JOHN DENVER Early Life Born 31 Dec 1943

JOHN DENVER

Early Life Born 31 Dec 1943 in New Mexico Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. 1 st guitar was a gift from his grandmother Texas Technical University (1961 -1964) 1965 - Chad Mitchell Trio in New York Folk-pop Peter, Paul and Mary recorded “Leaving on a Jet Plane”

Music Style Folk/Country Just him and his guitar Pleasant, well-crafted songs Driven to write songs Love of nature Environmental Issues

Biggest Hits “Leaving on a Jet Plane” “Annie's Song” “Rocky Mountain High “Calypso” “Sunshine on My Shoulders” “Take Me Home, Country Roads” “Wild Montana Skies” “Sweet Surrender” “Fly Away” “Dreamland Express” “Some Days Are Diamonds” “Thank God I'm a Country Boy”

“Wild Montana Skies” Ballad (story of a man's life) in Strophic Form Instrumentation: Guitar, Drum Set, Banjo, Piano Love of nature, importance of the “country” vs the “city” https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=e 5 bi. La. Ii 9 NA

“Calypso” Jacques-Yves Cousteau's oceanographic ship Wrote the chorus while on board the Calypso Listen for: instrumentation, ship bell, vocables https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=-Zonm. QZG 0 GQ

“Take Me Home Country Roads” John’s friends Bill and Taffy Danoff started writing the song and then asked him to help with it. Initially, the Danoff’s were hoping to get Johnny Cash to record the song with them. The song was released as a single in 1971. The ‘country roads’ sung about in the song are actual roads in West Virginia. What is interesting, is that neither John nor his 2 friends had ever been there. Bill got was inspired to write about the pictures he saw on postcards sent too and from a friend of his in West Virginia. He also got ideas from radio stations he listened too growing up in Massachusetts. https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=uk. UL_I 14 GPw

Death A longtime aviator, John Denver died tragically when the plane he was piloting ran out of fuel over Monterey Bay, Cali, Oct. 12, 1997. He wasn't quite 54 years old.

Bibliography "John Denver. " Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2014. Web. 24 Nov. 2014. http: //www. notablebiographies. com/supp/Supple ment-Ca-Fi/Denver-John. html http: //www. findadeath. com/Deceased/d/John%2 0 Denver/john_denver. htm http: //www. songfacts. com/detail. php? id=4781