Richie Havens, one of the veterans of Woodstock, has passed away at the age of 72.
Richie Havens
Havens was the official opening act at Woodstock in upstate New York in 1969 and performed an extended three-hour set because many of the performers were delayed because of unexpected traffic. When the Woodstock movie was released later, Havens name was promoted worldwide.
After Woodstock Richie Havens started his record label Stormy Forest and released his own ‘Stonehenge’ album in 1970. It featured a cover of the Bee Gees ‘I Started A Joke’ and Bob Dylan’s ‘It’s All Over Now Baby Blue’.
That same year he released his second album ‘Alarm Clock’, featuring the George Harrison cover ‘Here Comes The Sun’ and had his first USA Top 30 album.
Havens went on to score a role in the original 1972 stage production of ‘Tommy’. He also appeared in ‘Grease Lightning’ with Richard Pryor in 1977.
Richie Havens performed at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton in 1993. More recently he teamed with Groove Armada for the song ‘Hands of Time’. It was featured on the soundtrack to the Tom Cruise movie ‘Collateral’.
Havens stopped performing in March, 2012 because of health concerns. He died from a heart attack on April 22, 2013 at his home in Jersey City, New Jersey.
