Donovan(I)
- Music Department
- Writer
- Composer
Donovan Philips Leitch was born May 10, 1946, in Glasgow, Scotland.
Music was always part of his home life, with both traditional
Scottish/Irish songs at family and local celebrations, and popular
music through radio and live performances. When Donovan was ten his
family moved south to England, resettling in Hatfield. Before starting
college in his teens, the young man had run away from home more than
once; on one outing at fourteen, he found an old guitar in a trash can,
still good enough to learn the basics on.
Though interested in rock-n-roll through artists like
Buddy Holly and
The Everly Brothers, Donovan
embraced the folk-music boom that swept both England and America in the
early 1960s, and also the Beat Generation writers and poets. Donovan
settled into the St. Albans music scene, north of London, but traveled
to different parts of the country, frequently with longtime friend
"Gypsy Dave", who played kazoo and passed the hat while Donovan played
guitar and harmonica and sang, for their keep. Their songs included
traditional and recent folk music, songs by their friends (like Mick
Softley) and the beginnings of Donovan's own writing, about what he'd
seen and experienced away from home.
On a beach trip to Southend with members of the St. Albans circle,
Donovan played and sang between performances by an R&B group called the
Cops and Robbers, and so impressed the group's managers that they
expressed interest in signing him up as a performer. Beginning with
taping some publishers' demos for other songwriters, Donovan was soon
demoing his own material, and the tapes found their way to the ears of
Elkan Allan, producer of Britain's popular
rock show
Ready, Steady, Go! (1963).
Donovan's first appearance (in cap and denim) led to a short residency
on the show, which in turn led to a recording contract with England's
Pye Records. His first singles were respectable UK hits in 1965, and
made a minor impact on the American market that year.
Promoted first as mainly a folk performer and a kind of British rival
to Bob Dylan, evidence of Donovan's own
blossoming style as writer and musician was undeniable as early as his
second album, with its hints at jazz and a different kind of pop sense
from Dylan's. When Dylan toured England in 1965, the two met for a
well-publicized "summit" at his hotel suite; after an hour's private
talk, they emerged smiling arm-in-arm to a waiting press conference.
Press headlines announced "DYLAN DIGS DONOVAN!" and he joined Dylan and
Joan Baez on the road, though he didn't
perform with them onstage. (Donovan can be seen keeping Dylan and Baez
company in Dylan's
Bob Dylan: Dont Look Back (1967)). Donovan
went on to the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, where he was welcomed.
After his first two mostly-folk albums in England (distributed in the
US by Hickory Records), produced by his managers, Donovan immersed
himself in the pop sounds of the "British Invasion" bands, and both his
writing and choices in the studio reflected this. In 1966
Mickie Most became Donovan's new producer,
and his sidemen began to include future
Led Zeppelin members
John Paul Jones (who arranged
several Donovan tunes, augmenting the sound they were aiming for) and
Jimmy Page. (John Carr usually played
drums at Donovan's sessions, although
John Bonham was also sometimes around.) Epic
Records in the US expressed an interest in picking Donovan up for the
American market, with Clive Davis
offering a contract, and Allen Klein was
also interested in taking over Donovan's management. New and bigger
deals offered led to lawsuits, and Donovan vanished from the record
market for a few months while matters were being settled.
Emerging with new management and production teams, Donovan followed up
his first US #1 single, "Sunshine Superman" (dedicated to
John Lennon and
Paul McCartney), with his signature hit
"Mellow Yellow", which reached #2 on the US charts late in 1966.
Working with Most, Donovan enjoyed hits on both sides of the Atlantic
through the end of the decade. As a pop performer, he made frequent
guest appearances on television in the UK and US; most notably in
America on
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1967).
He also contributed to the stage and film worlds, writing the title
song for the movie Poor Cow (1967) and
adapting
William Shakespeare's "Under
The Greenwood Tree" for Britain's National Theatre. Later he would
contribute the title song for the 1969 comedy
If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969)
(also appearing onstage in the movie), and star in
The Pied Piper (1972). Donovan
brought his parents along on tour, with his father Donald introducing
him to the audience.
Offstage, Donovan was a frequent guest collaborator and companion to
other celebrities of the time; he contributed lyrics to
The Beatles's song "Yellow Submarine" and
dated George Harrison's
sister-in-law Jenny Boyd (later to marry
Mick Fleetwood). In turn, Donovan's
recording sessions sometimes included members of The Beatles,
Paul Samwell-Smith and
The Rolling Stones and their circle
of musician friends, as guest performers. When former Stones member
Brian Jones died in 1969, Donovan
married his widow Linda Lawrence, raising Jones' son Julian and having
two daughters of their own. (Donovan also fathered son
Donovan Leitch Jr. and
Ione Skye by Enid Karl; family information is
sparse at best.)
An arrest for drug possession late in 1966 was a moving experience for
him, as was his noticing that the flirtation his generation had had
with marijuana and LSD was getting ugly, and many young people were
turning to harder drugs and destroying themselves. In the notes for his
1967 album "A Gift From A Flower To A Garden", he called for all drug
use to stop and for young people to find other ways to expand their
consciousness, and peace from within, as they became the parents of the
next generation. He set an example by studying meditation with the
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and later
embraced many Eastern lifestyle changes, including a vegetarian diet
and studies in Hindu and Buddhist philosophy.
Though not a major player in popular music since the end of the 1960s,
Donovan continues to tour and perform, and recall the experiences and
friendships of his heyday for the media. His music (recorded and live)
appears frequently in programs about the Sixties era, and has reached
the newer generations through its use in TV commercials. In late 2005,
he published an autobiography, "The Hurdy Gurdy Man."
Music was always part of his home life, with both traditional
Scottish/Irish songs at family and local celebrations, and popular
music through radio and live performances. When Donovan was ten his
family moved south to England, resettling in Hatfield. Before starting
college in his teens, the young man had run away from home more than
once; on one outing at fourteen, he found an old guitar in a trash can,
still good enough to learn the basics on.
Though interested in rock-n-roll through artists like
Buddy Holly and
The Everly Brothers, Donovan
embraced the folk-music boom that swept both England and America in the
early 1960s, and also the Beat Generation writers and poets. Donovan
settled into the St. Albans music scene, north of London, but traveled
to different parts of the country, frequently with longtime friend
"Gypsy Dave", who played kazoo and passed the hat while Donovan played
guitar and harmonica and sang, for their keep. Their songs included
traditional and recent folk music, songs by their friends (like Mick
Softley) and the beginnings of Donovan's own writing, about what he'd
seen and experienced away from home.
On a beach trip to Southend with members of the St. Albans circle,
Donovan played and sang between performances by an R&B group called the
Cops and Robbers, and so impressed the group's managers that they
expressed interest in signing him up as a performer. Beginning with
taping some publishers' demos for other songwriters, Donovan was soon
demoing his own material, and the tapes found their way to the ears of
Elkan Allan, producer of Britain's popular
rock show
Ready, Steady, Go! (1963).
Donovan's first appearance (in cap and denim) led to a short residency
on the show, which in turn led to a recording contract with England's
Pye Records. His first singles were respectable UK hits in 1965, and
made a minor impact on the American market that year.
Promoted first as mainly a folk performer and a kind of British rival
to Bob Dylan, evidence of Donovan's own
blossoming style as writer and musician was undeniable as early as his
second album, with its hints at jazz and a different kind of pop sense
from Dylan's. When Dylan toured England in 1965, the two met for a
well-publicized "summit" at his hotel suite; after an hour's private
talk, they emerged smiling arm-in-arm to a waiting press conference.
Press headlines announced "DYLAN DIGS DONOVAN!" and he joined Dylan and
Joan Baez on the road, though he didn't
perform with them onstage. (Donovan can be seen keeping Dylan and Baez
company in Dylan's
Bob Dylan: Dont Look Back (1967)). Donovan
went on to the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, where he was welcomed.
After his first two mostly-folk albums in England (distributed in the
US by Hickory Records), produced by his managers, Donovan immersed
himself in the pop sounds of the "British Invasion" bands, and both his
writing and choices in the studio reflected this. In 1966
Mickie Most became Donovan's new producer,
and his sidemen began to include future
Led Zeppelin members
John Paul Jones (who arranged
several Donovan tunes, augmenting the sound they were aiming for) and
Jimmy Page. (John Carr usually played
drums at Donovan's sessions, although
John Bonham was also sometimes around.) Epic
Records in the US expressed an interest in picking Donovan up for the
American market, with Clive Davis
offering a contract, and Allen Klein was
also interested in taking over Donovan's management. New and bigger
deals offered led to lawsuits, and Donovan vanished from the record
market for a few months while matters were being settled.
Emerging with new management and production teams, Donovan followed up
his first US #1 single, "Sunshine Superman" (dedicated to
John Lennon and
Paul McCartney), with his signature hit
"Mellow Yellow", which reached #2 on the US charts late in 1966.
Working with Most, Donovan enjoyed hits on both sides of the Atlantic
through the end of the decade. As a pop performer, he made frequent
guest appearances on television in the UK and US; most notably in
America on
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1967).
He also contributed to the stage and film worlds, writing the title
song for the movie Poor Cow (1967) and
adapting
William Shakespeare's "Under
The Greenwood Tree" for Britain's National Theatre. Later he would
contribute the title song for the 1969 comedy
If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969)
(also appearing onstage in the movie), and star in
The Pied Piper (1972). Donovan
brought his parents along on tour, with his father Donald introducing
him to the audience.
Offstage, Donovan was a frequent guest collaborator and companion to
other celebrities of the time; he contributed lyrics to
The Beatles's song "Yellow Submarine" and
dated George Harrison's
sister-in-law Jenny Boyd (later to marry
Mick Fleetwood). In turn, Donovan's
recording sessions sometimes included members of The Beatles,
Paul Samwell-Smith and
The Rolling Stones and their circle
of musician friends, as guest performers. When former Stones member
Brian Jones died in 1969, Donovan
married his widow Linda Lawrence, raising Jones' son Julian and having
two daughters of their own. (Donovan also fathered son
Donovan Leitch Jr. and
Ione Skye by Enid Karl; family information is
sparse at best.)
An arrest for drug possession late in 1966 was a moving experience for
him, as was his noticing that the flirtation his generation had had
with marijuana and LSD was getting ugly, and many young people were
turning to harder drugs and destroying themselves. In the notes for his
1967 album "A Gift From A Flower To A Garden", he called for all drug
use to stop and for young people to find other ways to expand their
consciousness, and peace from within, as they became the parents of the
next generation. He set an example by studying meditation with the
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and later
embraced many Eastern lifestyle changes, including a vegetarian diet
and studies in Hindu and Buddhist philosophy.
Though not a major player in popular music since the end of the 1960s,
Donovan continues to tour and perform, and recall the experiences and
friendships of his heyday for the media. His music (recorded and live)
appears frequently in programs about the Sixties era, and has reached
the newer generations through its use in TV commercials. In late 2005,
he published an autobiography, "The Hurdy Gurdy Man."