On this date in 1942, John Henry Ramistella was born in New York City. When he was five years old, his father lost his job and moved the family to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where little Johnny’s uncle got his old man a job painting houses and antiquing furniture. No one realized at the time that this reunion of Ramistella brothers would foster one of the most distinctive musical voices of the 1960s.
When Johnny’s dad and uncle got together, the two often played Italian folk songs on guitar and mandolin. Soon, Johnny was asking for lessons — and his own guitar. But Johnny was less interested in music from the old country and more zeroed in on the sounds he would hear on late-night R&B stations. Local musicians like Fats Domino and Jimmy Reed crossed his path as well, leaving a lifelong impression on the scrawny kid from New York.
By junior high school, Johnny had honed his craft and was sitting in with various local bands. And when Elvis Presley stormed the charts in 1956, Johnny added rockabilly to his repertoire. By the age of 14, Johnny released his first single, “Hey Little Girl” (by Johnny and The Spades), on the local Suede label. A year later, Johnny was on holiday at his aunt’s home in New York City. Taking advantage of his time in the media capital, he boldly sought out legendary DJ Alan Freed, who arranged an audition for the teenager. The result was a contract with Gone and End Records and a name change. Ramistella wasn’t going to cut it with mass America, opined Freed. He suggested, instead, Johnny Rivers, after the Mississippi River that flows through Johnny’s home state.
Between 1958 and 1959, Rivers recorded three albums for Gone and End, none of which set the world on fire. He returned to the South, slightly defeated. But a chance meeting with Hank Williams’ wife brought him to Nashville, where Johnny tried to resurrect his recording career. While neither of his Nashville albums caused much of a stir, Johnny was able to make a living as a songwriter and a demo singer. Along the way, he met session guitar whiz James Burton, who passed along one of Rivers’ compositions to Ricky Nelson. When Rivers went to Los Angeles to meet Nelson, he decided to stay. He got a regular gig at a local nightclub and kept hard at work as a songwriter.
Finally in 1963, it all came together. On the heels of the James Bond film success, CBS Television decided to import the British TV show, Danger Man, but with a new name, Secret Agent. With a new theme song in hand from P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri, the studio needed an artist to sing it. And the baritone, Bayou-reared, R&B kid was just the man for the job. By this point in his career, Rivers was a bit gun-shy as a recording artist, but he was convinced to record the track anyway. His take on “Secret Agent Man” became an instant hit, blazing to #3 on the U.S. charts. At long last, Johnny Rivers was a star.
He was offered a one-year contract at the brand new Whiskey a Go Go on Sunset Strip, which further increased his profile. A live album of his Whiskey set of mostly R&B covers was released in 1964. The album rose to #12 in the charts, and his cover of Chuck Berry’s “Memphis” went all the way to #2. Rivers’ rollicking sound, with stinging guitar licks from his trademark red ES-335, soon became known as the “Go Go sound.”
Over the next few years, Rivers recorded several successful singles, most of them blues and R&B covers (ranging from Willie Dixon’s “Seventh Son” to Berry’s “Maybelline”). The fact that most of his hits were covers was a bit ironic, given that Rivers was such a prolific songwriter. Nevertheless, his most successful single was, in fact, a Rivers composition (with help from producer Lou Adler). “Poor Side of Town” was a blue-eyed soul ballad with lush orchestration and backing vocals from the Blossoms (who included Darlene Love). The song went to #1 in November 1966.
Rivers continued to record over the next two decades, with most of his hits coming from covers, including the Four Tops’ “Baby I Need Your Lovin’” and the Miracles’ “The Tracks of My Tears.” Though his recording career petered out in the 1980s, Rivers never stopped touring and, to this day, can be found knocking out that “Go Go sound” on his ES-335 and warning us about that man who leads a life of danger.
AT: http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Features/spotlight-1107-2010/
No comments:
Post a Comment