Richie Havens is an African American folk singer and guitarist. Havens is perhaps best known for his intense rhythmic guitar style, soulful covers of pop and folk songs and his opening performance at the Woodstock Festival. He was initially scheduled to appear fifth on the bill, but the promoters asked him to come on early when they were having scheduling issues and they asked him to go on first. His performance received continuous ovations and he kept playing encores (seven of them) until he ran out of songs. Finally, he decided to improvise a version of “Motherless Child” to which he added a verse with the word “Freedom” repeated over and over; the song was featured in the Woodstock film and became an international hit.

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2005 Richie Havens Interview on Modern Guitars magazine