Folk singer Richie Havens, the opening act at the 1969 Woodstock music festival, died on Monday, April 22, of a heart attack at age 72, his publicist said. He is pictured performing on a TV special in Copenhagen, Denmark, in June 1969.
Havens performs at the Isle of Wight Musical Festival in England in August 1969.
As the opening act at Woodstock, Havens takes the stage in front of thousands of people in Bethel, New York, on August 15, 1969.
Havens performs at Woodstock. After gaining attention at the festival, the New York native recorded a soulful cover of the Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun," which rose on the pop charts in 1970.
Havens poses for a portrait in London circa 1980.
On June 4, 2009, Havens performs at the "Woodstock 40th Anniversary" Blu-Ray release party at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York.
Havens was among a handful of Woodstock acts that returned for the 40th anniversary festival in 2009.
Havens, center, reprises his 1969 performance of "Freedom" at the site of the original Woodstock music festival in Bethel, New York, on August 14, 2009.
- NEW: Havens told CNN once that he always had music in his life
- The Brooklyn, New York, native, gained attention at Woodstock
- Stephen Stills says Havens was on fire when he played
- His cover of the Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun" rose on the pop charts in 1970
(CNN) -- Famed folk singer Richie Havens, the opening act at the 1969 Woodstock music festival, died Monday of a sudden heart attack, his publicist said. He was 72.
Havens, who retired three years ago, toured for more than 30 years and recorded 30 albums.
Havens told Billboard that his breakthrough at Woodstock came after another artist's equipment got stuck in traffic. He was supposed to be the fifth act.
"It was 5 o'clock and nothing was happening yet," Havens told Billboard. "I had the least instruments (to set up on stage) and the least people (in his band)."
So Havens went on and performed for 40 minutes, as planned. Organizers asked him to do four more songs, he told Billboard.
A look back at those we have lost in 2013.
Folk singer Richie Havens, the opening act at the 1969 Woodstock music festival, died on April 22 of a heart attack, his publicist said. He was 72.
Australian rocker Chrissy Amphlett, the Divinyls lead singer whose group scored an international hit with the sexually charged "I Touch Myself" in the early 1990s, died on April 21, from breast cancer and multiple sclerosis, her husband said. She was 53.
Pat Summerall, the NFL football player turned legendary play-by-play announcer, was best known as a broadcaster who teamed up with former NFL coach John Madden. Summerall died April 16 at the age of 82.
Comedian Jonathan Winters died on April 11 at age 87. Known for his comic irreverence, he had a major influence on a generation of comedians. Here he appears on "The Jonathan Winters Show" in 1956.
Annette Funicello, one of the best-known members of the original 1950s "Mickey Mouse Club" and a star of 1960s "beach party" movies, died at age 70 on April 8. Pictured, Funicello performs with Jimmie Dodd on "The Mickey Mouse Club" in1957.
Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, a towering figure in postwar British and world politics and the only woman to become British prime minister, died at the age of 87 on Monday, April 8.
Designer Lilly Pulitzer, right, died on April 7 at age 81, according to her company's Facebook page. The Palm Beach socialite was known for making sleeveless dresses from bright floral prints that became known as the "Lilly" design.
Film critic Roger Ebert died on April 4, according to his employer, the Chicago Sun-Times. He was 70. Ebert had taken a leave of absence on April 2 after a hip fracture was revealed to be cancer.
Jane Nebel Henson, wife of the late Muppets creator Jim Henson and instrumental in the development of the world-famous puppets, died April 2 after a long battle with cancer. She was 78.
Shain Gandee, one of the stars of the MTV reality show "Buckwild," was found dead with two other people in Kanawha County, West Virginia, on April 1. He was 21.
Music producer and innovator Phil Ramone, right, with Paul Shaffer, left, and Billy Joel at the Song Writers Hall of Fame Awards in New York in 2001. Ramone died March 30 at the age of 72.
Writer/producer Don Payne, one of the creative minds behind "The Simpsons," died March 26 at his home in Los Angeles after losing a battle with bone cancer, reports say. He was 48.
Gordon Stoker, left, who as part of the vocal group the Jordanaires sang backup on hits by Elvis Presley, died March 27 at 88.
Deke Richards, center, died March 24 at age 68. Richards was a producer and songwriter who was part of the team responsible for Motown hits such as "I Want You Back" and "Maybe Tomorrow." He had been battling esophageal cancer.
Legendary publisher, promoter and weightlifter Joe Weider, who created the Mr. Olympia contest and brought California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the United States, died at age 93 on March 23.
Playboy magazine's 1962 "Playmate of the Year," Christa Speck Krofft, died March 22 of natural causes at the age of 70.
Rena Golden, who held top positions at CNN, died at age 51 after battling lymphoma for two years on March 21.
Harry Reems, the porn star best known for playing Dr. Young in the 1972 adult film classic "Deep Throat," died March 19, according to a spokeswoman at a Salt Lake City hospital. Reems, whose real name is Herbert Streicher, was 65.
Bobbie Smith, who as a member of the Spinners sang lead on such hits as "I'll Be Around" and "Could It Be I'm Falling in Love," died on March 16 at age 76. Pictured clockwise from left, Spinners band member Pervis Jackson, Billy Henderson, Jonathan Edwards, Bobbie Smith and Henry Fambrough, 1977.
Sweden's Princess Lilian, the Welsh-born model who lived with her lover Prince Bertil for 30 years before they were married, has died at the age of 97, the Swedish Royal Court said in a statement.
Alvin Lee, the speed-fingered British guitarist who lit up Woodstock with a monumental 11-minute version of his song "I'm Going Home," died on March 6, according to his website. He was 68.
Hugo Chavez, the polarizing president of Venezuela who cast himself as a "21st century socialist" and foe of the United States, died March 5, said Vice President Nicolas Maduro.
Bobby Rogers, one of the original members of Motown staple The Miracles, died on Sunday, March 3, at 73. From left: Bobby Rogers, Ronald White, Smokey Robinson and Pete Moore circa 1965.
Actress Bonnie Franklin, star of the TV show "One Day at a Time," died at the age of 69 on March 1 of complications from pancreatic cancer.
Actor Dale Robertson, who was popular for his western TV shows and movies, died at age 89 on Thursday, February 28.
Richard Street, former member of the Temptations, died at age 70 on February 27. Street, second from the left, poses for a portrait with fellow members of the Temptations circa 1973.
Van Cliburn, the legendary pianist honored with a New York ticker-tape parade for winning a major Moscow competition in 1958, died on February 27 after a battle with bone cancer, his publicist said. He was 78.
Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop died on February 25. He was 96. Koop served as surgeon general from 1982 to 1989, under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
Damon Harris, former member of the Motown group the Temptations, died at age 62 on February 18. Harris, center on the stool, poses for a portrait with fellow members of The Temptations circa 1974.
Lou Myers, a stage, film and TV actor who memorably portrayed Mr. Gaines on the comedy "A Different World," died on February 19 at the age of 75.
Los Angeles Laker owner Jerry Buss died February 18 at age 80. Buss, who had owned the Lakers since 1979, was credited with procuring the likes of Earvin "Magic" Johnson, James Worthy, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. The Lakers won 10 NBA championships and 16 Western Conference titles under Buss' ownership.
Country singer Mindy McCready was found dead on February 17 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said. She was 37. During her career, McCready landed 14 songs and six albums on the Billboard country charts.
Ed Koch, the brash former New York mayor, died February 1 of congestive heart failure at 88, his spokesman said.
Patty Andrews, center, the last surviving member of the Andrews Sisters, died at her Northridge, California, home on January 30, her publicist Alan Eichler said. She was 94. Patty is seen in this 1948 photograph with her sisters Maxene, left, and Laverne.
Baseball Hall of Famer and St. Louis Cardinals great Stan Musial died on January 19, according to his former team. He was 92.
Baseball Hall of Fame manager Earl Sidney Weaver, who led the Baltimore Orioles to four pennants and a World Series title with a pugnacity toward umpires, died January 19 of an apparent heart attack at age 82, Major League Baseball said.
Pauline Phillips, better known to millions of newspaper readers as the original Dear Abby advice columnist, has died after a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease. She died January 16 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at age 94.
Aaron Swartz, the Internet activist who co-wrote the initial specification for RSS, committed suicide, a relative told CNN on January 12. He was 26. Swartz also co-founded Demand Progress, a political action group that campaigns against Internet censorship.
Claude Nobs, the founder of the Montreux Jazz Festival, died aged 76 following a skiing accident.
Richard Ben Cramer, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer whose 1992 book "What It Takes" remains one of the most detailed and passionate of all presidential campaign chronicles, died January 7, according to his longtime agent. He was 62.
Director and stuntman David R. Ellis died on January 7. He directed "Snakes on a Plane."
Tony Lip, who played mob figures in the hit cable show "The Sopranos" and several critically acclaimed movies, died January 4, a funeral home official said. Lip, whose real name was Frank Vallelonga, was 82.
Character actor Ned Wertimer, known to fans of "The Jeffersons" as the doorman Ralph Hart, died on January 2. He was 89.
Pop-country singer Patti Page died on January 1 in Encinitas, California. She was 85. Born Clara Ann Fowler, Page was the best-selling female artist of the 1950s and had 19 gold and 14 platinum singles.
Photos: People we lost in 2013
2006: Richie Havens not anti-soldier
"I went back and did that, then it was, 'Four more songs...' and that kept happening 'til two hours and 45 minutes later, I had sung every song I know," he said.
Havens, a Brooklyn, New York, native, told CNN in 1999 that music enabled him to leave his rough neighborhood to head to Greenwich Village and the music scene there.
Music was always a part of his life.
"I believe I inherited my sense of music from my father. My father was an ear piano player; he could just hear something and play it," he recalls. "I came up in Brooklyn singing doo-wop music from the time I was 13 to the time I was 20. That music served a purpose of keeping a lot of people out of trouble, and also it was a passport from one neighborhood to another."
His inspiration for songs about social change and protest came when he heard artists like Fred Neil, Dino Valenti and Tom Paxton. That's when he knew what he wanted to do with his life.
"It was the songs that actually changed my life," he says. "The songs that I heard were so much different than the doo-wop kind of thing. They were just so powerful. Finally I decided, 'I've got to do this.'"
Before Woodstock, his nights were filled with playing as often as possible to make a few dollars.
"We played three coffeehouses a night, 14 sets a night, 20-minute sets, pass the basket, stay alive," he told CNN. "I was there seven and a half years, every day. It was the most incredibly magic, magic time."
After Havens gained attention at Woodstock, he recorded a soulful-voiced cover of the Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun," which rose on the pop charts in 1970.
Stephen Stills of Crosby, Stills and Nash said Havens was an inspiration for the natural gravel in his singing voice. He called Havens a passionate performer.
"He lit fire when he started playing within the first song and burned exactly the same way throughout his set. And it never stopped, it never changed," Stills said.
He added that he thought Havens' style was probably a little too arcane to appeal to a mass audience.
"But he sure knew what to do when they were begging for someone to go on first, when all those people showed up at Woodstock," Stills said.
Havens returned to Woodstock for the 40th anniversary festival in 2009.
"While his family greatly appreciates that Richie's many fans are also mourning this loss, they do ask for privacy during this difficult time," a statement from his publicist, Carrie Lombardi, said.
Billboard reported Havens died in New Jersey, leaving behind four daughters and five grandchildren.
