About Johnny Rivers
Johnny Rivers is an American musician. He achieved commercial success and popularity throughout the 1960s and 1970s as a singer and guitarist, characterized as a versatile and influential artist. Rivers is best known for his 1960s output, having popularized the mid-1960s discotheque scene through his live rock and roll recordings at the Los Angeles nightclub Whisky a Go Go, and later shifting to a more orchestral, soul-oriented sound during the latter half of the decade. These developments were reflected by his most notable string of hit singles between 1964 and 1968, many of them covers. They include "Memphis", "Mountain of Love", "The Seventh Son", "Secret Agent Man", "Poor Side of Town", "Baby I Need Your Lovin'", and "Summer Rain". Rivers had a total of nine top-ten hits and 17 top-forty hits on the US charts from 1964 to 1977. Freed also helped the artist then renamed Johnny Rivers to get him signed to recording contracts with the Gone record label. One evening in Birmingham, Alabama, Rivers met Audrey Williams, Hank Williams's first wife. The younger Ramistella formed his own band, the Spades, and made his first record at 14 while he was a student at Baton Rouge High School. Between March 1958 and March 1959, Johnny Rivers released three records, including "Baby Come Back" (a non-Christmas version of Elvis Presley's "Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me)"), none of which sold well.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.