Brooklyn-born Richie Havens, singer who opened Woodstock, 72
Richie Havens, the Brooklyn-born folk and rock singer-songwriter who was best known for his performance at Woodstock in 1969, where he sang “Freedom,” has died at 72.
His family said in a statement that Havens died Monday of a heart attack.
Havens grew up in Bedford-Stuyvesant and originally sang doo-wop music before gravitating to Greenwich Village and getting involved with the folk scene. He tuned his guitar in an open D tuning, which accounted for its unusual sound.
Havens first became well-known with the release of his 1967 album, “Mixed Bag,” which contained covers of songs by Bob Dylan and the Beatles as well as his own anti-war protest song, “Handsome Johnny,” and the jazzy “San Francisco Bay Blues.”