Johnny Rivers
Johnny Rivers
Johnny Riversis an Italian-American rock 'n' roll singer, songwriter, legendary guitarist, and record producer. His repertoire includes pop, folk, blues, and old-time rock 'n' roll. Rivers charted during the 1960s and 1970s but remains best known for a string of hit singles between 1964 and 1968, among them "Memphis", "Mountain of Love", "The Seventh Son", "Secret Agent Man", "Poor Side of Town", "Baby I Need Your Lovin'", and "Summer Rain"...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMusician
Date of Birth7 November 1942
CountryUnited States of America
Guys like Otis Blackwell and Bobby Darin, and all the guys who were writing songs for Elvis at the time, just hanging around, writing songs, talking about music.
I play my old songs but I have to keep playing new ones. That's what keeps you going.
James was back there on a vacation, ... He was one of my favorite guitar players. I had written this song ('I'll Make Believe') that everyone said sounded like a good song for Ricky Nelson. I gave it to James. He took it back to Los Angeles and then called me and said, 'Hey, that song you gave me, I played it for Ricky and he likes it. He's gonna record it.' I went, 'Wow.' That was a big deal at the time because Elvis was in the Army and Ricky was the top guy.
About two months into the Whisky, I borrowed some money and rented a remote recording truck.
One of the first groups we signed was the Fifth Dimension.
I learned some chords and I started watching anybody I could, once I really got into it.
I think after 1970 or so, after I sold Soul City, I took off for awhile and didn't do too many gigs.
It was a trio - Eddie Rubin was playing drums, Joe Osborn on bass. And that's when we got approached on the idea of the Whisky A Go-Go.
One thing will lead to another and somebody will come up with a riff or a line or something we build from.
Jack and I usually get together and sit around in the afternoons and start throwing ideas around.
I got to see all these incredible blues players, like Jimmy Reed.
Alan's publishing company was in the Brill Building, and of course, the Brill Building was where all the songwriters hung out because that's where all the publishers were.
Even Woodstock turned out to be a disaster. Everybody was stuck in the mud and people got sick.
When I came back to California in the early '60s I was hanging out with Jimmy Bowen, Phil Spector, and I wanted to be a record producer and work with other artists.