1. Bert Sommer was an American folk singer and songwriter.
19 Facts About Bert Sommer
1. 2.
Bert Sommer appeared in the musical Hair and at the Woodstock Festival, and he released several albums as a singer-songwriter.
3.
Bert Sommer was a self-taught musician, who began writing songs in his teens.
4.
Bert Sommer attended Woodlands High School as well as Quintano's School for Young Professionals in Manhattan.
5.
In 1967, Bert Sommer was hired to join a "new" version of the Baroque pop band The Left Banke.
6.
Bert Sommer co-wrote the Left Banke single "And Suddenly" with member Michael Brown.
7.
Bert Sommer sang lead on "Ivy Ivy", written by Tom Feher.
8.
Bert Sommer had been signed by Capitol Records, and in June 1969 he released his first album, The Road to Travel.
9.
Kornfeld's involvement with the Woodstock Festival led to Bert Sommer being invited to perform there.
10.
Bert Sommer was the third act to perform on the opening Friday, August 15,1969.
11.
Bert Sommer played with Ira Stone and Charles Bilello.
12.
In 2019, the entire Bert Sommer set became part of the Woodstock 50th anniversary 38-CD set, restored by Andy Zax.
13.
Sommer's second album, Inside Bert Sommer, was released in May 1970 on the Eleuthera label, a subsidiary of Buddah Records, and featured the single "We're All Playing in the Same Band", which he wrote at, for, and about the Woodstock festival, about his experience there.
14.
Bert Sommer continued to perform in and around New York, often opening the bill for major acts such as Ike and Tina Turner and the Byrds.
15.
Bert Sommer spent some time in a rehabilitation facility in the early 1970s, then formed a trio in Brockport, New York.
16.
In 1977, his fourth album, titled Bert Sommer, produced in Los Angeles by Ron Dante, was released by Capitol Records.
17.
Bert Sommer returned to Albany in August 1983 and almost immediately began to perform in local venues with Johnny Rabb, as well as Carla and Kevin McKrell, in The Fabulous Newports.
18.
Bert Sommer teamed up with Eddie Angel and Johnny Rabb in The Poor Boys.
19.
Bert Sommer died in Troy, New York on July 23,1990, after a long battle with a respiratory illness.