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Bill Danoff's & John Denver's Careers - Intertwined
Quick Links to pages about: (Bill's
Heritage - Overview) (Fat
City, Bill & Taffy) (Starland
Vocal Band)
Bill talks about John Denver:
Below are excerpts from a 1997 article written by Bill Danoff
for the Washington Post commemorating John Denver. It provides
first hand information on how the two performers met.
"John Denver was a regular at the Cellar Door. I met
him at the Georgetown club in 1966, when he replaced Chad
Mitchell in the Mitchell Trio, then one of my favorite
acts. Fans were skeptical at first, but we were soon won over by
John's guitar playing and charm. The Cellar Door, which
regularly featured the era's finest acts, was a place of
camaraderie. After hours, performers often hung out with the the
club's young staff long into the night drinking and telling
stories. Lifelong friendships were formed there.
I was staff, first a doorman, then a lights-and-sound man and
manager. That's how I became one of John's many new friends in
Washington. By 1969, the Mitchell Trio was history, John was a
solo folk singer, and I had graduated from Georgetown
University and was singing with Taffy Nivert under the name
Fat City.
An old Cellar Door friend brought John in to hear us, and
John fell in love with one of our songs, "I Guess He'd Rather Be
in Colorado." After hours he made us sing it to him again, one
of us in each ear so he could hear it in stereo. He especially
loved the song because he was living in Edina, Minn., at the
time and longed to build a dream house he had designed in Aspen.
John learned our song and taught it to Mary Travers of
Peter, Paul and Mary. She recorded it, and later on he recorded
it himself.
Sam L'Hommedieu, co-owner of the Cellar Door, thought it
would be a good idea to book John as a headliner there with
Fat City as the opening act. It was. Our week was pretty
much sold out. One evening after the shows, John came back to
our basement apartment to swap songs and party. That night, he
helped us finish writing a song that changed all of our lives.
"Take Me Home, Country Roads" was inspired by a drive to
a family reunion in Gaithersburg along Clopper Road -- which
back then was still a country road. When we first sang the song
together the following night, it seemed as though the audience
would never stop applauding. Next show same thing. We knew we
had a hit.
We recorded in New York the following Monday, and "Country
Roads" became John's first record to hit the charts. He started
to arrange his bookings so that Fat City could be his opening
act -- we would join him at the end of his set to perform the
songs we had recorded together. We played New York and
Los Angeles and so many small college towns in
between. We had a joke at the time -- "that town's so small John
Denver's never played there."
"Rocky Mountain High" and many more hits followed, and the
venues became larger. In 1976, Taffy and I had the hit
"Afternoon Delight" with Jon Carroll and Margot Chapman as
the Starland Vocal Band, and we were again opening for
John, at venues that included Madison Square Garden. . . ."
John Denver talks about Bill:
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From "Take Me
Home"
by John Denver.
Copyright © 1994 by John Denver
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"The first album that had great success for me
was an album called Poems, Prayers & Promises, and the song that
really made that album a success is one that I wrote with two friends,
Bill and Taffy (Nivert) Danoff, from Starland Vocal Band. I met them in
a place called The Cellar Door in Washington, DC when I was working with
the Mitchell Trio and later when I started performing on my own.
When I first had the opportunity to be a headliner at The Cellar Door,
they asked me who I wanted for an opening act. I asked about having Bill
and Taffy, who called themselves Fat City. They came and opened the
shows for me.
The first night we were together we went back to their place after
closing, just to visit, see what was going on and enjoy being together.
We had a bunch of songs we wanted to show each other. One of the songs
was one they had started and were unable to complete. It was a song
called "Take Me Home, Country Roads".
In the wee hours of the morning, sometime between Christmas and New
Year's Eve, in their basement apartment in Washington, DC, we wrote
"Take Me Home, Country Roads". It became my first Number One record."
(That early morning was December 30, 1970; they
debuted it later that night at the Cellar Door. - editor)
Bill Danoff's
songs recorded
by John Denver:
Song:
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Album Title and Year: |
Take Me Home, Country Roads |
Poems, Prayers and Promises (1971)
John Denver's Greatest Hits (1974)
An Evening With John Denver (1975)
John Denver - Country Roads (1994(
John Denver - Love Again (1996) |
I Guess He'd Rather Be In Colorado |
Poems, Prayers and Promises (1971) |
Friends With You |
Aerie (1972) |
She Won't Let Me Fly Away |
Aerie (1972) |
Readjustment Blues |
Aerie (1972) |
We Don't Live Here No More |
Farewell Andromeda (1974) |
Please Daddy, (Don't Get Drunk This
Christmas) |
Farewell Andromeda (1974)
Rocky Mountain Christmas (1975) |
Late Night Radio |
Windsong (1975) |
Baby, You Look Good To Me Tonight |
Spirit (1976) |
Nobody Can Take My Dream From Me |
Forever, John () |
Dearest Esmeralda |
I Want To Live (1977) |
The Potter's Wheel |
Different Directions (1991) |
Photos of Bill & Taffy, &
Starland Vocal Band with John Denver
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John Denver headlined at the Cellar Door, Georgetown, Washington, DC; 1970
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Bill and Taffy opened for John Denver at the Cellar Door; 1970.
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Taffy sang harmonies with John Denver at the Cellar Door; 1970.
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For the finale of their concert on December 30, 1970, Bill, Taffy and John debuted "Take Me Home, Country Roads."
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Starland Vocal Band backed John Denver in concerts across the country; 1976
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© Bill Danoff - These photos are copywrited by Bill Danoff and the
photographers. They may not be reproduced, sold, published or used in
any way without permission from Bill Danoff. (To contact Bill,
write to webmaster:
Penguins 51)

Bill, Taffy and John on television in
about 1971; from magazine "John Denver: Rocky Mountain Minstrel
- 1976"

Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert with John Denver at the University of
West Virginia
September 6, 1980
Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert
Danoff sing with John Denver
on an appearance on the British
BBC2 station in 1973 |
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Used with permission. ©
Chris Walter |
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Quick Links to pages about:
(Bill's Music Heritage - Overview)
(Fat City, Bill & Taffy) (Starland
Vocal Band) 

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