John Denver singer short bio

John Denver was one of the biggest artistes of the 1970s, immensely successful and a prolific writer.  He was well loved, with an endearing look… and a gentle innocent style of performing… Critics often mocked him but he was greatly loved by the public….

He was born in 1943 to an Air Force family with the name of Henry John Deutschendorf junior.   His father was a colonel in the Air force and was also called Henry John Deutschendorf.    He was born in Roswell, New Mexico, and due to his father’s profession, the family moved around a lot.  He was a sensitive child, and so did not find it easy to be continually moving to new areas and schools.   His father was strict and did not find it easy to show affection nor to understand his son... and John felt out of place.  He disliked Fort Worth, Texas, where his father was based for a time... and was uneasy with the segregated culture of the southern states of America in the 1950s… He left home in his teens to try and start a musical career but was forced to return home.  Then in 1963 he abandoned his college career to pursue his passion for music.   He moved to Los Angeles where there was a thriving folk music scene and began to play under the name John Denver... as his birth name was too long.  He chose the name Denver because he loved Colorado…  He sang with the Mitchell Trio and began to have some success as the 60s progressed.  Folk music was very popular among the young in the years of rebellion against materialism and conservative values...

In 1969 he wrote a song called “Babe I hate to Go” which became his big hit “Leaving on a Jet plane”.   The Folk Group Peter Paul and Mary, recorded it and it was massively popular… 

In the 1970s John was immensely popular and had hits with Thank God I’m a Country Boy, the beautiful  "Annie’s song"which he wrote for his wife, and Rocky Mountain High and his most famous Anthem to country living “Take Me home Country Roads” .  He won Country music awards but some country musicians felt that he wasn’t really a country artist... He was more folk and pop and a little too soft and sentimental. 

He was a good hearted person who devoted himself to charity work, and to causes like preserving the Environment.  He loved country life and settled in the mountains  in Colorado where he maintained his home for the rest of his life.  He loved golf, but his passion for was for flying.  His father had been an Air force officer and Denver learned to fly and loved doing it.   He became politically active, supporting the Democratic Party and giving money and attention to good causes especially solving world hunger.  In the 1980s the mood of the US was more conservative and Denver was somewhat hostile to Ronald Reagan as president.   He was angry at the money spent on weapons when the world had hungry people... and he was against nuclear energy…He was interested In space flight and trained as an astronaut…
Some felt he was rather naive but his commitment to his various charities was sincere and energetic… 

However his private life had its problems.  He had married Annie Martell with whom he had 2 adopted children.  The marriage however broke up in 1982.  Denver had drug and drink addictions and the couple could not handle the strains of his massive success.

In the late 1980s he married an Australian actress but the marriage, which produced a daughter, was very short lived and ended in a bitter divorce. By the 1990s his drinking problems were affecting his life.  His medical certification to fly was revoked in 1996 due to his failing to maintain sobriety…

However in 1997, he was practising landing and taking off, on an airfield in California...  There was no sign of his drinking... at the time –but he seems to have had trouble with his fuel tank.  He was advised that the fuel was running low but he failed to refuel and the plane began to nose downwards and he lost control.  It crashed into the sea in Monterey Bay and he was killed… He was only 53.

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