John Denver

John Denver
Born Henry John Deutschendorf, John Denver took his name from the city that would eventually become his home; “Denver, Colorado”. In 1967 while Denver was part of “The Mitchell Trio” he wrote “Leaving On a Jet Plane” which became a number one hit for “Peter, Paul & Mary” in 1969. After the demise of “The Mitchell Trio” he signed with RCA records and by the end of 1970 released three solo albums: “Rhymes and Reasons”, “Take Me To Tommorow”,and “Whose Garden This Was”. Each album produced a bigger flop then the previous and failed to establish him as a recording artist. In March of 1971 RCA released “Poems,Prayers and Promises” which included a song added at the last minute that would set the course of his musical career. “Take Me Home, Country Roads” reached #2 on the Billboard charts (The album went gold shortly thereafter) and became known as his signature tune. In late 1972 he hit again with “Rocky Mountain High” which reached #4. In 1975 he was voted “Country Music Entertainer of the Year”. In 1977 he starred with George Burns in “Oh God”. His other popular songs included : “Annie’s Song”,”Calypso”,”Thank God I’m a Country Boy” ,”Fly Away”,”Grandma’s Feather Bed”,”Back Home Again” and “Sunshine On My Shoulders”. As the 80’s cranked on his marriage ended in divorce and RCA dropped him. He took an interest in flying and perhaps he should of found a safer hobby. On October 12th of 1997 he was flying an experimental “kit-built” fiberglass single-engine plane which crashed into Monterray Bay killing him instantly. At the time of his death Denver had amassed a total of 14 gold records, 8 of which were ranked platinum. The album “John Denver’s Greatest Hits” is still one of the largest selling records in the history of RCA records. John Denver was 53 years old.