Lifetime Achievement Grammy for John Denver

Perhaps Love

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May 15, 2000, 3:00:00 AM5/15/00

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:: Judith Gabriel Edited Grammy letter

> Hello, JD 'Family'~
>
> Most of you know me from posting on the John Denver eGroups
page,but some of you know me from other JD contacts. I am
forwarding a petition that was sent to our group from Elaine
Byrne, a friend of the late Charlene Finney, who passed away
recently. Charlene's goal was to honor John Denver at the 2001
Grammy Awards with a National Association of Recording Arts and
Sciences Lifetime Achievement Award.
Charlene and her husband lived in Colorado but had contacts
with the music industry and the NARAS. I won't go into her story
here, but she was working diligently to achieve this goal when
cancer took her life. Elaine Byrne is working with Charlene's
husband to continue this goal, for both Charlene as well as for
JOHN.
> The petition is a pretty good summary of some of John's
extensive work and dedication. I sent a personal letter some
months ago for this goal to be achieved, but apparently many
people are either unaware of this work or are unsure of what to
write. This petition could help solve that problem. I have
checked it for accuracy against public knowledge of facts, and I
feel it is sound. May I ask that you please consider signing this
yourself and mailing it to Elaine Byrne (address to follow), and
perhaps posting it on your own message boards if I haven't
already. Please forward this to any and all of your JD friends.
This is something that John Denver DESERVES more than anybody
else in the world... literally!
Remember, "if you do what you can do, and I do what I can do,
then together we can make a difference"! And, folks.....
> "It's About Time"!!!
>
> My heart to yours~ Mail to: Elaine Byrne
> P.O.Box 201055
> Linda Wolverton (Perhaps Love) Austin, TX 78720-1055
> Cincinnati, OH
>

E-Mail Petition

May, 2000

This letter is a petition to support the nomination of John
Denver for a NARAS Lifetime Achievement Award. In his thirty
plus years as a singer/songwriter, he wrote over 250 songs, many
still as popular today as when written. He achieved record sales
that few other artists have matched: 14 gold albums and 8
platinum albums in the U.S. alone. John's music opened doors
around the world. In 1984 he was invited by the Soviet Union of
Composers to perform in their country, followed by a 1985 concert
tour. He returned to the USSR in 1987 to do a benefit concert
for the victims of Chernobyl. John's career was punctuated by
frequent charity concerts for human and animal benefits!

John opened doors with his music that other artists never even
dreamed of. He was the first artist from the West to do a
multi-city tour of mainland China in October, 1992. The next
year he was invited to perform in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Min City,
being the first American to perform in Ho Chi Min City (Saigon)
since the Vietnam War, and the first Western artist ever to be
invited to perform in Hanoi. John Denver believed that music is
truly a universal language and can bring people together no
matter their race, nationality, religion, or political
persuasion. He lived that ideal.

In addition to his talents as a singer/songwriter, Denver served
as a role model for effective advocacy on behalf of the planet
and all humanity. He served on the Presidential Commission on
World and Domestic Hunger; he was one of five founders of The
Hunger Project, and was awarded the Presidential "World Without
Hunger" Award. He supported non-profit organizations such as The
National Wildlife Federation, The Wildlife Conservation Society,
Save the Children, The Cousteau Society, Friends of the Earth, to
name just a few. In 1976 he co-founded The Windstar Foundation,
created to explore alternative food and energy production while
giving individuals a place to exchange ideas and learn techniques
to enrich their lives and their communities. He also co-founded
Plant-It 2000, a reforestation project that has not only planted
over 630,000 indigenous trees nationally and globally since its
inception in 1992 but also educates locals in how to improve
their environment by tree planting. In the summer of 1993,
Denver received the prestigious Albert Schweitzer Music Award,
given to him "for a life's work dedicated to music and devoted to
humanity." It was the first time a non-classical musical artist
had been so honored.

John Denver was a true inspiration, true to himself, willing to
stand up and be counted, willing to put himself on the line for
what he believed, willing to be ridiculed and criticized for
those beliefs. His songs are universal anthems, and reminders to
us all that important work is unfinished. Few artists have
inspired as many people as John Denver has in so many different
ways, and continues to, even two and a half years after his
death. His popularity is evident every October in Aspen, when
fans from around the world attend the John Denver Tribute in his
honor. In numerous cities and towns across the globe, you will
today find John's friends working to clean the roadsides, raising
money for worthy projects, sharing his visions and music with
others. Surely, no other musician has inspired so many to do so
much.

John Denver is remembered as a keeper of the Muse, a poet, a
singer, whose lyrics and voice soar like the eagles and hawks he
loved and admired. Those songs lift our hearts and spirits and
take us with them, to teach us as he said so many times in his
songs that we are never alone. John Denver was truly the Poet
for the Planet.

What this one man has accomplished with his music--artistically,
socially, culturally, and environmentally--is truly deserving of
a NARAS Lifetime Achievement Award. Thank you for helping to
honor John Denver and make the dream of millions of his admirers
a reality.

_________________________________
Name
_________________________________
Address
_________________________________

_________________________________
Phone/E-mail

>

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ot...@sedona.net

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May 15, 2000, 3:00:00 AM5/15/00

to

Grammy letter

May I ask that you please consider signing this
> yourself and mailing it to Elaine Byrne (address to follow), and
> perhaps posting it on your own message boards if I haven't
> already. Please forward this to any and all of your JD friends.
> This is something that John Denver DESERVES more than anybody
> else in the world... literally!

Thanks for the post, Linda. It's in the mail! Gloria

--
"A PBS mind in an MTV world"