In 1971, Denver hit the charts himself with the million-selling Take Me Home, Country Roads. He was one of the biggest-selling singers in the world during the '70s, producing Rocky Mountain High, Annie's Song, Sunshine On My Shoulders, Back Home Again and Thank God I'm A Country Boy. Four of his albums sold more than a million copies.

True to his folk roots, Denver's pop hits were personal, but he was also criticised for being corny and banal. His career began to wane as the '70s ended and he became a supporter of environmental causes, founding the non-profit Windstar Foundation.

John Denver, born John Henry Deutschendorfer in Roswell, New Mexico, dropped out of school to pursue a career in folk music in Los Angeles and sang with the Chad Mitchell Trio in the '60s. By the early '70s, he had settled in Aspen, Colorado. In the rarified air of the Rocky Mountains, he embraced environmentalist movements and threw himself into humanitarian and ecological causes.

In 1975, Denver reached the peak of his fame, winning Entertainer of The Year and Singing Star of The Year awards. He also tried his hand at acting, first on TV and then starring with George Burns in the 1977 film Oh God! In the '80s and '90s, his star faded although in recent months, there has been renewed interest in him, with a greatest hits album climbing the US country and western charts. In recent years, Denver had become interested in space exploration and was a member of the Presidential Commision on World Hunger.

Denver was killed when the plane he was flying crashed into the Pacific Ocean shortly after take-off from Monterey Airport in California in October 1997. A licensed pilot and son of an airforce officer, the 53 year-old crashed his single-engined two-seater plane off Monterey Bay.