Richie Havens’ Bermuda Performance Recalled
Richie Havens [pictured], the veteran folk-rock singer whose frenetic guitar strumming and impassioned vocals made him one of the defining voices and faces of Woodstock and who famously played an epic set lasting several hours at a 1979 Bermuda music festival, died Monday [Apr. 22] at his New Jersey home.
The Brooklyn native, best known for his intense guitar style and powerhouse voice, was 72 years old.
The opening act at Woodstock — billed as “Three Days of Peace and Music” — in upstate New York in August 1969, Mr. Havens electrified tens of thousands of rock fans as they trekked in to the music festival site from across the United States.
“His performance of ‘Freedom/Motherless Child’ embodied the sense of frustration at the strictures of the social status quo and looming liberation being felt by blacks and whites, men and women during an era of tremendous sociopolitical turmoil,” said a “Los Angeles Times” obituary.
In 1979 Mr. Havens was one of the featured performers at Bermuda’s three-day SummerFest held over the Cup Match holiday that year.
Richie Havens performing Freedom/Motherless Child at Woodstock
Selling close to 18,000 tickets to local and visiting music fans, Mr. Havens was on a bill that also included legendary reggae singer Peter Tosh, soul superstar Al Green and funk rock band Wild Cherry.
“Richie Havens [fell] into some sort of trance onstage and played for hours,” said one critic of his Bermuda Summerfest performance.
The UK’s “Daily Telegraph” said in an obituary that Mr. Havens “made an indelible mark on contemporary music”, recording more than 25 genre-defying albums after his star-making Woodstock performance and never wavering from his belief in music as a force for social change.
“I’m not in show business,” he once said, “I’m in the communication business. I sing songs that move me — that’s what it’s about for me.”
Mr. Havens is survived by three children, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
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Rest in peace, my friend.