John Denver – Take Me Home
John Denver exemplified optimism in the seventies to such a degree that even when he tried to write a sad song, the lowest he could go was a cheerful tune like “Sunshine On My Shoulders.” As he told his fans from the concert stage, he wanted to communicate the joy of living.

Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr. was born on New Year’s Eve, 1943, in Roswell, New Mexico. He was a self-proclaimed Air Force brat and moved constantly with his family to Arizona, Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama and even Japan. His favorite times were spent on a farm in Oklahoma owned by his grandmother, who gave him a guitar before he was a teenager. He took it everywhere, studied basic chords for a year, and joined a rock band in high school.

His major at Texas Tech was architecture, but he was more interested in music and moved to California halfway through his junior year to play folk music in clubs. While in Los Angeles he renamed himself after his favorite city. “I liked it because my heart longed to live in the mountains,” he said in Newsweek.

When Chad Mitchell departed the famed trio bearing his name, Denver was chosen out of 250 candidates to replace him. His tenure with the group lasted three years and then he signed a solo recording contract with RCA in 1968. His first album, “Rhymes and Reasons,” included the song “Leaving On A Jet Plane,” which became a number one hit for Peter, Paul & Mary.

The singer/songwriter ruled the charts in 1971, and Denver joined compatriots like Carole King and James Taylor on the singles chart with “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” It went to number two and led the way for other Denver hits, including “Rocky Mountain High” and “Sunshine On My Shoulders.” The former saluted Denver’s new home, as he settled in Aspen, Colorado with his wife, Ann. The latter was Denver’s first hit and inspired an NBC television movie and subsequent TV series starring Cliff Potts.

In the summer of 1974, Denver returned to the top of the singles chart with “Annie’s Song,” written in 10 minutes on a ski lift as an ode to his wife. Five years later, a magazine article revealed that the song was inspired by the near break-up of the marriage.

Denver’s success became even greater in 1975. He won an American Music Award, won an Emmy for “An Evening With John Denver” on ABC, and scored another number one single with “Thank God I’m A Country Boy.” And that’s how the decade continued, with more American Music Awards, more number one hits (“I’m Sorry” and its flip side, “Calypso”), and more TV specials. He also hosted the Grammy Awards and starred with George Burns in “Oh God.”

Denver wrote a theme song for the 1984 Winter Olympics and joined ABC’s announcers for some color commentary. Also in the eighties, his landscape and wildlife photographs went on exhibit at New York’s prestigious Hammer Gallery. He toured way beyond America, bringing his music to Russia and China. He was also a spokesman for UNICEF.

John Denver died tragically in a plane crash on October 12, 1997. Throughout his life, Denver remained committed to issues that interested him most, including ecology and human rights. He was an eloquent spokesman for causes he believed just, and today his music remains equally eloquent, whether he’s telling us how good it feels to be home or how important it is to keep reaching for higher ground.