Once George Harrison picked up the sitar to add exotic sounds to John Lennon’s “Norwegian Wood”, the pop world turned toward the East, as did luminaries like John Coltrane and composer Philip Glass. Suddenly, the
Brooklyn born and raised, Richie Havens (1941-2013) began hanging out in Greenwich Village in 1959, as a street portrait artist and sometime busker. By 1961, he was a familiar face in the folk clubs, playing alongside Dave Van Ronk, Fred Neil, Dylan and Dino Valenti. Despite this folkie pedigree, a tour with Nina Simone taught him the power of song interpretation, a lesson he never forgot. His unforgettable, partly impromptu opening set at Woodstock in 1969 brought him fame and there was no looking back after that. PKM’s John Kruth interviewed Havens over a long period of time and pulls together this remembrance of a much-loved man and his musical legacy.