Woodstock legend Richie Havens dies
AMERICAN folk singer Richie Havens, who opened the 1969 Woodstock festival, died yesterday aged 72.
He suffered a heart attack at his home in New Jersey.
His improvised festival number, Motherless Child/Freedom became a hippie anthem in the Sixties.
Festival producer Michael Lang said he chose Havens to open because of his “calm but powerful demeanour”.
A new version of the song featured in Quentin Tarantino’s slavery era film Django Unchained.