Richie Havens, my musical hero

Groove Armada's Tom Findlay recalls writing songs, recording and touring with the musical great – and how he wowed their mums

I first heard Richie Havens in a field outside Cambridge aged 16. I was at a rave and a DJ (who is still a friend today) dropped Havens's classic version of Back to My Roots. It was one of those world-stops-still moments: the rave piano, the funk of it all, and this massive voice that drove the track on. I now have a copy of that album signed to "a friend for ever" on my studio wall. In 2002, Groove Armada played that track with Richie at Glastonbury; it will always be one of our defining moments as a band.

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In 2001, my music partner Andy and I were holed up in a cottage in Banbury writing our album Goodbye Country (Hello Nightclub). Richie was in New York. Somehow, we tracked him down through a fan website and on a whim sent him the backing track to a song that would become Little By Little. We never expected a response, but two weeks later a digital audio tape arrived. I'll never forget the sound of his voice in the studio that day, its richness and its depth. From that day on, we formed a bond.

We went on to write Hands of Time with Richie, and later did the inevitable cover of Back to My Roots. We included a kind of afro-funk coda that always inspired Richie to do this amazing hip-wiggling dance. We played Brixton Academy in London with him in 2003 and 2007; we sat on tour buses and in rehearsal rooms with him. We had a front-row seat before a true musical hero.

Like all great men, Richie had an ability to make people feel relaxed around him. It didn't matter who he met, he always did this sort of self-deprecating bow. I think it was his way of showing love and respect, showing that everybody mattered. He had a gorgeous spoken voice, deep and easy on the ear, and brought a serenity to any situation. I remember him meeting our mums backstage (they were fans from 1968): they'd be in bits, and he always looked genuinely moved by their strength of feeling.

His anecdotes spoke to his place in musical history. He once told me about the time he and Nina Simone were on a tour bus together, when they heard JFK was shot. He could take a song like Here Comes the Sun and make it his own. Best of all, despite this near-saintliness, he was still a rock'n'roller. He had quite a childish, mischievous side. When his tour manager's back was turned he could let his hair down, and he had the most infectious laugh.

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Watching him play live was watching a life force in motion. He open-tuned his guitar, so that his playing was stock-full of rhythm. He could generate the most incredible energy just from his voice, his guitar and a wildly tapping foot. Hearing the awful news last night that Richie had died, I started thinking back to all the times we had worked with him. My abiding memory is of a magic energy he carried around him. You could hear it in the reaction of the crowd whenever he took to the stage; you heard it in his voice. I'll miss that more than anything.

Tom Findlay

The GuardianTramp

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