Bruce Johnston
Bruce Johnston (born June 27, 1942 in Peoria, Illinois) is a member of The Beach Boys and a Grammy Award-winning song writer for writing "I Write The Songs". Contrary to what many might believe, Johnston was actually not one of the original members of the band. He joined in April 1965 after Glen Campbell who was replacing Brian Wilson decided to embark on a solo career.
Biography
Bruce Johnston grew up on the West side of Los Angeles in Brentwood and Bel-Air. His father ran the Owl Rexall Drug Company in Los Angeles after moving from Walgreens in Chicago. Bruce attended private school in Los Angleles and also studied classical piano in his early years. In high school, Johnston switched to contemporary music. He performed in a few 'beginning' bands during this time and then moved on to working with young musicians such as Sandy Nelson and Phil Spector. Soon Johnston began backing people such as Ritchie Valens, the Everly Brothers, and even Eddie Cochran. In 1959 while still in high school, Johnston arranged and played on his first hit record called "Teenbeat" by Sandy Nelson. The single record reached the Billboard Top Ten chart.In 1963, Johnston started his record production career at Columbia Records with his friend Terry Melcher. The first artist they both produced was a group called The Rip Cords. By the time Johnston and Melcher were producing the million selling "Hey Little Cobra," a knockoff of the Beach Boys car song vocal style, they also wound up singing every layered vocal part for the recording. The two of them made a few recordings as Bruce & Terry, but Terry Melcher began to focus more on his production career (The Byrds, Paul Revere and The Raiders). On April 9, 1965, Johnston joined the Beach Boys replacing Glen Campbell who was playing bass on the road and singing Brian Wilson's vocal parts. Johnston didn't start playing bass until his first tenure with the Beach Boys, and the very first vocal recording Johnston made as one of the Beach Boys was "California Girls." Johnston subsequently would leave the band once after the Surf's Up album, then return. Throughout the 70's however he would assist and guest on each album the band released. He officially rejoined the band for the ''L.A. (Light Album)'' sessions in 1978. Johnston is frequently credited as one of the original greatest supporters of the Beach Boys' 1966 signature album ''Pet Sounds''. He flew to London in May 1966 and played the album for John Lennon and Paul McCartney. He wrote several Beach Boy songs, notably, "Disney Girls" (1971), which was covered by both Captain & Tennille and Art Garfunkel. He also helped, as a songwriter, to create some Barry Manilow hits ("I Write the Songs") for which he won a Grammy, and he released his own solo album, ''Going Public'', in 1977. "I Write The Songs" currently has a cumulative singles/albums worldwide sales figure of twenty-five million copies. In addition, Johnston wrote backing vocal arrangements and also sang on the recordings for Elton John's "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" and Pink Floyd's album The Wall.Johnston is still a member of the touring version of The Beach Boys, performing 170 concerts a year. Despite Bruce's long involvement with the band he no longer has a full membership in BRI, the continuously legally challenged corporate entity behind the group, having traded his shares (bur not his artist royalties) back years earlier. He is the only member of the band to have earned a Song of the Year Grammy.External link
- biography provided by MusicmatchJohnston, Bruce
Johnston, Brucede:Bruce Johnston