Donovan

Donovan
Donovan performing on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1969.
Born	Donovan Philips Leitch (1946-05-10) 10 May 1946 (age 70) Maryhill, Glasgow, Scotland
Occupation	Musician songwriter record producer
Years active	1964–present
Spouse(s)	Linda Lawrence (m. 1970)
Partner(s)	Enid Karl (1966-70)
Children	5 (1 adopted); including Donovan Leitch and Ione Skye
Musical career
Genres	Folk rock psychedelic folk psychedelic rock folk pop
Instruments	Vocals guitar harmonica
Labels	Pye Hickory Epic
Associated acts	Bob Dylan Joan Baez Brian Jones The Beatles The Jeff Beck Group
Website	donovan.ie
Notable instruments
1965 Gibson J-45 Rickenbacker 325 Martin Guitars Zemaitis Signature "Blue Moon" Guitar Harmony Signature Guitars The green handcrafted Ferrington (Kelly) used since 1996

Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946), known as Donovan, is a Scottish singer, songwriter and guitarist. He developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music (notably calypso). He has lived in Scotland, Hertfordshire (England), London and California, and, since at least 2008, in County Cork, Ireland, with his family. Emerging from the British folk scene, Donovan reached fame in the United Kingdom in early 1965 with live performances on the pop TV series Ready Steady Go!.

Having signed with Pye Records in 1965, he recorded singles and two albums in the folk vein, after which he signed to CBS/Epic Records in the US - the first signing by the company's new vice-president Clive Davis - and became more successful internationally. He began a long and successful collaboration with leading British independent record producer Mickie Most, scoring multiple hit singles and albums in the UK, US, and other countries.

His most successful singles were the early UK hits "Catch the Wind", "Colours" and "Universal Soldier" in 1965. In September 1966 "Sunshine Superman" topped America's Billboard Hot 100 chart for one week and went to number two in Britain, followed by "Mellow Yellow" at US No.2 in December 1966, then 1968's "Hurdy Gurdy Man" in the Top 5 in both countries, then "Atlantis", which reached US No.7 in May 1969.