Profile of John Denver on Famous Like Me

John Denver (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), born Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr., was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Denver died at the age of 53 off the coast of Monterey, California while piloting a Rutan Long-EZ, an experimental fiberglass airplane.

Early years

John Denver was born in Roswell, New Mexico. His father, Henry Deutschendorf, Sr., was an Air Force officer and flight instructor. Denver was born while his father was stationed at the Roswell Army Air Field. He grew up on a number of military bases in the American southwest. Denver attended high school in Fort Worth, Texas and later enrolled at Texas Tech where he was a member of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity.

His introduction to playing music came at the age of twelve when his grandmother gave him a 1910 Gibson acoustic guitar. Denver began performing at local clubs while in college. He dropped out of college in 1964 and moved to Los Angeles to join the Chad Mitchell Trio, a folk group. He left the group, by then known as Denver, Boise and Johnson, in 1969 to pursue a solo career.

That same year he released his debut LP, Rhymes and Reasons. Within the next four years, albums such as Whose Garden Was This, Take Me to Tomorrow, and Poems, Prayers and Promises established him as one of America's popular recording stars.

Career

Denver had a successful singing and songwriting career, and a minor career as an actor—his most notable film credit being in 1977's Oh, God! opposite George Burns. In 1994 Denver wrote an autobiography entitled Take Me Home. He moved to Aspen, Colorado in 1970 following his first solo success with song "Leaving on a Jet Plane".

Denver was recognized not only for his musical ability but also for his humanitarian work. He worked extensively on conservation projects and helped to create the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. He also founded his own environmental group called the Windstar Foundation. Denver had a keen interest in the causes of and solution to hunger, and visited Africa during the 1980s to witness first-hand the suffering caused by starvation and also to work with African leaders towards a solution. Denver testified alongside Frank Zappa and Dee Snider on the topic of censorship during a PMRC hearing in 1985.

After an enjoyable experience as a guest on The Muppet Show, he recorded two Muppet television specials: John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together (1979) and John Denver and the Muppets: Rocky Mountain Holiday (1982).

Defying all conventional labels, John Denver held a singular place in American music: a songwriter whose immensely popular work was suffused with a deep and abiding kinship with the natural world. Songs such as 'Take Me Home, Country Roads', 'Leaving on a Jet Plane', 'Rocky Mountain High' are popular the world over. His songs are characterised by their sweet melodies, elegant guitar-strumming and his soulful rendition of the lyrics. He became one of the few western singers widely known in the non-European world including Africa, India and South-East Asia.

In the months just prior to his death in a plane accident in 1997 at the age of 53, Denver was filming an episode of the Nature series, centering on the natural wonders that inspired many of his best-loved songs. The result is a poignant and melodic film that records his final journeys into the wilderness and contains his last song, "Yellowstone, Coming Home", composed while rafting along the Colorado River with his son and young daughter.

Death

Denver had two passions in life: song, and flying. An experienced pilot, Denver owned and flew his own Lear Jet, gliders, flew aerobatically, and even had some time in an F-15. However, it was this passion for the air that cost Denver his life when he crashed his newly acquired Rutan Long-EZ aircraft into the ocean on October 12, 1997.

The mass media published inconsistent versions for the cause of the crash where in fact there were multiple, serial causes of the crash (as is commonly the case in aircraft accidents), which ultimately reduce to pilot error in not adequately preparing for the flight in the unfamiliar aircraft, and pilot error when attempting to switch to the right tank and inadvertently putting the aircraft into a steep bank.

The accident report highlighted the following factors:

• Denver began the flight knowing that the tanks were low on fuel but neglected to fill the tanks prior to takeoff as he thought there would be enough for the solo familiarisation flight in the aircraft which he estimated would be an hour long.
• The fuel selector was installed in a non-standard location which was difficult for the pilot to reach.
• The fuel selector was installed to function in a counterintuitive fashion (up for off, down for right, and right for left) and was unmarked.
• The fuel sight gauges were unmarked and non-linear, as a result they did not give an intuitive measure of fuel available.
• It is likely that the fuel in the left tank of the aircraft was consumed during the first half-hour of the flight.
• Denver would have had to loosen his harness and twist his body in the seat in order to reach the fuel selector.
• In doing this it is likely that Denver inadvertently depressed the right rudder pedal.
• With the rudder pedal depressed the aircraft would have rolled into a steep bank.
• Denver was preoccupied with trying to change to the other tank and regain engine power; in doing so the bank was not detected or corrected in time.
• The aircraft impacted the ocean before Denver was able to regain control.

The Denver crash has led to improved safety standards for small, custom aircraft.

Related artists

Denver started his recording career with the Chad Mitchell Trio; his distinctive voice can be heard where he sings solo on Violets of Dawn. He recorded three albums with the Mitchell Trio, replacing Chad Mitchell himself as lead singer. His group Denver, Boise and Johnson released a single before he moved on to a solo career.

Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert appeared as singers and songwriters on many of Denver's albums up until forming the Starland Vocal Band in 1976. The band's albums were released on Denver's Windstar label.

Denver's early solo success was largely due to a recording of his Leaving, on a Jet Plane which was recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary. It became a number 1 hit for the group.

Denver recorded songs by Tom Paxton, Eric Andersen, David Mallet, and many others in the folk scene.

Discography

In chronological order, 1969-1991 (U.S. Releases)

RCA Records

• Rhymes & Reasons - 1969 ^†
• Take Me To Tomorrow - 1970
• Whose Garden Was This? - 1970
• Poems, Prayers, and Promises - 1971 ^†
• Aerie - 1972
• Rocky Mountain High - 1972 ^†
• Farewell Andromeda - 1973
• Greatest Hits - 1973 ^††
• Back Home Again - 1974 ^†
• An Evening with John Denver (live) - 1975
• Windsong - 1975 ^†
• Rocky Mountain Christmas - 1975 ^†
• Spirit - 1976
• Greatest Hits Vol. 2 - 1977
• I Want To Live - 1977
• John Denver (JD) - 1978
• A Christmas Together (with The Muppets) - 1979
• Autograph - 1980
• Some Days Are Diamonds - 1981
• Seasons of the Heart - 1982
• It's About Time - 1983
• Rocky Mountain Holiday (with The Muppets) - 1983
• Greatest Hits Vol. 3 - 1984
• Dreamland Express - 1985
• One World - 1986

Windstar Records

• Higher Ground - 1989
• Earth Songs - 1990
• The Flower That Shattered the Stone - 1990
• Christmas, Like a Lullaby - 1990
• Different Directions - 1991

† Albums widely considered to be among Denver's most important works.

†† The first "Greatest Hits" album is important historically because it contains new, revisionist recordings of several hit songs. After its release these versions were used for airplay despite differing in subtle but important ways from the original versions; generally, they are more polished.

Songs of note

• "Leaving, On a Jet Plane" (1969) first made a hit by Peter, Paul & Mary
• "Take Me Home, Country Roads" (1971) – written by Denver with Bill and Taffy Danoff. It became the de facto anthem of West Virginia, though it has no official status
• "Sunshine On My Shoulders" (1971) written by Denver with Dick Kniss and Mike Taylor
• "Rocky Mountain High" (1972) written by Denver with Mike Taylor
• "Annie's Song", written in 1974, for his wife Annie.
• "For Baby (For Bobby)"
• "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" (1974) written by John Sommers – gained popularity amongst Baltimore Orioles fans as a song played during the baseball team's seventh inning stretch.
• "Matthew"
• "Calypso" (1975) – A musical tribute to Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his crew, with song royalties donated to the Cousteau Society.
• "Perhaps Love" (1981) – duet recorded with Placido Domingo

All of these songs were written by John Denver, with the exceptions noted

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