Denver, John

Singer-songwriter John Denver, known for his folksy, sentimental style and quivering tenor, was born in Roswell, New Mexico. By the time he reached university, he had lived in Tucson, Arizona, Montgomery, Alabama, and Fort Worth, Texas, as his stern military father, a captain in the Air Force, moved the family from posting to posting. Before he reached high school, his grandmother gave him a vintage 1910 acoustic Gibson guitar. At Texas Tech University, where he began studying architecture, he played with the “Alpine Trio,” before dropping out in 1963/64 to head for Los Angeles. After singing with various groups there, he won an audition to replace the leader of the New York-based Chad Mitchell trio in 1967. The group recorded one of his songs, “Babe, I Hate To Go,” that Milt Okun, their producer, renamed “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” and brought to another of his clients, “Peter, Paul and Mary.” In 1969, that version hit no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. RCA Victor then signed “John Denver,” the professional name he adopted, and his career took off. He went solo and was a commercial success all through the 1970s, writing and performing such hits as “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” “Thank God I’m a Country Boy,” and “Rocky Mountain High.” In 1974, Colorado, where he then resided, named him state poet laureate. The next year the Country Music Association named him “Entertainer of the Year.” In the 1980s and 1990s, his enthusiasm turned toward environmental awareness, wilderness and wildlife conservation, the African AIDS crisis, world hunger, homelessness and poverty. He co-founded the Hunger Project and the Windstar Foundation for Sustainable Living; he also gave numerous benefit concerts and donations, and his songs reflected his activism. President Carter (for whom he had campaigned in 1976) named him to the President’s Commission on World and Domestic Hunger. He was invited to compose and sing the theme song “The Gold and Beyond,” for the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics. In 1985 he toured Russia, giving concerts benefiting the victims of the Chernobyl nuclear accident. In 1992, he also toured China. Ronald Reagan, whom he had criticized, awarded him the Presidential World without Hunger Award in 1987. Other awards followed, like the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame (1996), but most were posthumous; he died when the Rutan Long-EZ experimental plane he was flying crashed into Monterey Bay. He had become an aviation fan after his father had taught him to fly, and he had a collection of antique biplanes. During his career, Denver recorded 14 gold and 8 platinum albums. These included 300 songs of which he had himself written 200. The album “John Denver’s Greatest Hits,” released in 1973, has sold more than 10 million copies.