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Richard Pierce Havens (January 21, 1941 – April 22, 2013) was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. His music encompassed elements of folk music, soul music (both of which he frequently cover song), and rhythm and blues. He had a rhythmic guitar style (often in ). He was the opening act at Woodstock, sang many jingles for television commercials, and was also the voice of the GeoSafari toys.
Havens's grandfather and great-uncle joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, moved to New York City thereafter, and settled on the Shinnecock Reservation on Long Island. Havens's grandfather married, then moved to Brooklyn.
As a youth, Havens began organizing his neighborhood friends into a street corner doo-wop group. At age 16, he was performing with the McCrea Gospel Singers.
Havens's solo performances quickly spread beyond the Village folk music circles. 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 Records 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 of Bob Dylan's "Just Like a Woman". Havens released his first single, "No Opportunity Necessary", in 1967, later covered by Yes in their second album Time and a Word.
Something Else Again (1968) became his first album to hit the Billboard charts, and it pulled Mixed Bag back onto the charts. By 1969, he had released five albums. Two of those albums were unauthorized and were released by Douglas Records (or Douglas International): Electric Havens (released June 1, 1968) and Richie Havens Record (1969).
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.
Havens also began acting during the 1970s. He was featured in the original 1972 stage presentation of The Who's Tommy, as Othello in the 1974 film Catch My Soul, in Greased Lightning alongside Richard Pryor, and in Bob Dylan's Hearts of Fire.
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.
On June 22, 1990, Richie Havens played at a packed Yankee Stadium concert in honor of Nelson Mandela who had come to New York for three days after Mandela's release from the South African prison, Robben Island. Other performers at the concert were Judy Collins, Tracy Chapman and Mighty Sparrow.
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 commercials from the early 1990s. In 1999, Havens played at the Tibetan Freedom Concert for an audience of more than 100,000.
The release of 1993's Resume, The Best of Richie Havens, on Rhino Records, collected his late 1960s and early 1970s recordings.
Havens played a small role, as a character named Daze, in the film Street Hunter (1990), starring John Leguizamo. He played himself in "Rock of Ages", an episode of the TV sitcom Married... with Children (Season 7, Episode 9).
Havens was the 20th living recipient of the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award, presented in Sherborn, Massachusetts, on April 12, 1991.
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 sang, uncredited, Dylan's "The Times They Are a Changin in the TV series The West Wing (Season 4, Episode 7). Also in 2002, he released Wishing Well, followed by the 2004 album Grace of the Sun.
On February 15, 2003, Havens opened the unprecedented "The World Says No To War" in Iraq demonstration in New York City with his iconic "Freedom." As the U.S. stood on the precipice of a "Shock & Awe" attack on Iraq, tens of millions in more than 800 cities around the world marched against war, leading the New York Times to call these millions the "world's new superpower."
On October 15, 2006, Havens was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame.
In 2007, Havens appeared as Old Man Arvin in the Todd Haynes film I'm Not There. In a front-porch jam scene, he is shown singing the Bob Dylan song "Tombstone Blues" with Marcus Carl Franklin and Tyrone Benskin. Havens's version of the song also appears on the I'm Not There soundtrack. On August 17, 2007, Richie Havens played Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, returning on the 38th Anniversary of Woodstock with Arlo Guthrie. In February 2008, Havens performed at The Jazz Café in London.
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.
In March 2008, Havens released a new studio album, Nobody Left To Crown. The first single release was the country-tinged "The Key". On August 14, 2009, Richie returned for the 40th Anniversary of Woodstock to play the Bethel Woods Festival.
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?"
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 The 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.
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.
| 1966 | Mixed Bag | 182 |
| 1968 | Something Else Again | 184 |
| 1968 | Electric Havens | 192 |
| 1969 | The Richie Havens Record | – |
| 1969 | Richard P. Havens, 1983 | 80 |
| 1970 | Stonehenge | 155 |
| 1971 | Alarm Clock | 29 |
| The Great Blind Degree | 126 | |
| 1973 | Portfolio | 182 |
| 1974 | Mixed Bag II | 186 |
| 1976 | The End Of The Beginning | 157 |
| 1977 | Mirage | – |
| 1980 | Connections | – |
| 1984 | Common Ground | – |
| 1987 | Simple Things | 173 |
| Sings Beatles and Dylan | – | |
| 1991 | Now | – |
| 1994 | Cuts to the Chase | – |
| 2002 | Wishing Well | – |
| 2004 | Grace of the Sun | – |
| 2008 | Nobody Left to Crown | – |
| 1972 | Richie Havens on Stage | 55 |
| 1990 | Live at the Cellar Door | – |
| 2015 | Paris Live 1969 | – |
| 1987 | Collection | – |
| 1993 | Résumé: The Best of Richie Havens | – |
| 1995 | Classics | – |
| 1999 | Time | – |
| 2000 | The Millennium Collection | – |
| 2004 | Dreaming as One: The A&M Years | – |
| 2005 | High Flyin' Bird | – |
| 2012 | My Own Way | – |
| 1967 | "No Opportunity Necessary" | – | – |
| 1969 | "Rocky Raccoon" | – | 92 |
| "Lady Madonna" | – | – | |
| 1970 | "Handsome Johnny" | 115 | – |
| "Alarm Clock" | – | – | |
| 1971 | "Here Comes the Sun" | 16 | 15 |
| 1972 | "Freedom" | – | – |
| 1973 | "What About Me" | – | – |
| "It Was a Very Good Year" | – | – | |
| "Eyesight to the Blind" | 111 | 101 | |
| 1976 | "I'm Not in Love" | 102 | – |
| 1977 | "We All Wanna Boogie" | – | – |
| 1980 | "Going Back to My Roots" | – | – |
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