Mary Catherine "Taffy" Nivert (born October 25, 1944) is an American

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

and

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

. She is best known for co-writing "

Take Me Home, Country Roads "Take Me Home, Country Roads", also known simply as "Country Roads", is a song written by Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert and John Denver. It was released as a single performed by Denver on April 12, 1971, peaking at number two on ''Billboard''s U ...

", which was popularized by

John Denver Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American Country music, country and Folk music, folk singer, songwriter, and actor. He was one of the most popular acoustic m ...

, and for being a member of the Starland Vocal Band.

Biography

Mary Catherine Nivert was born 25 October 1944 in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

She received her nickname Taffy from her elder brother who, unable to pronounce her middle name as a young child, would call her Mary Tafferine. Nivert began singing along with the radio in high school. She was discovered by a bartender in Georgetown after he heard her singing to a jukebox. The bartender asked if she wanted to join a vocal group, and through this, she met her future husband Bill Danoff. Nivert began performing with Danoff as Fat City in the late 1960s. Initially a folk duo, the two later married and recorded four albums, the latter two under the name Bill & Taffy. In 1970, while traveling along Clopper Road to Nivert's family reunion in

Gaithersburg, Maryland Gaithersburg ( ) is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. At the time of the 2020 United States census, Gaithersburg had a population of 69,657, making it the third-largest incorporated city and the ninth-most populous communit ...

, Danoff began writing a song that became "

". The couple planned to complete the song and sell it to

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

. When Fat City opened for

The Cellar Door The Cellar Door was a 163-seat music club located at 34th & M Street NW in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. from 1963 through January 7, 1982. It occupied the location of a former music club called The Shadows. The Shadows, first ...

in December 1970, they decided to show the not yet completed song to him. Denver, who had injured his thumb in a car crash hours before, arrived at Danoff and Nivert's apartment in the early hours of the morning, where the trio finished the song. The next night, all three performed the completed song, with Nivert holding the lyric sheet, and instead of being offered to Johnny Cash it became a hit song for Denver on

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

in early 1971. It was included on his album '' Poems, Prayers, and Promises'' along with "I Guess He'd Rather Be in Colorado," also written by Danoff and Nivert. Danoff and Nivert sang backup on four of the album's tracks. Danoff and Nivert married in 1972. In 1976, the couple paired with Jon Carroll and Margot Chapman to form the Starland Vocal Band. Signed to John Denver's record label Windsong Records, they were most famous for the hit song " Afternoon Delight". The group released several albums before breaking up in 1981. Danoff and Nivert later divorced. Until 2011, Nivert lived in the Washington, D. C. area, where she occasionally performed with Danoff and the rest of the Starland Vocal Band. She later settled in Safety Harbor, Florida.

Discography

;Albums Fat City * ''Reincarnation'' (ABC, 1969) * ''Welcome to Fat City'' (Paramount, 1971) John Denver with Bill Danoff - Taffy Nivert * ''Victory Is Peace'' (Tomorrow Entertainment ER-7209-LP, 1972)Theme music for

1972 Winter Olympics The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially the and commonly known as Sapporo 1972 (), were a winter multi-sport event held from February 3 to 13, 1972, in Sapporo, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. It was the first Winter Olympic Games to take place outside ...

. Limited edition (200 copies) one-sided promo LP with six tracks. Bill & Taffy * ''Pass It On'' (RCA, 1973) * ''Aces'' (RCA, 1974) Starland Vocal Band * Five albums; details at SVB page ;Singles John Denver with Fat City * "Take Me Home, Country Roads" / "Poems, Prayers And Promises" (RCA, 1971) Bill & Taffy * "Pass It On" / "Didn't I Try" (RCA UK, 1973) * " Maybe" / "How Lucky Can You Be" (RCA Germany, 1974) * "Maybe" (stereo) / "Maybe" (mono) (RCA promo, 1974) Starland Vocal Band * Ten singles; details at SVB page

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nivert, Taffy 1944 births American women singer-songwriters Grammy Award winners Living people 21st-century American women Singer-songwriters from Washington, D.C. Starland Vocal Band members