How much is John Denver worth?
| Net Worth: | $50 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional guitarist |
| Date of Birth: | December 31, 1943 |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Height: | 1.76 m |
About John Denver
In 1969, Denver abandoned band life to pursue a solo career and released his first album for RCA Records, Rhymes & Reasons. Two years earlier, he had made a self-produced demo recording of some of the songs he played at his concerts. It included a song he had written called “Babe, I Hate to Go”, later renamed “Leaving on a Jet Plane”.
Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. was born on December 31, 1943, in Roswell, New Mexico, to Captain Henry John “Dutch” Deutschendorf Sr., a United States Army Air Forces pilot stationed at Roswell Army Air Field, and his wife, Erma Louise (née Swope).
At age 11, Denver received an acoustic guitar from his grandmother. He learned to play well enough to perform at local clubs by the time he was in college. He decided to change his name when Randy Sparks, founder of the New Christy Minstrels, suggested that ‘Deutschendorf’ would not fit comfortably on a marquee. In 1965, he joined The Chad Mitchell Trio, replacing founder Chad Mitchell. After more personnel changes, the trio later became known as “Denver, Boise, and Johnson” (John Denver, David Boise, and Michael Johnson).
Denver’s first marriage was to Annie Martell of St. Peter, Minnesota. She was the subject of his song “Annie’s Song”, which he composed in only ten minutes as he sat on a Colorado ski lift. They lived in Edina, Minnesota, from 1968 to 1971.
In 1969, Denver abandoned band life to pursue a solo career. Producer Milt Okun, who produced records for The Chad Mitchell Trio and the high-profile folk group Peter, Paul and Mary, had become Denver’s producer as well. Okun brought the unreleased “Jet Plane” song to Peter, Paul and Mary. Their version of the song hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
Denver recorded two more albums in 1970, Take Me to Tomorrow and Whose Garden Was This, including a mix of songs he had written and cover versions of other artists’ compositions.
In the 1970s, Denver’s onstage appearance included long blond hair and wire-rimmed “granny” glasses. His embroidered shirts emblazoned with images commonly associated with the American West were created by the designer and appliqué artist Anna Zapp.
His live concert special, An Evening with John Denver, won the 1974–1975 Emmy Award for Outstanding Special, Comedy-Variety or Music. When Denver ended his business relationship in 1982 because of Weintraub’s focus on other projects.
He also tried acting, appearing in “The Colorado Cattle Caper” episode of the McCloud television movie in February 1974. He starred in the 1977 film Oh, God! opposite George Burns.
From 1973 to at least 1979, Denver annually performed at the yearly fundraising picnic for the Aspen Camp School for the Deaf, raising half of the camp’s annual operating budget. During the Aspen Valley Hospital’s $1.7 million capital campaign in 1979, Denver was the largest single donor.
In 1974, he bought a Learjet to fly himself to concerts. He was a collector of vintage biplanes and owned a Christen Eagle aerobatic plane, two Cessna 210 Centurion airplanes, and in 1997 an amateur-built Rutan Long-EZ.
In 1977, Denver co-founded The Hunger Project with Werner Erhard and Robert W. Fuller. He served for many years and supported the organization until his death. President Jimmy Carter appointed Denver to serve on the President’s Commission on World Hunger. Denver wrote the song “I Want to Live” as the commission’s theme song.
In 1984, ABC Sports president Roone Arledge asked Denver to compose and sing the theme song for the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. Denver worked as both a performer and a skiing commentator, as skiing was another of his enthusiasms. On April 21, 1989, Denver was in a plane accident while taxiing down the runway at Holbrook Municipal Airport in his vintage 1931 biplane.
Denver married Australian actress Cassandra Delaney in 1988 after a two-year courtship. Settling at Denver’s home in Aspen, the couple had a daughter, Jesse Belle. Denver and Delaney separated in 1991 and divorced in 1993.
For Earth Day 1990, Denver was the on-camera narrator of a well-received environmental television program, In Partnership With Earth, with then-EPA Administrator William K. Reilly. In October 1992, Denver undertook a multiple-city tour of the People’s Republic of China. He also released a greatest-hits CD, Homegrown, to raise money for homeless charities. In 1994, he published his autobiography, Take Me Home.
Denver died on the afternoon of October 12, 1997, when his light homebuilt aircraft, a Rutan Long-EZ with registration number N555JD, crashed into Monterey Bay near Pacific Grove, California.
