Richie Havens: 1941-2013

I first saw Richie Havens in concert in South Orange, New Jersey in 1994, where he gave a free show held outside in the town park. (In the full spirit of Woodstock, I went there listening to hippie folk music in my VW Beetle.)  At 53, Havens had already made the transition in terms of image from cool urban folk troubadour to wise shaman, his beard longer and his hairline fully receded, his clothing looser. The one thing that hadn't changed was his music. Richie Havens was still an astounding performer, his rhythm guitar playing still as rich and intense as ever, and his husky voice very much in top form. He gave a great show, told some funny stories, and more or less raised the audience's consciousness about everything.

As one of the leading folk singers of the 1960s and 1970s, Richie Havens, who died today of a heart attack, was something a novelty - a black performer in a genre that was so dominated by whites, Havens himself always seemed to be the only black person at his own shows. But, as with Jimi Hendrix, white audiences didn't see a black man on stage; they only heard what he was playing and singing. Havens was a superior performer who drew from gospel and street corner soul influences, infusing his brand of folk with genuine passion. He did wonderful interpretations of Bob Dylan songs such as "Just Like a Woman," and his 1971 cover of the George Harrison composition "Here Comes the Sun," with its sparse arrangement, surpassed the majesty of the original Beatles recording. He could sing just about anything, from an acoustic cover of the Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again," to an a capella take on Pink Floyd's "On the Turning Away," as he did when I saw him a second time in 1998. The songs he wrote as well as covered were all about a positive message of change and freedom, which underlined his legacy as a black man who helped integrate popular music in the sixties. Until illness silenced him - he announced his retirement in March 2012 - he seemed unstoppable, and while death took him too soon, it hasn't changed his importance in popular music. We can still hear his voice in the wind down a long road. RIP. :-(