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Artist
Donovan
12+ albums
folksinger-songwriter60spsychedelicclassic rock
about
Donovan Philips Leitch (born May 10, 1946 in Maryhill, Lanarkshire), better known as simply Donovan, is a Scottish singer, songwriter, and musician. Originally a '60s folk singer, as the decade progressed Donovan cultivated his own unique eclectic sound, mixing elements of folk, pop, jazz, world music and more, often with a twinge of psychedelia. His most well-known work was suffused with altruistic political overtones, making him an iconic figure of the "flower power" counter-culture of the '60s. Donovan came to fame in Britain in early 1965 with a series of live performances on the television pop series, Ready Steady Go!. He first hit the charts in 1965 with his single "Catch the Wind", continuing on with a string of hits, most of them produced by Mickie Most. Donovan's 1966 Sunshine Superman marked not only a transition to the burgeoning psychedelic scene, but is also viewed as a formative album in its genre, inspiring countless contemporaries. His 1967 double album A Gift from a Flower to a Garden—the first major album released as a boxed set—completed the transition from beat poet folkster to hippie troubadour. As a close friend of The Beatles, he traveled with them to India during their stay at the ashram of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and taught them the "clawhammer" finger-picking style, which is featured on several tracks on their seminal 1968 double album The Beatles, better known as "The White Album." The decline of Donovan's commercial popularity coincides roughly
