John Denver Was Once Sentenced To Play A Benefit Concert To Settle Drunk-Driving Charges

If anyone tells you that celebrities are judged the same as regular people in this country, just send them this article... And in 1993, John Denver received one of the strangest sentences I've ever heard of. According to the LA Times , Denver was stopped in Aspen, Colorado just after midnight on August 21, 1993 after an officer saw his 1963 Porsche driving erratically. He admitted to having two glasses of wine with dinner but blew a .14, exceeding Colorado's limit at the time of .10. He was originally charged with driving under the influence but reached an agreement in which he would plead guilty to the lesser charge of driving while his ability was impaired. Denver was sentenced to undergo an alcohol-abuse evaluation, pay a $50 fine, and complete 28 hours of public service, which included singing at a benefit concert. That's right, the judge said "You'll stay out of trouble so long as you sing some songs for some people", which is really something else and reminds me of when a judge told Willie Nelson she'd let him go if he sang "Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain" for the court, except that judge was joking. Denver's judge was completely serious. A list of concerts on John Denver's website shows that he played the Tipsy Taxi Benefit Concert at the Wheeler Opera House in January of the following year, and though I can't find any confirmation that this was his atonement, he played no other benefit concerts before March 8th, 1994, which was the cutoff imposed by the judge, so I'm thinking this was it. Unfortunately, Denver's life continued to spiral from this point. He was arrested again for a DUI exactly one year after his first arrest (How spooky is that?) after crashing the same Porsche into a tree near his home. This second DUI became a whole tangled mess in the court systems due to arguments of double jeopardy, but the FAA revoked his pilot's license for failure to abstain from alcohol, which was a condition imposed following his first drunk driving charge. Sadly, the second DUI case was never fully put to rest as Denver died in a plane crash in October of 1997. As you may know, he was flying the plane even though he was not legally allowed to do so. An investigation found the crash stemmed from Denver's inability to switch fuel tanks during the flight and decision to not fill the tanks before take off. Like most big name musicians, John Denver was many different things and there's no doubt that his music, if not country in itself, provided a launch pad for many artists inspired by him. I couldn't find any footage from the 1994 benefit concert but here's him playing at the Wildlife Concert in 1996, which raised money for the Wildlife Conservation Society. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOS5-n7dyj4