Bill Danoff

William Thomas Danoff (born May 7, 1946) is an American songwriter and singer. He is known for "Afternoon Delight", which he wrote and performed as a member of the Starland Vocal Band, and for writing multiple hits for John Denver, including "Take Me Home, Country Roads".

Danoff is a 1964 graduate of Cathedral High School in Springfield, Massachusetts, and of Georgetown University.

Danoff and his then-wife Taffy Nivert wrote "I Guess He'd Rather Be in Colorado" and "Take Me Home, Country Roads," both of which were hits for John Denver. "Take Me Home, Country Roads" is an official state song of West Virginia. Danoff has stated he had never been in West Virginia before co-writing the song, having written it in a house in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. He had even briefly considered using "Massachusetts" rather than "West Virginia", as both four-syllable state names would have fit the song's meter. Denver recorded about a dozen Danoff compositions from 1972 through the end of his career.

Danoff also worked with Emmylou Harris, co-authoring "Boulder to Birmingham" (one of Harris' better-known compositions). This track was recorded by The Walker Brothers in 1975 and The Hollies in 1976, and became a Top 10 hit in New Zealand. In 1982, Danoff and fellow Starland Vocal Band member Jon Carroll wrote "Who Knows How To Make Love Stay", a Top 40 Canadian hit for Doug and the Slugs.

Danoff taught a songwriters course in 2007 and a music industry seminar (with Walter Egan) in 2008 at his alma mater Georgetown University.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.