Happy birthday to Richie Havens, the eldest of nine children of Blackfoot descent on his fathers side, and of the British West Indies on his mothers. His grandfather was Blackfoot of the Montana/South Dakota area. Havens grandfather and great-uncle joined Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, got off in New York City and ended up on the Shinnecock Reservation in Long Island. There he got married then moved to Brooklyn. Woodstock appearance in 1969 catapulted him into stardom and was a major turning point in his career. As the festivals first performer, he held the crowd for nearly three hours. In part, Havens was told to continue playing, because many artists scheduled to perform after him were delayed in reaching the festival location with highways at a virtual standstill. He was called back for several encores. Having run out of tunes, he improvised a song based on the old spiritual Motherless Child that became Freedom. youtube/watch?v=41tLbEHHefI
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 20:14:58 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015