Award winning country influenced folk singer and songwriter John Denver rose to fame in the 1970s. Denver's songs reflected his deep love of nature, especially the Rocky Mountains in his adopted home state of Colorado. Some of his best albums included the singles "Take Me Home, Country Roads", "Sunshine on My Shoulders" and "Thank God I'm a Country Boy".
Denver rose to fame in the 70s starting first with Back Porch Majority, a nursery group for the renowned New Christy Minstrels and then joining Chad Mitchell Trio. It was with this trio that he showed his songwriting skills. One of his more popular songs as a song writer was "Leaving on a Jet Plane," provided an international hit for Peter, Paul and Mary.http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/denver_john/bio.jhtml
In1971, Denver released Poems, Prayers and Promises album which featured his hit song "Take Me Home, Country Roads." The Country Roads song was the first of his six gold singles. In 1975, he was the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year. This awards show is best remembered by the fact that Charlie Rich ignited the envelope when he read Denver’s name as the winner.
Denver was not just a popular singer. He branched out to acting in 1977, when he joined George Burns in the hit comedy Oh, God! which he followed with a TV special, John Denver and the Muppets: A Rocky Mountain Holiday, in 1983. John Denver was an activist known for his efforts to end world hunger, protect the wilderness and explore space. John Denver sang on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's 1989 album Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Volume II. http://www.notablebiographies.com/supp/Supplement-Ca-Fi/Denver-John.html
Denver died in 1997 when the private plane he was piloting crashed into Monterey Bay, California
Partial Discography
- 1968 Something to Sing About
- 1969 Rhymes and Reasons
- 1970 Take Me To Tomorrow
- 1970 Whose Garden Was This?
- 1971 Poems, Prayers and Promises
- 1972 Aerie
- 1972 Rocky Mountain High
- 1973 Farewell Andromeda
- 1973 John Denver's Greatest Hits
- 1974 Back Home Again
- 1975 An Evening With John Denver
- 1975 Windsong
- 1975 Rocky Mountain Christmas
- 1976 Spirit
- 1977 John Denver's Greatest Hits, Volume 2
- 1977 I Want To Live
- 1979 John Denver
- 1979 A Christmas Together
- 1980 Autograph
- 1981 Some Days Are Diamonds
- 1982 Seasons Of The Heart
- 1982 Rocky Mountain Holiday
- 1983 It's About Time
- 1984 John Denver's Greatest Hits, Volume 3
- 1994 The Very Best of John Denver
- 1995 The WIldlife Concert
- 1995 The John Denver Collection
- 1996 The Rocky Mountain Collection
- 1996 Love Again
- 1997 All Aboard!
- 1998 Rocky Mountain High: The Very Best of John Denver
- 1998 Forever John
John Denver - Rocky Mountain High
Denver's music was believed to be bland and dry by some but his songs mostly sang of nature and calm parts of life. He often sang of the things around him he enjoyed in life. This song eventually became the state song for Colorado.
References
Fast Facts
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Name
Henry John Deutschendorf Jr.
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Born
December 31, 1943
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Birthplace
Roswell, New Mexico
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Died
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Grammy Awards
2
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AMA Awards
4
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1996
Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame
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Fact:
"Rocky Mountain High" official state song of Colorado
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Fact:
Wrote "Annies's Song" for his then-wife, Annie Denver
