home. The beloved American folk singer, songwriter, guitarist, and activist passed away on Earth Day.
“Say not in grief, ‘he is no more’, but live in thankfulness that he was.” ~ Unknown
The event, also known as the Woodstock Music Festival; An Aquarian Exposition: Three Days of Peace and Music, was a turning point in his career.
One of the four festival producers, Michael Lang said in his book “The Road to Woodstock”, he’d selected Havens to open what would become a historic event, “because of his calm but powerful demeanor.”
Havens sang for several hours due to travel delays affecting the arrival of the next act. He sang for nearly three hours. Basically, Richie Havens had to kill time as the opening act during this seminal event.
“So I’d go back and sing three more. This happened six times. So I sung every song I knew.” ~ Richie Havens in a 2006 interview with NPR.
The most amazing point of his performance was his ability to improvise a song based on the Negro spiritual, “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,”; as a consequence the improvisation, known as “Freedom” became an anthem for the times. It is one song for which Havens became famous.
Richie Havens was well known for his versions of tunes made popular by such varied group and artists such as The Beatles, “Here Comes the Sun”; the Bee Gees, “I Started A Joke”; 10cc’s “I’m Not in Love”. He covered tunes like Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On”; James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain”; “Tightrope,” written by Leon Russell; Van Morrison’s composition”Tupelo Honey”, as well as Bob Dylan’s “Lay Lady Lay” and another Dylan creation “Just Like A Woman “.
“I really sing songs that move me. I’m not in show business; I’m in the communications business. That’s what it’s about for me.” ~ Richie Havens, singer, songwriter, activist, humanitarian in an interview with The Denver Post
Each song performed by Havens has his inimitable sound consisting of his intense guitar playing and his rich earthy voice.
Richard Pierce “Richie” Havens was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1941; he was the oldest of nine children. At the age of 20 he moved to Greenwich Village, in New York City; he became a part of the developing new music scene of the early ’60s, witnessing and participating in the explosion of folk and blues. These are the musical genres that later defined the early part of the decade.
Although Havens signed a record contract in the mid-’60s, it was his 1969 Woodstock appearance, and the subsequent release of the film in 1970 that brought him international fame. It was this exposure which provided Havens the lift to sustain a robust live performance career for the next 40 years.
His recording output varied and is often hard to find; it is reported he recorded more than twenty albums. The 1976 album “The Beginning of the End” never was reissued on CD, though many of its strongest songs did appear on many later CD compilations.
Havens performed at Bill Clinton’s presidential inaugural in 1993.
He also started his own record label called Stormy Forest in 2000. Havens’ last album was 2008’s “Nobody Left to Crown.”
During August 2009 Havens returned to performed at the site of the original Woodstock stage for the festival’s 40th anniversary.
In 2010 Havens retired from traveling to perform live concerts due to kidney surgery; according to his web site he never recovered enough to perform concerts as he once did.
Richie Havens may not have won many awards related to his music. He is often celebrated at Cannes and other prestigious events for his humanitarian, peace and charity work. He is a member of the Long Island Music Hall of Fame. Despite his vast influence he has not been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We hope what can only be considered an oversight will be soon corrected by the administrators of the organization.
A public memorial service and other details will be announced at a later time, according to his official web site.
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