One of the world’s most everlasting songwriter, performer, actor, environmentalist, and humanitarian, John Denver has mystified the world with his music for over three decades

John was the son of a U.S Air Force officer. His journey into music began after the family moved to Tucson, where, at the age of eleven, he got his first guitar. Eventually, he took up guitar lessons and joined a boy’s choir.

It was the year 1963 when John started to envision stardom. He changed his name from Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. to John Denver. Denver was derived from the beautiful Rocky Mountain capital city of Colorado, his home state.

His first major break was when he was chosen from 250 other hopefuls as lead singer for the popular Mitchell Trio. Two years hence, John sharpened his considerable vocal talent and developed his own song writing style, in which he started getting recognition. “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary, was his first hit.

Within the next two years, the trio disbanded and John started performing alone. He started climbing up domestic as well as international charts with “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” “Rocky Mountain High,” “Sunshine On My Shoulders,” “Annie’s Song,” “Back Home Again,” “Thank God I’m A Country Boy,” and “Calypso” reinforcing his position as one of the top stars of the decade.

His concert tours reached millions globally. The world embraced John – captivated by each new release, including 14 gold albums and 8 platinum albums in the U.S as well as numerous gold and platinum sales overseas.

John contributed his talents to the benefit of many charitable and environmental causes and has received numerous civic and humanitarian awards over the years. In fact, he was one of the first artists to share an environmental message through his music. “Whose Garden Was This?” was the first in a long line of songs that he wrote about the environment.

His passion to help create a global community paved the way for ventures into new musical and geographic territories. In 1985, he was invited by the Soviet Union to perform in their country, inspiring the internationally acclaimed song “Let Us Begin,” which was featured on John’s 25th album “One World.” The song was recorded in Moscow as a duet with the well-known Soviet singer Alexandre Gradsky, the first time a Soviet artist was allowed to perform on a record with a major American singer. “Let Us Begin” moved viewers around the world.

Today, millions of fans, old and new, enjoy the work of this extraordinary performer. 30 albums and three decades of stardom, John Denver is still as fresh within us as ever.

Anirban Bhattacharya is an editor with the website http://www.arts-entertainment-world.info – a complete art and entertainment portal dedicated to art and entertainment needs, and many other informative as well as shopping/business websites. He has written and published over 300 articles and press releases for various websites, helping the relevant readers to shop / business online with better options and oppertunities. To read more about art and entertainment please visit http://www.arts-entertainment-world.info.

Elvis Presley is certainly one of the most renowned names behind music. Even today, we are absolutely obsessed about this sensation who ruled the world for more than a decade.

Elvis, in his childhood, was brought up in modest family in close association with his aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. He got his first taste of music while attending the Assembly of God Church. He was 10 when he made his first performance at the Mississippi and Alabama Fair in a talent contest.

In the meantime, his family, struggling money-wise, decided to move to Memphis, Tennessee in 1948, hoping for a better life. Things were quite hard in those days, forcing Elvis to work while attending LC Humes High School to help his family.

However, music was something that was already embedded within Elvis. He started developing his own style while in high school, winning the high school talent competition and even playing an encore in between.

Elvis graduated high school in 1953 and began working at a mechanics shop. The following summer he recorded his first album at The Memphis Recording Service “That’s When Your Heartaches Begin” and “My Happiness.” He changed jobs frequently and started to go to night school to be an electrician. While working at Crown Electric Elvis contracted with the recording service at Memphis, released and started to perform at local events and bars. He was even booked on The Grand Ole Opry, although it was dubbed a disaster.

Later in 1954 Elvis signed on with KWKH radio for a year. Here he met ‘Colonel’ Tom Parker, renowned for managing artists including Eddy Arnold and Hank Snow. Soon after, Colonel Parker became Elvis’ manager, the first association that worked that started working.

Parker sold Elvis’ Sun contract (The Memphis Recording Service) to RCA. In the meantime, Elvis caught the attention of Hill and Range Publishing Company, who helped create Elvis Presley Music Inc. With this, Elvis and the publishing company shared ownership of his songs.

Elvis recorded “Heartbreak Hotel” with RCA and teamed up with the Jordanaires, a gospel quartet. “Heartbreak Hotel” was released on January 27, 1956 shot up to number one on Billboard’s pop singles chart for eight weeks and hit number one on the country chart and number five on the R&B chart. Presley and the Jordanaires worked together well into the late 1960s.

Elvis’ road to stardom and fame started with “Heartbreak Hotel.” The next 20 years were filled with music, movies, military marriage, and divorce. Elvis Presley died August 16 1977 due to heart failure at the age of 42.

Anirban Bhattacharya is an editor with the website Health Medical Portal – a portal dedicated to health and fitness needs, and many other informative as well as shopping/business websites. He has written and published over 300 articles and press releases for various websites, helping the relevant readers to shop / business online with better options and oppertunities. To read more about health and medicine please visit http://www.health-medical-portal.info.

Chicago is famed for a number of things, but many people don’t associate the city with its amazing park district. This is a shame because with more than 7300 acres of parkland, encompassing 552 parks, 16 lagoons, 33 beaches and housing one of the world’s largest fountains, it is truly a great place to visit.

One of the most impressive and popular landmarks is definitely the Buckingham Fountain. The fountain is a great draw for tourists when it is turned on in April to signal the onset of summer. Constructed of Georgia pink marble, the attraction was first opened in May 1927 and still puts on spectacular 20 minute displays every day from mid April through to early fall, on the hour every hour between 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. The displays consist of all the fountain’s 134 jets shooting approximately 14,100 gallons of water per minute, with the center jet shooting 150 feet into the air accompanied by a tremendous light and music presentation.

The fountain was originally designed by Edward H. Bennett, influenced by the Latona Basin in Louis XIV’s gardens at Versailles, to represent Lake Michigan with four sea horses, created by Marcel Loyau, to symbolize the four states that touch the lake.

The fountain was dedicated to the people of Chicago in 1927 in memory of Clarence Buckingham, the late brother of Kate Buckingham who commissioned the creation of the structure. Kate Buckingham had a vision to construct a fountain which created the effect of “soft moonlight”, and she worked tirelessly with the fountain’s many technicians to test out a variety of colors for the glass filters and different water currents in order to produce a mystical, ethereal feel to the whole piece.

The pond life around the area is often teeming with frogs, herons, and dragonflies, and the shrubs are frequently filled with resting migratory birds; the lush prairie region is also embedded with native grasses and wildflowers, making the Park District of Chicago a beautiful and serene place to go to while staying in the city. It is within easy distance of the Sears tower, one of the tallest buildings in the world, with its new Skydeck, the up market Merchandise Mart Mall, which will make even the most enthusiastic of power shoppers happy, and luxury hotels like the fabulous Conrad Hotel – so you can get a taste of nature but enjoy all the luxury and amenities that a big city can provide.

Andrew Regan is an online journalist who enjoys socialising at his local Edinburgh rugby club.