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Richie Havens (born January 21 1941 in Brooklyn, New York) is an African American folk singer and guitarist. Havens is best known for his somewhat wild guitar style of brisk strumming.
Havens first rose to fame in the Greenwich Village folk music scene that also fostered Joan Baez and Bob Dylan. In 1969, Havens opened the Woodstock. He received continuous ovations and kept playing encores 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 became an international hit.
He later played at the 1993 inauguration of President Bill Clinton.
Havens rarely writes his own songs and often interpret the works of Dylan and The Beatles.
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