John Denver

The pilot of a small plane owned by singer John Denver was killed Sunday afternoon when it crashed into Monterey Bay, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman said, but the identity of the pilot was not yet known. Coast Guard Petty Officer Steve Aitkins said late Sunday that a lifeguard had recovered the pilot's body. Denver, 53, is a licensed pilot and has a vacation home in Monterey. "They cannot make an ID from the body," Aitkins said late Sunday.

Faaar out! John Denver makes a comeback. Well, not exactly. His program Friday night at the Greek Theatre (the first show of his three-night engagement) was more an energetic retrospective and impassioned polemic than it was a pop music ritual of revival. Denver's apple-cheeked image, his warmly communicative stage manner and his high, airy-sounding tenor singing voice were as effective--and, in some senses, even better--than ever.

Proving once again the sad truth that there is no greater sales stimulant in pop music than the death of an artist, more than 100,000 copies of John Denver's catalog of albums were sold in the week after the singer was killed in an Oct. 12 plane crash off the California coast. SoundScan reported Wednesday that four of Denver's albums were among the nation's top 200 bestsellers last week and that 10 were among the top 75 sellers among country albums.

Singer John Denver died in a 1997 airplane crash because he took off with too little fuel in one tank, had trouble switching to his backup tank and inadvertently put his plane into a roll while his attention was diverted, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded Tuesday. The board, in a 5-0 vote, also blamed a builder's decision to relocate the fuel tank selector handle, an absence of markings on the handle and nearby fuel gauges, as well as Denver's lack of training in his new plane.

John Denver has been sentenced to sing at a benefit concert to settle drunk-driving charges after he pleaded guilty to driving while his ability was impaired. The 49-year-old performer was originally charged with driving under the influence, but prosecutors agreed to let him plead guilty to the lesser charge. The longtime resident of this Rocky Mountain ski resort has until March 8 to complete the typical sentence of 28 hours of public service, which will include doing the benefit.

With his soaring voice, low-key sense of humor and his guitar, singer John Denver cast a spell over 570 guests who attended Saturday's "The Magic of Children," the Orangewood Children's Foundation's 10th annual Orange Blossom Ball. Looking like a country boy among the glitzed-out party-goers, Denver performed before a magic castle set up in the ballroom of the Hyatt Regency Irvine.

"Higher Ground" seems an apt title for the new TV movie airing Sunday night on CBS, because after watching it, viewers may feel the urge to seek some. The film (9 p.m. on Channels 2 and 8) stars John Denver as an FBI agent who quits to become a bush pilot in Alaska, and ends up investigating a bootlegging operation and his best friend's murder. Denver has lost his Buster Brown haircut and granny glasses over the years, but making this forever boyish nice guy an action cop is like "Mr.

John Denver, the earnest "country boy" who soared to fame in the 1970s with sunny, folksy, just-this-side-of-corny songs such as "Rocky Mountain High," died when an experimental plane he recently purchased crashed into Monterey Bay during a test flight. He was 53. Denver's Long-EZ plane--a home-built, single-engine two-seater--plunged into a marine sanctuary thick with seals and sea otters Sunday afternoon.