Johnny Rivers Biography

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Johnny Rivers
Pop Music | 3 CD Set
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By the time Johnny Rivers hit the Top 40 charts with his first big hit, "Memphis," he was already a star in live performances. Born in New York in 1942 as John Ramistella, Rivers - his name was given to him by the renowned rock figure Alan Freed - was making waves by age 16. His family moved from New York to Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1945 and by age eight, young Johnny was playing guitar and by thirteen was leading his own band. He was sixteen when he moved back to New York to try recording and met Freed, who assisted him with getting a contract. Rivers' first single followed, "Baby Come Bac,", but the next year the nasal-voiced singer with pretty good guitar chops moved to Nashville to push his songwriting talents further along. He paired up with Roger Miller, another new singer seeking a future, and they wrote some tunes. Rivers was also making demo sides for some established stars, including Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash. He had a hit from Ricky Nelson in 1960, when Nelson recorded his "Make Believe." Another move, this time to Los Angeles, occurred and Rivers spent the early '60s making singles for several companies, large and small, with no chart success. He was 21 when he took on a brief gig at the Los Angeles club Gazzeri's, which stretched from three nights to several weeks, moving then to the popular disco club Whisky A Go Go. His audience grew and he began to attract movie and television stars, such as Johnny Carson and even Rita Hayworth, and began recording for the Imperial label, for which he eventually placed thirteen hits in the Top 40, all but two in the Top 20. His first album, JOHNNY RIVERS AT THE WHISKY A GO GO, spawned the Chuck Berry masterpiece "Memphis" and it made it up; to No. 2, following that with another Berry tune, "Maybelline," that was No. 12 and a few weeks later with "Mountain Of Love," which peaked at No. 9. Rivers enjoyed making his own versions of songs by writers such as Willie Dixon, Pete Seeger, the Four Tops, Smokey Robinson and others along the way, nailing down thirteen hits between 1964-67. His biggest single was his own No. 1 "Poor Side of Town" but he also scored big (No. 3) with "Secret Agent Man." He had his best-selling album in REALIZATION as the '60s wore down and had several critically acclaimed albums that failed to reach the big time. His last chart success was in 1977 with No. 10 "Swaying' To the Music (Slow Dancin')" but in 1975 he covered the Beach Boys "Help Me Rhonda" with Brian Wilson on backup vocal and it was No. 22 on the chart. He continued into the '80s but failed to repeat his earlier success. However, Rivers did capture two writing Grammys in 1967 for "Up Up and Away," a big hit for the Fifth Dimension.

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