Bruce Arthur Johnston was born on Benjamin Baldwin; June 27,1942 and is an American singer, musician and songwriter who is a member of the Beach Boys.
29 Facts About Bruce Johnston
2.
Bruce Johnston collaborated on many records with Terry Melcher and composed the 1975 Barry Manilow hit, "I Write the Songs".
3.
In 1965, Bruce Johnston joined the Beach Boys for live performances, initially filling in for the group's co-founder Brian Wilson.
4.
Bruce Johnston left the Beach Boys in 1972 and subsequently embarked on a solo career.
5.
Bruce Johnston was born in Peoria, Illinois in 1942, but was adopted as child by William and Irene Bruce Johnston of Chicago and grew up in the wealthy Los Angeles neighborhoods of Brentwood and Bel-Air.
6.
Bruce Johnston attended the private Bel Air Town and Country School and the University of California, Los Angeles.
7.
Bruce Johnston studied classical piano in his early years, training at Interlochen Arts Camp as a youth.
8.
Bruce Johnston 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.
9.
Soon, Bruce Johnston began backing people such as Ritchie Valens, the Everly Brothers, and Eddie Cochran.
10.
In 1959, while still in high school, Bruce Johnston arranged and played on his first hit record, "Teen Beat" by Sandy Nelson.
11.
The first artist that Bruce Johnston and Melcher produced was a group called the Rip Chords.
12.
Bruce Johnston did not start playing bass until his first tenure with the Beach Boys, and the first contributions Bruce Johnston made as one of the Beach Boys was on Summer Days.
13.
In May 1966, Bruce Johnston flew to London and played Pet Sounds for John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Keith Moon.
14.
Bruce Johnston similarly contributed backing vocals to some of the subsequent Smile sessions.
15.
Bruce Johnston did not participate in most of the 1967 Smiley Smile sessions and played on only a few tracks on Wild Honey.
16.
Bruce Johnston considered his favorite Beach Boys album to be Sunflower.
17.
Bruce Johnston was just on a tangent that was outside The Beach Boys for so many years.
18.
In 1977, he released his third solo album Going Public, which included among its tracks Bruce Johnston's own recording of "I Write the Songs" as well as a disco remake of his 1970 Beach Boys song "Deirdre".
19.
Bruce Johnston has remained with the Beach Boys ever since and was the only member to continue touring with Mike Love as the Beach Boys after the death of Carl Wilson.
20.
However, Bruce Johnston was reluctant to be interviewed and only offered a few comments via e-mail.
21.
Bruce Johnston still retains his equal ownership of the band's ASCAP publishing company, Wilojarston, and is the only member of the band to have earned a Grammy Award for Song of the Year.
22.
In 1967, Bruce Johnston sang on "My World Fell Down", a minor hit for the Gary Usher-led studio group Sagittarius.
23.
The song became a Billboard number one hit by Barry Manilow, for which Bruce Johnston won a Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1977.
24.
In 1977, Bruce Johnston provided vocal arrangements and sang back-up vocals on Eric Carmen's LP Boats Against the Current and can be heard on the hit single "She Did It", with inspiration taken from the 1968 Beach Boys' hit "Do It Again".
25.
Additionally, during this period Bruce Johnston wrote backing vocal arrangements and sang on the recordings for Elton John including "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me".
26.
Bruce Johnston contributed vocals to several songs on Pink Floyd's album The Wall, most notably in the song "The Show Must Go On", which Roger Waters specifically wrote for Beach Boys-style vocal harmonies.
27.
Bruce Johnston married Harriet Bruce Johnston in 1976 and has four sons: Ozzie, Justin, Ryan, and Max.
28.
Bruce Johnston described himself as "a real conservative guy" and stated that he had never taken drugs other than alcohol in his life.
29.
Bruce Johnston was subjected to criticism during the band's 50th anniversary tour, when a fan video during a meet and greet caught him being critical of then-US President Barack Obama, as well as 2012 Republican Presidential nominee, Mitt Romney.