MOJOEYEWITNESS

Attuned to Aquarian frequencies and on a mission to marry jazz, blues, folk and pop with bardic poetry, DONOVAN LEITCH’s late ’60s were golden. But after hits galore in Britain and America, encounters with the Fabs and the Maharishi, and a pre-ordained love affair, the dawning ’70s demanded a rethink. “The amount we did was phenomenal,” recall the singer and his merry band. “We’d done all we set out to do. We’d invaded pop culture.”

Interviews by LOIS WILSON

Donovan: I was born in Glasgow. My mum, uncles and aunts sang Irish songs and Scottish songs and my father read poetry and monologues. When we moved to Hatfield, I listened to The Everly Brothers and Buddy Holly. I discovered the Beats and jazz, met Gypsy Dave [Mills, artist and trusted friend] and joined the St Albans Bohemian scene. The incredible revolution of ideas – I’d blend [it] with jazz, blues, folk music, poetry and pop music. It didn’t matter to me whether it would be popular.

Peter Eden: I worked at the Studio Club in Southend, and managed [R&B group] the Cops ’N Robbers. I said, There’s room for an English Bob Dylan, and they said, “We know a guy.” They got Donovan down and he had the Dylan cap and ‘This Machine Kills’ on his guitar and he played some really good songs. [Songwriter] Geoff Stephens said, “Why don’t we manage him?” We took him to Southern Music on Denmark Street and recorded some demos. To get him exposure we took him to Ready Steady Go! – he was unsigned but we got him a three-week run.

Dana Gillespie: We shared managers and I was in the Ready Steady Go! green room with Davy Jones [Bowie]. We often went down, he’d network and I’d dance, and Donovan did Catch The Wind. He was a gentle soul. We were off the folk scene, it was all about Bert Jansch and Davy Graham, not about being huge and getting rich, just about playing gigs to make enough to keep going as a musician. But then it made Number 4 and he was a star.