first performer at Woodstock .. folk singer and guitarist Richie Havens passes

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

The first performer at Woodstock .. folk singer and guitarist Richie Havens has passed away.
The Brooklyn born star, known for his tasteful guitar work and cover songs including his well-received cover of Bob Dylan's Just Like a Woman will be remembered for his performance at the three-day 1969 Woodstock Festival at which headliners included Jimi Hendrix and Jefferson Airplane .  The Festival was the turning point in his career.
He was the first act to hit the stage and performed for nearly three hours. His performance of Freedom - based from the spiritual Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child - became an anthem.

Havens returned to the site during Woodstock's 40th anniversary in 2009, saying: 'Everything in my life, and so many others, is attached to that train.'

Woodstock remains one of the seminal events that continue to define the 1960s in popular memories. Performers had included The Who, Janis Joplin, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and dozens of others, and the trippy anarchy of Woodstock has become legendary.
There was nudity, casual sex, dirty dancing and open drug use. The stage announcer famously warned people to steer clear of the brown acid.

Havens had originally been scheduled to go on fifth but was bumped up because of travel delays. Festival producer Michael Lang said in the book The Road to Woodstock that he chose Havens 'because of his calm but powerful demeanor.'

His performance lasted hours because the next act hadn't showed up.
Havens said: 'So I'd go back and sing three more. This happened six times. So I sung every song I knew.'

A long night: He revealed he ended up performing every single tune he knew as the next act failed to show up

Havens' had kidney surgery in 2010 and never recovered enough to perform as he used to. The singer released his debut Mixed Bag in 1967 and made more than 25 albums. He performed at Bill Clinton's presidential Inauguration in 1993.

He sang with doo-wop groups on the street corner in his Brooklyn neighborhood at an early age and at 20, had moved to New York City's Greenwich Village, where he performed poetry, listened to folk music and learned to play guitar.

In his biography he said: 'I saw the Village as a place to escape to in order to express yourself.'

Havens' last album was 2008's Nobody Left to Crown. He also started his own record label called Stormy Forest in 2000.

 

He became an actor in the 1970s and was featured in the original stage presentation of The Who's Tommy and appeared in the 1974 film Catch My Soul and co-starred with Richard Pryor in Greased Lightning in 1977.

Havens was the eldest of nine children. He is survived by his four daughters and many grandchildren. A public memorial for Havens will be planned for a later date.