Name	Richie Havens
Height
Naionality
Date of Birth	January 21, 1941
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Richard P. Havens was born in Brooklyn, the eldest of nine children, and first started singing street corner doo-wop and performed with The McCrea Gospel Singers at 16. Havens' initial rise to fame happened in the Greenwich Village folk music scene that also fostered Joan Baez and Bob Dylan. In 1967, Havens became one of several Village-based artists signed to Verve Records, and released several albums to mostly local notice. In 1969, Havens opened the Woodstock Festival, although he was initially scheduled to appear fifth on the bill. His performance received continuous ovations and he 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 was featured in the Woodstock film, and became an