How John Ramistella Became a Very Famous Singer With Another Name

Dodie and I had tickets to see him perform at a Louisiana casino resort when we received notification that his July 2021 concert was being canceled.

I was personally heart broken because after watching him perform at the Majestic Theater in San Antonio, Texas on November 15, 1984, it was my goal to see him again.

As with most such entertainment venues, the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic squelched many such public performances. For him, his last show was now behind him.

John Henry Ramistella was born on November 7, 1942 in New York, NY. The world knows him as Johnny Rivers

His family moved from New York to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Rivers began playing guitar at age eight, taught by his father and uncle.

While still in junior high school, he started playing with a band called the Rockets. The band was led by Dick Holler, who later wrote several hit songs. These included “Abraham, Martin and John” and the novelty song, “Snoopy vs. the Red Baron”.

Ramistella formed his own band, the Spades, and made his first record at 14, while he was a student at Baton Rouge High School.

On a trip to New York City in 1958, Ramistella met Alan Freed, who advised him to change his name to “Johnny Rivers” after the Mississippi River.

Freed also helped Rivers gain several recording contracts on the Gone label. From March 1958 to March 1959, Johnny 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.

In 1958, Rivers met fellow Louisianan James Burton, who became very famous as Elvis Presley’s lead guitarist in the 1970s.

When Rivers met him he was a guitarist in a band led by Ricky Nelson sometimes featured on the popular ‘Ozzie and Harriet’ television program.

Burton later recommended one of Rivers’ songs, “I’ll Make Believe,” to Nelson, who recorded it.

They met in Los Angeles in 1961, where Rivers subsequently found work as a songwriter and studio musician. His big break came in 1963, when he filled in for a jazz combo at Gazzarri’s, a nightclub in Hollywood, where his instant popularity drew large crowds.

In 1964, Elmer Valentine gave Rivers a one-year contract to open at the Whisky a Go Go, on Sunset Strip in West Hollywood. Rivers was so popular that record producer Lou Adler decided to issue “Johnny Rivers Live at the Whisky A Go Go”, which reached #12.

His requested live song then was “Memphis”, a Chuck Berry song which reached #2 on Cash Box on 4–11 July 1964 and also on the Hot 100 on 11–18 July 1964. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc.

Rivers continued to record mostly live performances throughout 1964 and 1965. He included “Go-Go-style” records with songs featuring folk music and blues rock influences.

These included “Maybellene” (another Chuck Berry cover). After that came “Mountain of Love,” “Midnight Special,” and “Seventh Son” (written by Willie Dixon). Rivers also included Pete Seeger’s “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?”, all of which were hits.

In 1963, Rivers began working with writers P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri on a theme song for the American broadcast of a British television series “Danger Man”, starring Patrick McGoohan.

The American version of the show, titled “Secret Agent”, went on the air in the spring of 1965. Rivers’ recording of “Secret Agent Man” reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1966. It sold one million copies, also winning gold disc status.

Starting in 1966 he produced several hits including his own “Poor Side of Town”, which would be his biggest chart hit and his only #1 record.

He also started his own record company, Soul City Records which included The 5th Dimension, whose recordings of “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” and “Wedding Bell Blues” were #1 hits for the new label.

Rivers is credited with giving songwriter Jimmy Webb a major break when the 5th Dimension recorded his song “Up, Up, and Away”. Rivers also recorded Webb’s “By the “Time I Get to Phoenix”, which was covered by Glen Campbell.

Rivers continued to record more hits covering other artists, including “Baby I Need Your Lovin'”, originally recorded by the Four Tops, and “The Tracks of My Tears” by the Miracles, both going Top 10 in 1967.

In 1968, Rivers put out “Realization”, a #5 album that included the #14 pop chart single “Summer Rain”, written by a former member of the Mugwumps, James Hendricks.

“L.A. Reggae” (1972) reached the LP chart as a result of the #6 hit “Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu,” a cover version of the Huey “Piano” Smith and the Clowns song.

Rivers’ last Top 10 entry was his 1977 recording of “Swayin’ to the Music (Slow Dancing),” written by Jack Tempchin and originally released by Funky Kings.

Rivers also recorded the title song for the late night TV show “The Midnight Special”.

His career total is 9 Top 10 hits on the Hot 100 and 17 in the Top 40 from 1964 to 1977. Rivers has sold well over 30 million records.

Rivers continued releasing material into the 1980s (e.g., 1980’s “Borrowed Time” LP), although his recording career was winding down.

On June 12, 2009, Rivers was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. His name has been suggested many times for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but he has never been selected. Rivers, nonetheless, was a nominee for 2015 induction into America’s Pop Music Hall of Fame.