Richie Havens died from a heart attack today at 72. Best known for opening Woodstock with his hyper-strumming, thumb fretting, and rich voice, he may have been Larry Doby to Jimi Hendrix’s Jackie Robinson of the Love Generation, boldly making Beatles songs his own and making his mark in the music business for primarily white, hippified audiences.
By what accounts I’ve seen—and hell, it’s just a sense you get from the guy, isn’t it—Havens was a great…man. He sprinkled his hippie cred over Bill Clinton’s 1993 inauguration. A man of peace, he was a friend to the Society of Friends, having exhibited his drawings and spoke to kids at my old school in 1994 (long after I’d graduated, I might add).
Havens’ style was so distinctive that it lent itself to parody. I can’t even tell if his music holds up half as well as what he represented or a quarter as well as his warm, generous spirit. Can his music hold a candle to the way he held his guitar, and is there any reason to doubt that’s enough?
A great man, undoubtedly, which makes me feel that much worse for finding his performance shtick really tiresome. Still, RIP.
He will be sadly missed.
For all fans of Richie, Will Scally interviewed Richie several
years ago in West Hampstead (United Kingdom).
The filmed interview runs for about 50`.
This as yet, has never been broadcast.
Should anyone require any further information, please feel
free to contact me.
Barry Levene