Bruce Johnston

Bruce Arthur Johnston born Benjamin Baldwin June 27 1942 is an American singer musician and songwriter who is a member of the Beach Boys He also collaborated on many records with Terry Melcher his bandmate in Bruce Terry the Rip Chords and California Music and composed the 1975 Barry Manilow hit I Write the Songs Born in Illinois Johnston grew up in Los Angeles and studied classical piano in his early years While in high school he arranged and played on his first hit record Sandy Nelsons Teen Beat 1959 and also worked with musicians such as Kim Fowley and Phil Spector One of Johnstons first gigs was as a member of the surf band the Gamblers before becoming a staff producer at Columbia Records In 1965 Johnston joined the Beach Boys for live performances initially filling in for the groups cofounder Brian Wilson Johnstons first appearance on the bands records was as a vocalist on California Girls 1965 He later contributed original material to the groups albums including The Nearest Faraway Place on 2020 1969 Tears in the Morning and Deirdre on Sunflower 1970 and Disney Girls 1957 on Surfs Up 1971 Johnston left the Beach Boys in 1972 and subsequently embarked on a solo career During this time Johnston recorded one solo album Going Public 1977 his latest to date In late 1978 he rejoined the Beach Boys to coproduce the groups LA Light Album 1979 Since then he has continued to tour as a member of the band Born in Peoria Illinois in 1942 he was adopted as child by William and Irene Johnston of Chicago and grew up in the wealthy Los Angeles neighborhoods of Brentwood and BelAir His adoptive family is of Irish descent with his grandparents hailing from Markethill County Armagh His adoptive father was president of the Owl Rexall Drug Company in Los Angeles after moving from Walgreens in Chicago Johnston attended the private Bel Air Town and Country School later renamed John Thomas Dye School and the University of California Los Angeles He also studied classical piano in his early years training at Interlochen Arts Camp as a youth 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 Kim Fowley and Phil Spector Soon Johnston began backing people such as Ritchie Valens the Everly Brothers and Eddie Cochran In 1959 while still in high school Johnston arranged and played on his first hit record Teen Beat by Sandy Nelson The single reached the Billboard Top Ten The same year Johnston made his first single under his own name Take This Pearl on Arwin Records a record label owned by Doris Day as part of the Bruce Jerry duo Jerry Cooper was a high school friend of Bruces The teenage Hot Rod film entitled Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow 1959 features the song I Promise You by Johnston and Judy Harriet In 1960 Johnston started his record production career at DelFi Records producing five singles and an album Love You So by Ron Holden many of the albums eleven tracks were written or cowritten by Johnston Source Article Bruce Johnston from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30