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Richie Havens Biography

Richard Pierce "Richie" Havens (January 21, 1941 – April 22, 2013) was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. His music encompassed elements of folk, soul, and rhythm and blues. He is best known for his intense and rhythmic guitar style (often in open tunings), soulful covers of pop and folk songs, and his opening performance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.

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Richie Havens Quotes

I'm not in show business; I'm in the communications business. That's what it's about for me.

Business, Communication, Communications, Show, Show Business, Shows

Nothing has really changed. We had bootleg albums in the '60s and today we have Internet file sharing. They just found a better way to do it -- get music for free. What's great about today is an artist has an opportunity to go direct to their audience without dealing with a middleman. People can go directly to the web for CDs, DVDs and downloads. I think that's the best thing that's happened, that people's music is being flashed around the world.

Artist, Cds, File, Opportunity, Sharing, Thinking

I must have played every college and university at least three times, and that goes for most of the clubs. I'd be on the road six days a week, go home and change bags, and then be gone for another six days.

Clubs, College, Home, Played, Three, Week

Richie is the only one of my nine who's really moved away. I can't get rid of most of them.

I Can, Moved, Nine, Richie

I opened the Woodstock Festival even though I was supposed to be fifth. I said, 'What am I doing here? No, no, not me, not first!' I had to go on stage because there was no one else to go on first - the concert was already two-and-a-half hours late.

Concert, Festival, Goes On, Half, Though, Two

Live Aid was a baby Woodstock, a child of Woodstock, which I call Globalstock.

Aid, Aids, Baby, Children, Live

The direction for my music is heaven, of course. We gear all things to the realm of heaven - which is the mind, the organized mind.

Gear, Gears, Heaven, Organized, Organized Mind, Things

I started out by myself, but it eventually turned into a trio by the mid-'60s - a conga drum and another guitarist. And that's been mostly what I've worked with most of the time.

Congas, Havens, Trio, Trios, Turned, Worked

Though it's frequently portrayed as this crazy, unbridled festival of rain-soaked, stoned hippies dancing in the mud, Woodstock was obviously much more than that - or we wouldn't still be talking about it in 2009. People of all ages and colors came together in the fields of Max Yasgur's farm.

Crazy, Fields, Hippie, Hippies, Rain, Woodstock

My mother's family came from the British West Indies. And my father's family came from, well, my father's father came from the Montana
South Dakota area. They were Blackfoot Indian.

Came, Father, Indian, Mother, West, West Indies

I believe I inherited my sense of music from my father. My father was an ear piano player; he could just hear something and play it.

Believe, Ear, Father, Inherited, Player

I eat once a day if I remember, and I try never to go to sleep.

Eat, Remember, Sleep, Trying

I remember the first time I was booked into a jazz club. I was scared to death. I'm not a jazz artist. So I got to the club and spotted this big poster saying, 'Richie Havens, folk jazz artist. ' Then I'd go to a rock club and I'm billed as a 'folk rock performer' and in the blues clubs I'd be a 'folk blues entertainer. '

Artist, Billed, Club, Clubs, Rock, Rocks

I came up in Brooklyn singing doo-wop music from the time I was 13 to the time I was 20. That music served a purpose of keeping a lot of people out of trouble, and also it was a passport from one neighborhood to another.

Keeping, Music, Neighborhood, People, Purpose, Singing

Woodstock happened in August 1969, long before the Internet and mobile phones made it possible to communicate instantly with anyone, anywhere. It was a time when we werent able to witness world events or the horrors of war live on 24-hour news channels.

Anywhere, August, Horrors, Mobile, Phones, War

Everything I want to do, and to accomplish, is on the other side of the universe. That's peace of mind, energy, freedom. And I'm making myself ready to go, joyfully and willingly. I think I'm ready to be everybody's friend, and to do anything for anybody. It's heavy.

Energy, Joyfully, Mind, Thinking, Willingly