Bill Danoff

William Thomas Danoff was born on 7 May 1946 in Springfield, Massachusetts. He graduated from Cathedral High School in 1964 and attended Georgetown University, where he later taught a songwriting course in 2007 and co-led a music industry seminar in 2008.

His best-known song is "Take Me Home, Country Roads", which he co-wrote with his then-wife Taffy Nivert and which John Denver made famous; it became an official state song of West Virginia. He also co-wrote "Boulder to Birmingham" with Emmylou Harris and other songs for John Denver and others.

Danoff co-founded the Starland Vocal Band with Nivert, Jon Carroll and Margot Chapman. Their single "Afternoon Delight" reached number one on the Hot 100 in July 1976, and the group had its own television series that summer. He married Nivert in 1972, and they divorced after the band broke up in 1981. He is a Grammy winner.