Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

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DENVER, John

(b Henry John Deutschendorf, 31 Dec. '43, Roswell NM; d 12 Oct. '97) US singer-songwriter. His father was a USAF pilot; he named himself after his favourite state's capital city; a clean-cut kid who tapped the massive MOR market '70s with delivery and country-flavoured material a notch above the ordinary. Briefly in group with John Stewart, during which time each wrote their best-known songs: Stewart's 'Daydream Believer', Denver's 'Leavin' On A Jet Plane' (world- wide hit for Peter, Paul and Mary). With Chad Mitchell Trio for four years, went solo with albums Rhymes And Reasons '69, Whose Garden Was This and Take Me To Tomorrow '70; Poems, Prayers And Promises '71 was no. 15 LP USA, first gold LP incl. 'Take Me Home, Country Roads', no. 2 single (no. 50 country chart); 32 singles in Hot 100 USA '71--84 incl. four no. 1 hits '74--5 with 'Sunshine On My Shoulders', lugubrious 'Annie's Song' (also no. 1 UK), 'Thank God I'm A Country Boy' (flip side 'My Sweet Lady' charted on reissue '77), 'I'm Sorry'. 'Rocky Mountain High' was no. 9 '72; 'Back Home Again' no. 5 '74. Collaborations incl. A Christmas Together with Muppets (no. 26 LP '79, top ten Billboard Xmas chart '83); also duets 'Perhaps Love' with opera star Placido Domingo (song Denver's; single charted under Domingo's name in UK and USA '81--2), 'Love Again' with Sylvie Vartan '84. LP sales are revealing; MOR artists sell lots of albums, which keep selling longer than singles: 21 LPs in top 200 Billboard LPs USA; Arie '71 reached only no. 75 but stayed 16 weeks in the chart and went gold: of 15 LPs in top 40 '71--82 eleven went gold, four platinum (sold more than a million copies); Greatest Hits '73 (175 weeks in chart), Back Home Again '74, Windsong '75 were all no. 1; Rocky Mountain High '72 no. 4, An Evening With John Denver '75 no. 2, Spirit '76 no. 7, Greatest Hits Vol. 2 '77 no. 6. He played in film Oh, God '77 opposite George Burns in the title role. Denver sidemen '80s incl. James Burton, Glen D. Hardin (both ex-Elvis Presley, ex-Emmylou Harris's Hot Band); It's About Time '83 (no. 61) incl. duet with Harris on 'Wild Montana Skies' (single made country chart), backing by the Wailers on 'World Game'.

Having done it all and got rather rich, he saw his record sales inevitably dip. He teamed with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band for And So It Goes '89 and formed his own Windstar label; continued working for humanitarian and ecological causes; more albums incl. One World '86 and Higher Ground '88 on RCA, The Flower That Shattered The Stone, Earth Songs and Different Directions '90--92 were all on Windstar. In the mid- '90s 'Country Roads' was voted the best singalong defence against road-rage by drivers in Britain; meanwhile Denver had suffered his own rages (once while on tour Annie had his favourite stand of oaks cut down; he took a chainsaw and cut their bedroom furniture in half). Without a record contract, with two divorces behind him and after crashing his Porsche twice he straightened himself out; his concerts were still sell-outs and he was writing songs again, but then crashed his light aircraft into Monterey Bay.