One of the world’s most everlasting songwriter, performer, actor, environmentalist, and humanitarian, John Denver has mystified the world with his music for over three decades
John was the son of a U.S Air Force officer. His journey into music began after the family moved to Tucson, where, at the age of eleven, he got his first guitar. Eventually, he took up guitar lessons and joined a boy’s choir.
It was the year 1963 when John started to envision stardom. He changed his name from Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. to John Denver. Denver was derived from the beautiful Rocky Mountain capital city of Colorado, his home state.
His first major break was when he was chosen from 250 other hopefuls as lead singer for the popular Mitchell Trio. Two years hence, John sharpened his considerable vocal talent and developed his own song writing style, in which he started getting recognition. “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary, was his first hit.
Within the next two years, the trio disbanded and John started performing alone. He started climbing up domestic as well as international charts with “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” “Rocky Mountain High,” “Sunshine On My Shoulders,” “Annie’s Song,” “Back Home Again,” “Thank God I’m A Country Boy,” and “Calypso”… reinforcing his position as one of the top stars of the decade.
His concert tours reached millions globally. The world embraced John – captivated by each new release, including 14 gold albums and 8 platinum albums in the U.S as well as numerous gold and platinum sales overseas.
John contributed his talents to the benefit of many charitable and environmental causes and has received numerous civic and humanitarian awards over the years. In fact, he was one of the first artists to share an environmental message through his music. “Whose Garden Was This?” was the first in a long line of songs that he wrote about the environment.
His passion to help create a global community paved the way for ventures into new musical and geographic territories. In 1985, he was invited by the Soviet Union to perform in their country, inspiring the internationally acclaimed song “Let Us Begin,” which was featured on John’s 25th album “One World.” The song was recorded in Moscow as a duet with the well-known Soviet singer Alexandre Gradsky, the first time a Soviet artist was allowed to perform on a record with a major American singer. “Let Us Begin” moved viewers around the world.
Today, millions of fans, old and new, enjoy the work of this extraordinary performer. 30 albums and three decades of stardom, John Denver is still as fresh within us as ever.