Denver, John

John Denver, (born December 31, 1943, Roswell, New Mexico, U.S.—died October 12, 1997, Monterey Bay, California, U.S.), American singer and songwriter who was known for his wholesome, sentimental music that extolled nature’s and life’s simple pleasures. He was one of the most popular performers of the 1970s.

Denver began playing folk songs on the 1910 Gibson guitar that his grandmother gave him when he was 12. In the mid-1960s he moved to Los Angeles, where he adopted the name of the capital of Colorado, a state whose natural beauty he especially loved, and began performing with the Chad Mitchell Trio. One of his early songwriting efforts, "Leaving on a Jet Plane," was recorded in 1967 by Peter, Paul and Mary and became a number one hit in 1969. His first solo album, Rhymes and Reasons, was released that same year. In 1971 he recorded the million-selling single "Take Me Home, Country Roads," and that was followed by the evocative "Rocky Mountain High" (1972) and the smash hit "Sunshine on My Shoulders" (1974).

Playing an acoustic guitar, Denver gained an international following with his clear tenor voice and homegrown lyrics. Along with 14 gold and 8 platinum albums, he received honours ranging from poet laureate of Colorado (1974) to the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year (1975). Although Denver reached his commercial peak in the mid-1970s, with such albums as Greatest Hits (1973), Back Home Again (1974), and Windsong (1975), he continued to record and perform, starring in a number of television specials and in the motion picture Oh, God! (1977).

A tireless advocate for wildlife and land conservation, Denver cofounded (1976) the Windstar Foundation, and his 20 years with UNICEF reflected his commitment to eradicating hunger and poverty. Although he was an experienced pilot trained by his father, an air force officer, Denver died when the handmade experimental airplane he was flying crashed off the coast of California.