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JOHNNY
RIVERS (ARTIST BIOGRAPHY)
Johnny
Rivers (born John Henry Ramistella on November 7, 1942 in New York
City) is an American rock and roll singer, songwriter, guitarist,
and record producer.
He was versatile enough to do folk songs, blues, covers of old-time
Rock n’ roll songs, and some original material, all of them in his
own unique style. Rivers’s greatest success came in the mid and late
1960s with a string of hit songs (including “Seventh Son,” “Poor
Side of Town” and “Secret Agent Man”) but he has continued to record
and perform to the present.
In 1960, Rivers met fellow Louisianan, James Burton, the guitar
player for Ricky Nelson. Burton later recommended one of Rivers’s
songs to Nelson, who went on to record it. In 1961, Rivers went to
Los Angeles to meet Nelson, and ended up relocating there, working
as a song writer and studio musician. In 1963, Rivers’s big break
came when he temporarily filled in for a jazz combo at Bill
Gazzari’s night club; the temporary gig became long-term due to
positive customer response.
In 1964, Elmer Valentine then gave Rivers a one-year contract to
open his new club, Whisky a Go Go, on Sunset Strip in West
Hollywood. The Whisky opened three days before The Beatles released
“I Want To Hold Your Hand” and the British Invasion knocked almost
every American artist off the top of the charts. But Rivers was so
popular, producer Lou Adler decided to issue Johnny Rivers Live At
The Whiskey A Go Go. The live album reached #12 on the charts and
the single “Memphis” (a Chuck Berry cover) reached #2. Rivers made
the successful transition from nightclub entertainer to
chart-busting pop singer and had created the Go Go sound, part of a
scene which included Go-Go dancers.
Into 1965, Rivers continued to record mostly live, Go Go style
records including “Maybellene” (another Berry cover), which he
followed “Mountain of Love”, “Midnight Special”, “Seventh Son” (written
by Willie Dixon) e “Where Have All The Flowers Gone” (with Pete
Seeger’s), all of which were hits.
Rivers wanted to try something different and adopted a more
idiosyncratic approach as from 1966. Characterized by his smooth,
soulful voice, he produced hit portrayals as “Poor Side Of Town”,
which would be his biggest hit ever and his only number one record.
Into another hit was “Secret Agent Man”, the theme from Secret Agent
television series (written by P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri). He also
started own record company, Soul City Records, where he won a Grammy
Award as the producer of the 5th Dimension, which eventually
recorded “Aquarius/Let The Sun Shine In” and “Wedding Bell Blues”,
two number one hits on Rivers’ label. Johnny is also credited with
giving songwriter Jimmy Webb a major break when they recorded Webb’s
song “Up, Up, and Away”. James Hendricks, one of the artists of that
signed with Soul City, wrote “Summer Rain”, a song that Rivers
recorded and turned a hit.
Johnny Rivers continued to record more hits, including “Baby I Need
Your Lovin’” and “The Tracks of My Tears” (cover of The Miracles),
both top 10 in 1967. In 1968, Rivers released what many fans
consider his best album, Realization, a number five album on the LP
charts. The album was evocative of the psychedelic influences of the
time and marked a subtle change in his musical direction, with more
thoughtful types of songs, included such ballads as “Going Back to
Big Sur”.
In the 1970s, Rivers continued to record more songs and albums which
were a success with music critics, but did not sell as well as some
of his earlier hits. One of these albums, “L.A. Reggae” in 1972,
reached the LP charts as a result of the top 10 “Rockin’ Pneumonia
and the Boogie Woogie Flu” (a cover of Huey Smith & the Clowns).
Anothers hits that time were “Blue Suede Shoes” (a cover of Carl
Perkins), in 1973, which would reach the top 40 on the Billboard Hot
100, and “Help Me Rhonda”, in 1975 - a cover of The Beach Boys on
which Brian Wilson helped with backup vocals. His last entry on the
charts was “Swayin’ to the Music (Slow Dancing)”, a top ten hit in
1977.
1980’s until nowadays
Rivers continued recording into the ‘80’s, although his recording
career wound down somewhat. In spite of his music hasn’t reached the
best seller charts for quite a while, Rivers is still touring, doing
50 to 60 shows a year, increasingly returning to the blues that
inspired him initially.
In 1998], Rivers reactivated his Soul City imprint and released Last
Train to Memphis, his first new studio album in 15 years.
In early 2000, Johnny recorded with Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, and
Paul McCartney on a tribute album dedicated to Buddy Holly’s backup
band, “The Crickets”.
In all, Rivers had 9 top ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and 17 in
the top 40 from 1964 to 1977. In total, he has sold well over 25
million records. |
