Bert Sommer (February 7, 1949 – July 23, 1990) was an American folk singer and songwriter. He appeared in the musical Hair and at the Woodstock Festival, and released several albums as a singer-songwriter. Life and career Sommer was born in New York City and grew up in Queens and Hartsdale, New York. He was a self-taught musician (piano and guitar), who began writing songs in his teens. He attended Woodlands High School as well as Quintano's School for Young Professionals in Manhattan. He became friendly with other young musicians and songwriters in the area, including Peter Sabatino, Leslie West, Tom Feher, and Michael Brown, and wrote several songs for West (then known as Weinstein)'s band, the Vagrants, including their single "Beside the Sea", co-written with producer Felix Pappalardi and his wife Gail Collins. In 1967, Sommer joined Michael Brown's band, The Left Banke, as lead singer, replacing Steve Martin Caro and co-writing their single "And Suddenly" with Brown. He also sang lead on "Ivy Ivy", written by Tom Feher. The group (which included Michael McKean on bass) soon fell apart, following legal threats by Martin's lawyers. In the same baroque vein as the Left Banke, Sommer wrote "Brink of Death", recorded by the band Childe Harold with an arrangement by Wendy (Walter) Carlos. Next, Sommer was recruited as a member of "the Tribe" for the musical Hair, and then promoted to the role of Woof. His "frizzed-out Afro" hair and eyes were featured on the Los Angeles Playbill for Hair in 1969. Sommer had been signed by Capitol Records, and in June 1969 released his first album, The Road to Travel, produced by Artie Kornfeld, as were his next two albums. Kornfeld's involvement with the Woodstock Festival led to Sommer being invited to perform there. He was the third act to perform on the opening Friday, August 15, 1969. He sang ten songs, including "Jennifer", a song inspired by his fellow Hair performer, Jennifer Warnes, and Simon & Garfunkel's "America", after which he received the festival's first standing ovation. Sommer played with Ira Stone (guitar, Hammond organ, harmonica) and Charles Bilello (bass). According to some accounts, because he was signed to a rival record label, none of his audio performance was made publicly available until 2009. However, his performance singing "Jennifer" was captured in D.A. Pennebaker's documentary Woodstock Diary (1994). In 2019, the entire Bert Sommer set became part