Richie Havens

Born in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, Havens was the oldest of nine children.[2] He was of Native American (Blackfoot) descent on his father's side and of the British West Indies on his mother's.[3] His grandfather was Blackfoot of the Montana/South Dakota area. Havens's grandfather and great-uncle joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, got off in New York City, and ended up on the Shinnecock Reservation in Long Island. Havens's grandfather got married, then moved to Brooklyn.[4]

As a youth, Havens began organizing his neighborhood friends into street corner doo-wop groups and, at age 16, was performing with the McCrea Gospel Singers.[2]

At age 20, Havens left Brooklyn, seeking artistic stimulation in Greenwich Village. "I saw the Village as a place to escape to, in order to express yourself," he recalled. "I had first gone there during the beatnik days of the 1950s to perform poetry, then I drew portraits for two years and stayed up all night listening to folk music in the clubs. It took a while before I thought of picking up a guitar."[5]

Publicity photo released in 1974 by his management at the William Morris Agency

Havens's solo performances quickly spread beyond the Village folk circles.[2] After cutting two records for Douglas Records, he signed on with Bob Dylan's manager, Albert Grossman, and landed a record deal with the Verve Folkways (later Verve Forecast) label. Verve released Mixed Bag in late 1966, which featured tracks such as "Handsome Johnny" (co-written by Havens and actor Louis Gossett Jr.), "Follow", and a cover[6] of Bob Dylan's "Just Like a Woman".[7] Havens released his first single, "No Opportunity Necessary", in 1967.

By 1969, he had released five more albums. Something Else Again (1968) became his first album to hit the Billboard charts, and it pulled Mixed Bag back onto the charts. Two of those albums were unauthorized "exploitation albums" released by Douglas Records (or Douglas International[8]): Electric Havens (released June 1, 1968)[8][9][10] and Richie Havens Record (1969).[9][11]

Havens playing at Woodstock Music Festival 1969

Havens's live performances earned widespread notice. His Woodstock appearance in 1969 catapulted him into stardom and was a major turning point in his career.[2] Despite Havens's own recollection that he performed for nearly three hours, the actual recording and setlist reflect that he played about fifty minutes.[12] Havens recalled that he was told to continue playing because many artists scheduled to perform after him were delayed in reaching the festival location with highways at a virtual standstill.[13] Havens recalled being called back for several encores.[13] Having run out of tunes, he improvised a song based on the old spiritual "Motherless Child" that became "Freedom". In an interview with Cliff Smith, for Music-Room, he explained:

I'd already played every song I knew and I was stalling, asking for more guitar and mic, trying to think of something else to play – and then it just came to me ... The establishment was foolish enough to give us all this freedom and we used it in every way we could.

The subsequent Woodstock movie release helped Havens reach a worldwide audience. He also appeared two weeks later at the Isle of Wight Festival (in late August 1969).[14][15]

Havens performing in Hamburg, Germany, May 1972

Following the success of his Woodstock performance, Havens started his own record label, Stormy Forest, and released Stonehenge in 1970. Later that year came Alarm Clock, which included the George Harrison–penned hit single, "Here Comes the Sun". This was Havens's first album to reach Billboard's Top 30 Chart.[2] Stormy Forest went on to release four more of his albums: The Great Blind Degree (1971), Live On Stage (1972), Portfolio (1973), and Mixed Bag II (1974).[2] Memorable television appearances included performances on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. On the latter program, the audience reacted with such enthusiasm that, when the applause continued even after the commercial break, Carson asked Havens to return the following night.

Havens also began acting during the 1970s. He was featured in the original 1972 stage presentation of The Who's Tommy,[16] as Othello in the 1974 film Catch My Soul, in Greased Lightning alongside Richard Pryor, and in Bob Dylan's Hearts of Fire.[17]

Havens increasingly devoted his energies to educating young people about ecological issues. In the mid-1970s, he co-founded the Northwind Undersea Institute, an oceanographic children's museum on City Island in The Bronx. That, in turn, led to the creation of the Natural Guard, an organization Havens described as "...a way of helping kids learn that they can have a hands-on role in affecting the environment. Children study the land, water, and air in their own communities and see how they can make positive changes from something as simple as planting a garden in an abandoned lot."[18]

In July 1978, he was a featured performer at the Benefit Concert for The Longest Walk, an American Indian spiritual walk from Alcatraz to Washington, D.C. affirming treaty rights, as a result of legislation that had been introduced to abrogate Indian treaties.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Havens continued a world touring schedule and steadily released albums. The release of 1993's Resume, The Best of Richie Havens, on Rhino Records, collected his late 1960s and early 1970s recordings. In 1982, he composed and performed a promotional slogan for NBC's 1982–83 television season, entitled We're NBC, Just Watch Us Now. He also performed slogans for CBS and ABC,[19] and recorded commercials for Amtrak (singing the slogan, "There's something about a train that's magic") and in 1985, for Coca-Cola. Havens also did corporate commercial work for Maxwell House Coffee, as well as sang "The Fabric of Our Lives" theme for the cotton industry. In 1982, he appeared at the UK's Glastonbury Festival, closing the show on the Sunday night.[20]

In 1993, Havens performed at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton. Among the selections was the "Cotton" song, made famous by a series of television ads in the early 1990s.[21] In 1999, Havens played at the Tibetan Freedom Concert for an audience of more than 100,000.[22]

Havens also played a small role, as a character named Daze, in the film Street Hunter (1990), starring John Leguizamo.

Havens was the 20th living recipient of the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award, presented in Sherborn, Massachusetts,[23] on April 12, 1991.

In 2000, Havens teamed with the electronic music duo Groove Armada for the retro 1970s-style song, "Hands of Time".[24] The song was featured on the soundtrack of the film Collateral; that song was also used in the films Domino, A Lot Like Love, and Tell No One.[1] Havens was also featured on "Little By Little" and "Healing" on the band's third album, Goodbye Country.[24]

In 2000, he published They Can't Hide Us Anymore, an autobiography co-written with Steve Davidowitz. Havens maintained his status as a folk icon and continued to tour. In 2002, he released Wishing Well, followed by the 2004 album Grace of the Sun.

Havens playing at The Turning Point in Piermont, New York, January 4, 2009

In 2003, the National Music Council awarded Havens the American Eagle Award for his place as part of America's musical heritage and for providing "a rare and inspiring voice of eloquence, integrity and social responsibility."[25]

On October 15, 2006, Havens was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame.[26][27]

In 2007, Havens appeared as "Old Man Arvin" in the Todd Haynes film I'm Not There. In a classic front-porch jam scene, he is shown singing the Bob Dylan song "Tombstone Blues" with Marcus Carl Franklin and Tyrone Benskin. Havens' version of the song also appears on the I'm Not There soundtrack.

In February 2008, Havens performed at The Jazz Café in London, England. The performance and the man were described by Cliff Smith, reporting for Music-News as "Mesmerising, poetic, profound, funny...".

Havens was invited to perform at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival opening ceremony. He played "Freedom" at the request of the jury president, Sean Penn. Havens also performed at the London, Ontario, Blues Festival in July 2008.[28]

In March 2008, Havens released a new studio album entitled, Nobody Left To Crown.[29] The first single release was the country-tinged "The Key".

Havens appeared in the acclaimed 2009 film Soundtrack for a Revolution, which provided a general history of the modern Civil Rights Movement and featured modern artists performing many of the era's musical classics. In the film, Havens performed a haunting rendition of "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?".[30]

Havens with journalist Phil Konstantin, on January 25, 2010

On May 3, 2009, Havens performed at the fundraising concert in honor of Pete Seeger's 90th birthday. In June 2009, he performed at the fifth annual Mountain Jam Festival. The event, hosted by Allman Brothers Band and Gov't Mule guitarist Warren Haynes, was held at the Hunter Mountain Ski Resort in Hunter, New York. As is the tradition, the festival took place on the weekend following Memorial Day.

On June 20, 2009, Havens performed at the Clearwater Festival. On July 4, 2009, he performed at the Woodstock Tribute festival in Ramsey, New Jersey. On August 8, 2010, he performed at Musikfest 2010, at Foy Hall at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

In 2010, Havens underwent kidney surgery but did not recover fully enough to perform as he had before.[31] In March 2012, he announced on his Facebook page that he would retire from touring after 45 years, due to health issues.[32]

On April 22, 2013, Havens died of a heart attack at home in Jersey City, New Jersey, at the age of 72.[27][33][34] The BBC referred to him as a "Woodstock icon,"[35] while Stephen Stills of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young said Havens "could never be replicated."[35] The Daily Telegraph stated Havens "made an indelible mark on contemporary music,"[36] while Douglas Martin of The New York Times reported that Havens had "riveted Woodstock."[37]

Pursuant to Havens's request, he was cremated, and his ashes were scattered from the air over the original site of the Woodstock Festival, in a ceremony held on August 18, 2013, the 44th anniversary of the festival's last day.[38]

Havens was survived by his wife Nancy, three children, five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.[39]

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Richie Havens among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.[40]

• A Long Time Comin' by The Electric Flag – sitar and percussion (1968)
• Sesame Street (1971), He sings Imagination Rain. Animated by Steve Zuckerman.
• Please Don't Touch by Steve Hackett (1978)
• Music and Songs from Starlight Express (1987) – performing "Light at the End of the Tunnel" and the "Starlight Sequence"
• Goya... a Life in Song – vocal/guitar performance on "Dog in the Quicksand".
• Songs of the Civil War (1991) – "Follow the Drinking Gourd" and "Give Us a Flag"
• OVO by Peter Gabriel (2000) (soundtrack to the Millennium Dome Show)
• "Freedom" on The Best of The Jammy's Volume One w/ The Mutaytor
• "The Long Road" (duet with Cliff Eberhardt) on 1990 album The Long Road
• "Gay Cavalier" (duet with Pino Daniele) on 1983 album Common Ground
• Some Assembly Required by Assembly of Dust's 2009
• Married... with Children (1992), "Rock of Ages" – guest appearance as himself
• Lifelines Live by Peter, Paul and Mary (1996)
• "El Lugar (The Place)" by Francesco Bruno (1995), in which he appears as co-author and interpreter of the song
• Goodbye Country by Groove Armada (2001) – "Little by Little" and "Healing"
• Lovebox (Groove Armada) by Groove Armada (2002) – "Hands of Time"