RICHIE HAVENS

Gifted with one of the most recognizable voices in popular music, Richie Havens has a soulful singing style that remains as unique and ageless as when he first

emerged from the Greenwich Village folk scene in the early 1960s. It’s a voice that has inspired and electrified audiences from the Woodstock Music & Arts Fair in

1969, to the Clinton Presidential Inauguration in 1993 - coming full circle with the 30th Woodstock Anniversary celebration, “A Day In The Garden,” in 1999.

For over three decades, Richie has used his music to convey messages of brotherhood and personal freedom.  With more than twenty-five albums released and a touring schedule that would kill many a younger man, he continues to view his calling as a higher one. As he told The Denver Post, “I really sing songs that move me. I’m not in show business; I’m in the communications business.  That’s what it’s about for me.”

It was his appearance at Woodstock in August of 1969 that proved to be a major turning point in Richie’s career.  He was scheduled to be fourth on the line-up of the opening day, but problems with earlier-scheduled bands resulted in Havens being pushed to the front.  As the festival’s first performer, he held the crowd spellbound for nearly three hours, and was called back for encore after encore. Having run out of tunes, he improvised a song based on the old spiritual “Motherless Child” that became “Freedom”, a song now considered to be the anthem of a generation.  

Richie Havens will be honored as MMF’s Master Musician on the weekend of July 17 & 18 – just three weeks before the 40^th anniversary of his opening of the concert that changed the world!

www.richiehavens.com