31 December
1943 in Roswell, NM
One of the
most popular recording artists of the 1970s, country-folk singer/songwriter
John Denver's gentle, environmentally conscious music established him among the
most beloved entertainers of his era; wholesome and clean-cut, his appeal
extended to fans of all ages and backgrounds, and led to parallel careers as
both an actor and a humanitarian.
Born Henry
John Deutschendorf in Roswell, NM, on December 31, 1943, he was raised in an
Air Force family, and grew up in various regions of the southwestern U.S. As a
teen, his grandmother presented him with a 1910 Gibson acoustic guitar, and
while attending Texas Tech University he began performing local clubs. Adopting
the stage surname "Denver" in tribute to the Rocky Mountain area he
so cherished, he dropped out of college in 1964 to relocate to Los Angeles;
there he joined the Chad Mitchell Trio, a major draw on the hootenanny circuit
of the early '60s but in the twilight of their career at the time of Denver's
arrival.
Over time,
however, Denver helped resuscitate the group on the strength of his songwriting
skills; signed to Mercury, the Trio recorded a number of tracks, which the
label repackaged in 1974 as Beginnings With the Chad Mitchell Trio. Upon the
departure of the last remaining founding member, the Chad Mitchell Trio became
known as Denver, Boise and Johnson; the new group proved short-lived, however,
when Denver exited in 1969 to pursue a solo career.
That same
year he recorded his debut LP, Rhymes and Reasons; while not a hit, it
contained one of his best-loved compositions, "Leaving on a Jet
Plane," an international chart-topper for Peter, Paul & Mary. Still,
neither of Denver's follow-up albums, 1970's Whose Garden Was This and Take Me
to Tomorrow, launched him as a solo performer; finally, with 1971's Poems,
Prayers & Promises, he achieved superstardom, thanks to the million-selling
hits "Take Me Home, Country Roads" and "Sunshine on My
Shoulders." In the years to follow, Denver also scored with "Annie's Song"
(penned for his wife) and "Back Home Again," and by 1974 was firmly
established as America's best-selling performer; albums like 1975's An Evening
With John Denver and Windsong were phenomenally popular, and he continued to
top the singles charts with efforts including "Thank God I'm a Country
Boy" and "I'm Sorry." Additionally, his 1974 best-of collection
sold over ten million copies worldwide, and remained on the charts for over two
years.
At the peak
of his success, Denver was everywhere -- the governor of Colorado proclaimed
him the state's poet laureate, his label Windsong was responsible for hits like
the Starland Vocal Band's mammoth "Afternoon Delight," and he
appeared in a number of ratings-grabbing television specials. In 1977, he even
moved into film, co-starring with George Burns in the comedy hit Oh, God!
During this time, however, he dramatically curtailed his recording output, and
after 1977's I Want to Live, issued no new material until 1980's Autograph.
The
following year, he performed with opera star Placido Domingo, but as the decade
progressed, Denver's popularity waned as he turned his focus more toward
humanitarian work, focusing primarily on ecological concerns and space
exploration; he also toured Communist-led Russia and China, and in 1987
performed in Chernobyl in the wake of that city's nuclear disaster.
While
maintaining a solid cult following, by the 1990s Denver had largely fallen off
the radar, and he made more news for a 1993 drunk-driving arrest than he did
for records like 1991's Different Directions. In 1994, he published an
autobiography, Take Me Home. Tragedy struck on October 12, 1997, when his
experimental aircraft suddenly crashed, killing him instantly. Denver was 53.
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