Richie Havens with over twenty albums
released and a phenomenal touring schedule, has one of the most recognizable voices in popular music. He first
emerged from the Greenwich Village folk scene in the early 1960’s. Played Woodstock Music & Arts Fair in
1969, and 30th Woodstock Anniversary in '99.
Born in Brooklyn, he performed with The McCrea Gospel Singers. He sang doo-wop until the age of 20, then moved to Greenwich
Village.
He joined forces with legendary manager Albert Grossman releasing Mixed Bag in 1967 with the Verve label. It
featured the tracks "Handsome Johnny" (cowritten by Havens with Oscar-winning actor Lou Gossett Jr.),
Jerry Merrick’s "Follow" (later heard on the soundtrack to the hit 1978 film Coming Home.
Something Else Again (1968) became Havens` first album to hit the Billboard chart and pulled Mixed Bag
onto the chart as well.
Was in great demand in colleges across the
country "I must have played every campus in America at least three times," he says, grateful for students’
early support, as well as on the international folk and pop circuit and the 1969 Woodstock festival in upstate New York,
as the festival’s opening act, he held the multitudes spellbound for nearly three hours. Called back for yet another
encore, he improvised a song based on the old spiritual "Motherless Child" that became "Freedom",
eventually reaching an audience of millions.
Havens switched labels and in 1970 had a #16 single "Here Comes The Sun" (Beatle classic from Abbey
Road) his album reached the Billboard’s Top 30.
He branched out to do acting and had the
lead role in the 1974 film version of Catch My Soul (based on Shakespeare’s Othello) and co-starred with comedian
Richard Pryor in Greased Lightning (1977). Was on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson;
the audience were so enthusiastic that Carson asked Havens to return the following night.
Richie Co-founded the Northwinds Undersea Institute, museum for children on City Island in the Bronx. That, in turn, led
to his founding of the Natural Guard in early 1990. Based in New Haven, Connecticut, the Natural Guard now has chapters
across the Americas, from Brooklyn to Hawaii to Belize, and continues to grow.
In October 1992 performed at Madison Square Garden , at the Columbia Records concert saluting Bob Dylan’s 30
years of recording. Richie’s show-stopping version of "Just Like A Woman" was hailed by many as one of the
all-star show’s finest performances.
Other highlights of the past decade included his triumphant appearance at the Troubadours of Folk Festival at UCLA’s
Drake Stadium where a capacity audience refused to let him leave the stage. Hollywood Reporter reviewer Darryl Morden
was among those who praised Richie for "turning in an urgently fierce performance."
March of 2002 brings the long-awaited release of Wishing Well (Stormy Forest/Evangeline Recorded Works), which
includes two longtime concert favourites, "Paradise", and "On The Turning Away". MOJO MAGAZINE
(May 2002) calls this album "both a revelation and a joy".
2002 & 2015 also bring the long awaited cd release of Richie’s early Stormy Forest albums, Stonehenge, Alarm
Clock, Portfolio, The Great Blind Degree, Mixed Bag II, and Richie Havens On Stage.
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