Donovan Phillips Leitch, better known by just his first name, is a Scottish singer-songwriter who came to fame in the 1960s for his eclectic-folk style
Donovan Phillips Leitch, better known by just his first name, is a Scottish singer-songwriter who came to fame in the 1960s for his eclectic-folk style.
In 1966 he released his most well-known track Mellow Yellow, which was arranged by Led Zeppelin bass player John Paul Jones and reportedly features Beatle Sir Paul McCartney on backing vocals, though not in the chorus.
The song reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100, number three on the Cash Box chart, and earned a gold record award for sales of more than one million in the US.
Born on May 10, 1946, in Maryhill, Glasgow, Donovan began playing guitar at the age of 14 and first started gigging in St Albans, Hertfordshire, near to Hatfield, where his family moved in his youth.
He earned comparisons to Bob Dylan in the early stages of his career in the early 1960s and became friends with Rolling Stones multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones while recording in 1964.
By 1966, Donovan had immersed himself in jazz, blues and eastern music, collaborating with British composer John Cameron on tracks including Sunshine Superman.
As one of the first British artists to adopt flower power from the US, Donovan would go on to become close friends with the Beatles in the latter half of the ’60s contributing the line ‘sky of blue and sea of green’ to Paul McCartney’s Yellow Submarine.
He developed interest in eastern mysticism and claims to have interested the Beatles in transcendental meditation.
In late 1967 Donovan contributed two songs to Ken Loach’s film Poor Cow, including the track Jennifer Juniper, which was inspired by George Harrison’s wife Pattie Boyd’s sister Jenny.
Donovan taught John Lennon a finger-picking guitar style in 1968, which the Beatles singer would go on to use on songs including Happiness Is A Warm Gun, Julia and Dear Prudence.
In the late ’60s during the height of his fame, Donovan lived in the Boathouse near Stein on the Isle of Skye and named his actress daughter Ione Skye when she was born in 1970, three years after his first child Donovan Leitch.
He married Linda Laurence in 1970 and had two children with her Astrella and Oriole.
Donovan continued touring through the 20th century and last performed live in the UK in October 2020 at a socially-distanced gig at the Cadogan Hall in London.