The life of John Denver

John Denver is a famous folk and country music artist. The songs “Take me home country roads” (1972), “Rock Mountain high” (1972), “Back home again” (1974), “Annie’s song” (1974) and “Calypso” are his famous original singles. Being an advocate for the environment, he has been referred to as the “poet for the planet”.



John Denver’s real name was Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr. Born in Roswell New Mexico in December 31, 1943; he is the eldest of his family and had lived a military life since his stern father worked for the military as he described in his autobiography “Take me home”. On his third year high school, he tried to run away from home but his father came after and retrieved him, he then finished high school.

At the age of 12, he received his first guitar- a gift from his favorite grandmother. It was 1910 Gibson acoustic jazz guitar he was very fond of. In 1957, Denver attended college in Texas Technical University for four years but he didn’t finish it, he dropped out of college and in 1965, he travelled to New York City to try his luck on an audition for Chad Mitchell trio which was composed of John Denver, David Boise and Michael Johnson. He changed his name to John Denver; the “Denver” was after his favorite capital of the state. During “Chad Mitchell’s” presentation at a college in Minnesota, Denver met Annie Marie Martell who later became his wife in 1967 together, they had two children but Denver and Martell got divorced in 1983. Denver had married his second wife-Cassandra Delaney in 1988. In 1968, the group disbanded and Denver then released his debut solo album entitled “Rhymes and Reasons” had covered the single “Leaving on a jet plane” (which was originally entitled “Babe, I hate to go”). This single became utterly famous when folk pop group- Peter, Paul and Mary recorded this. It placed number one in the Billboard top 100. His next four albums for the two following years were also successful. He was tagged as “the golden boy of folk music” with his wholesome good looks. His most successful albums were poems, prayers and promises (1971) and “Back home again (1974). Like any other successful country artist, John Denver received many awards such as Top male recording artist (1974-1975) and CMA entertainer of the year. John Denver like his father is a pilot and while flying a plane down over Monterey Bay, California in October 12, 1997, his plane crashed leading him to his death. John Denver’s songs still belongs in the top country music and best country songs  today in fact his single “take me home country roads” placed number 18 in the list of CMT top 100 songs of 2011.