Bert Sommer
7:15–8 PM
He has been called the lost star of
Woodstock, and his tale is as haunt-
ing as the ethereal tenor voice that
brought 300,000 people to their feet—
then faded from history. Bert Sommer?
That’s likely the puzzled reaction most
would have when finding him on the
roster of artists who appeared on the
festival’s first day. Sommer was a folk-
rock singer-songwriter, just 20 years
old in 1969, who had performed with
the Left Banke and the Vagrants,
fronted by Leslie West, who later
cofounded Mountain.
If you’ve never heard of Sommer,
you may well have seen him: With his
mass of curly locks, he was the model
for the program for the West Coast pro-
duction of the groundbreaking stage
musical Hair. Sommer costarred in
the show’s L.A. production, along with
singer Jennifer Warnes—who would
inspire him to write the beautiful bal-
lad “Jennifer.” He moved to New York
with the cast and in early 1968 recorded
his first album. A friendship with
record producer Artie Kornfeld, who
booked acts for Woodstock, ensured
Sommer a slot at the festival.
Introduced by announcer John
Morris as “the rather magnificent
Mr. Bert Sommer,” he took the stage at
around seven p.m. Barefoot, in flared
pants and a headband, Sommer sat
cross-legged with his guitar and sang
10 songs—opening with “Jennifer”—
that captivated the vast audience at
Yasgur’s farm. His pièce de résistance
was an achingly gorgeous cover of
Simon & Garfunkel’s “America” that
earned Sommer a standing ovation. “It
was really intense,” he told the Albany
Times Union years later. “As far as you
could see, they were standing up. It was
really something.”AFTER WOODSTOCK: “For me, Sommer
did a wonderful set on that first day—
then he completely disappeared from
the mythology of Woodstock,” Wall
Street Journal music critic Jim Fusilli
told ABC News in 2009. “You see bands
like Santana and artists like Richie
Havens and Melanie who were notFOR THE YOUTH WHO ARRIVED
at the festival, Woodstock
was something of an instant
utopia: no parents, benevolent
police, not a scary authority
figure to be seen. It provided
the ultimate sense of freedom—
freedom to smoke and drink,
freedom to engage in illicit
commerce (above), freedom to
copulate, freedom to do pretty
much anything one felt like
doing. Like freedom to beat a
drum till you dropped.28 LIFE WOODSTOCK