Donovan

:For the American soccer player, see Landon Donovan.

Early life and career

Donovan was born and grew up in Glasgow; he contracted polio as a child but suffered no permanent injury. In 1956 the family moved to Hatfield, England. Influenced by his family's love for Scottish and English folk music, he began playing guitar at fourteen. After leaving school, Donovan and longtime friend Gypsy Dave traveled for several years around Britain, busking and playing folk songs.

Related Topics:
Glasgow - Polio - 1956 - Hatfield - England - Scottish - Folk music - Guitar - Busking

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Donovan began writing original material in the early 1960s and by late 1964 he had settled in London and signed a management and publishing contract. He recorded a ten-track demo tape, which included the original recording of his first single, "Catch The Wind", a song that showed the unmistakable influence of Woody Guthrie and Ramblin' Jack Elliott who had also influenced Bob Dylan. Although Dylan comparisons followed him for some time, the tape also made it clear that he was already a performer of considerable skill and originality. He is a very fine acoustic guitarist and self-accompanist, a talent that is often overlooked (as it so often is with Dylan). Other significant influences in his formative years included Jesse Fuller, Derroll Adams and Mac MacLeod. MacLeod in an interview with KFOK radio June 14 2005 stated "...the press were fond of calling Don a Dylan clone which is of course a load of rubbish as they had both influenced by the same sources, Ramblin' Jack, Jesse Fuller, Woody Guthrie and many more."

Related Topics:
1960s - 1964 - Woody Guthrie - Ramblin' Jack Elliott - Bob Dylan - Derroll Adams - Mac MacLeod

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While recording the demo Donovan became friends with Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones and Jones's girlfriend of the time, Linda Lawrence. She had already had a son to Jones, but when she met Donovan her relationship with Jones was breaking up. She and Donovan subsequently became lovers and eventually married (they are still together). Linda became Donovan's muse and was to have a profound effect on his music, inspiring songs including, "Catch The Wind", "Legend Of A Girl Child Linda" and "Season Of The Witch".

Related Topics:
Brian Jones - The Rolling Stones

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Donovan had a meteoric rise to stardom. His demo tape was heard by Elkan Allen, producer of the television pop show Ready, Steady, Go!, who was so impressed that he invited the unknown 18-year-old to appear on the show. Donovan made his TV debut on February 6 1965. Unusually for pop programs of this time, he played and sang live, his guitar emblazoned with the words "This Machine Kills" -- a direct reference to Woody Guthrie, whose own guitar bore the famous slogan "This Machine Kills Fascists". He was so well-received that he was invited back for the next two weeks, and immediately afterwards he was signed to a recording contract with Pye Records, whose other major pop acts were The Kinks and Petula Clark.

Related Topics:
Television - Ready, Steady, Go! - February 6 - 1965 - Woody Guthrie - The Kinks - Petula Clark

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Donovan's first UK single, a new version of "Catch The Wind", was released soon after his third TV appearance; it was a hugely successful debut, shooting to #4 on the U.K. charts and selling more than 200,000 copies. On 11 April he performed with the biggest stars of the day at the annual New Musical Express poll winners' concert at the Empire Pool, Wembley. The single was subsequently released on the small Hickory label in the USA, where it managed an impressive #30 chart placing.

Related Topics:
11 April - Empire Pool - USA

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Donovan's early musical style and appearance led to him being perceived and promoted as a British version of Bob Dylan and this brought with it a certain degree of criticism from folk purists, who wrongly assumed him to be a simple Dylan imitator. Not surprisingly, the meeting between the two musicians in April 1965 made headlines. However, although initially wary, Dylan was impressed by the young musician, as can be seen in D.A. Pennebaker's film of Dylan's '65 UK tour, Don't Look Back (which was released in 1967). As a result, Donovan was invited to tour with Dylan and Joan Baez.

Related Topics:
Bob Dylan - 1965 - D.A. Pennebaker - Don't Look Back - 1967 - Joan Baez

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Donovan's second single "Colours" was released in May, reaching #4, accompanied by his debut LP for Pye, What's Bin Did and What's Bin Hid, which reached #3 in the UK album charts. Retitled Catch the Wind for the US, it reached #30 there. He made his first trip to the USA at this time, performing in New York with Pete Seeger and Reverend Gary Davis and appearing on Hullabaloo and Shindig!, as well as performing to critical and audience acclaim at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival in July.

Related Topics:
What's Bin Did and What's Bin Hid - Catch the Wind - Pete Seeger - Reverend Gary Davis - Hullabaloo - Shindig! - Newport Folk Festival

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His next recording was a four-track EP, Universal Soldier, which included his classic cover of the Buffy Sainte-Marie title track, along with three other overtly anti-war tracks. This was quite a radical move for an emerging pop performer -- the Vietnam War still had majority popular support in 1965 and Donovan's pioneering pacifist stance is conveniently overlooked by his critics; nor would this be his last anti-war recording. Despite its contentious subject matter, it was a significant commercial success, topping the British EP chart for eight weeks, reaching #14 on the British singles chart and #17 on the Australian singles chart.

Related Topics:
Buffy Sainte-Marie - Vietnam War - Pacifist - Australian

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"Colours" was also released in the USA but it charted poorly, reaching #40 on the Cash Box charts but only #61 on the Billboard chart. At this stage, Donovan's American success was greater in sales than in radio airplay, since American Top 40 radio tended to avoid folk recordings, preferring more highly arranged pop records. The Catch the Wind LP set the pattern for most of his American releases, which tended to chart better in Cash Box than Billboard, reflecting the fact that Billboard's charts factored in radio airplay, whilst Cash Box did not.

Related Topics:
Cash Box - Billboard - Catch the Wind

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A single version of "Universal Soldier" was issued in the USA in late August 1965 but it repeated the mediocre chart performance of "Colours", reaching only #45 in Cash Box and #53 in Billboard. Pye released Donovan's second UK album, Fairytale, in October 1966, along with his next single, "Turquoise". These too were less successful than his previous releases, with the album only reaching #20 and the single peaking at #30. Donovan made a second US tour in November, and Hickory released the American version of Fairytale later that month but, as in the UK, it did charted much lower than the first LP, only reaching #85.

Related Topics:
Fairytale

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