Donovan appeared in the UK early in 1965 with a series of live performances on the pop TV show Ready Steady Go!... and his popularity quickly spread from there.
After signing with the British label Pye Records in 1965, he recorded a handful of singles and two albums in the folk music vein with leading independent record producer Mickie Most, scoring a string of international hits.
His successful records in the 1960s included the UK hits "Catch the Wind" and "Colours" in 1965, while the next year "Sunshine Superman" went all the way to top the chart at #1 in the US.
Donovan was one of the leading British recording artists as he put-out a series of hit albums and singles between 1965 and 1970, and he even schooled Lennon and McCartney when he taught them his finger-picking guitar style in 1968...
Other classics from Donovan include "Atlantis", "In the Morning", "Jennifer Jupiter", and of course "Mellow Yellow".
Alas, Donovan's commercial fortunes waned after he parted ways with Mickie Most in 1969, and he left the music industry for a time. But he did continue to perform and record sporadically in the 1970s and 1980s.
But the musician enjoyed a bit of a revival in the 90s with the advent of the British 'rave' scene. He later in the decade did the '96 album Sutras with producer and long-time fan Rick Rubin and in 2004 released the all-new album Beat Cafe.
Donovan was last year nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2011... but seriously, what took them so long?
Previous RR Rock n Roll Oldies features -here-
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