Bruce Johnston

At 81 years old, Bruce Johnston physical status not available right now. We will update Bruce Johnston's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Bruce Arthur Johnston (born Benjamin Baldwin, 1942) is an American singer, guitarist, composer, and record producer best known as a Beach Boys member.

In 1965, Johnston joined the band for live shows, filling in for the group's co-founder Brian Wilson, who had left touring to spend more time in the studio.

Johnston was also a contributing member of subsequent albums. "Tears in the Morning" (1970), "Deirdre" (1970), and "Disney Girls (1971)" were among his Beach Boys' songs.

He was a producer for the Beach Boys albums Los Angeles.

(Light Album) (1979) and Keepin' the Summer Alive (1980) a light album (1979).

Johnston is also known for his early 1960s collaborations with Terry Melcher, the surf band the Rip Chords, as well as the 1975 Barry Manilow song "I Write the Songs."

Along with band co-founder Mike Love, he continues to tour as a member of the Beach Boys.

Personal life

In 1976, Johnston married Harriet Johnston and has four children: Ozzie, Justin, Ryan, and Max. He referred to himself as a "true conservative guy" and said he had never tried drugs other than alcohol in his life. As of 2012, he identifies himself as a Republican. During the band's 50th anniversary tour, he was caught on camera being critical of then-US President Barack Obama, as well as 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

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Early career

Johnston shifted to contemporary music in high school. During this period, he appeared in a handful "beginning" bands before going on to work with young musicians like Sandy Nelson, Kim Fowley, and Phil Spector. Soon Johnston began to support people like Ritchie Valens, the Everly Brothers, and Eddie Cochran. Johnston arranged and appeared on his first hit song, "Toeen Beat" by Sandy Nelson in 1959, when he was still in high school. The single debuted in the Billboard Top Tension. On Arwin Records (a record label owned by Doris Day) as part of Bruce & Jerry in the same year. (Jerry Cooper was a high school friend of Bruce's).

Johnston began his recording career at Del-Fi Records, releasing five singles and an album titled Love You So (Ron Holden). (Many of the album's eleven songs were written or co-written by Johnston). Johnston continued his recording career in 1962 and 1963 with a series of surfin' singles (vocal & instrumental) and an album, Surfin' Around the World, credited to Bruce Johnston, as well as another "live" album, the Bruce Johnston Surfing Band's Surfer's Pajama Party. Terry Melcher (Doris Day's son) was the first collaborator of Terry Melcher, a largely instrumental covers album credited to the Hot Doggers in 1963.

The Rip Chords, Johnston and Melcher's first artist, was a group called the Rip Chords. By the time they were releasing the million-selling "Hey Little Cobra," a knock-off of the Beach Boys' car song vocal style, they were also singing every layered vocal part of the song. Bruce & Terry, Terry, and the Rogues made a few albums together, but Melcher started focusing more on his musical career (with the Byrds, Paul Revere & the Raiders).

Solo career and return to the Beach Boys

Although Johnston was no longer a member of the band, he did continue to make occasional appearances on their albums from the mid-1970s. He embarked on a solo career for the first time. He released his third solo album Going Public in 1977, which included Johnston's own recording of "I Write the Songs" and a disco reissue of his 1970 Beach Boys hit "Deirdre." After the recording was popularized by Manhattan-based underground DJ David Mancuso, Johnston would also have a hit off the album's disco charts with a dance-oriented interpretation of the Chantays' hit "Pipeline."

Johnston joined the Beach Boys at Brian Wilson's invitation to appear (and co-produce) the album L.A. (Light Album). He was named sole producer on the summer Alive LP's sequel, Keepin' the Summer Alive, which was released in the United States. Since being the Beach Boys' first member to continue touring with Mike Love, he has been with the Beach Boys ever since.

During the writing of Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson, biographer Peter Ames Carlin met with Johnston. However, Johnston was reluctant to be interviewed and limited to a few words by e-mail. At one point, Johnston remarked, "I can tell that you are much deeper into the Beach Boys thing than I will ever be in 100 lifetimes." To me, it's only business."

Johnston maintains his equal ownership of Wilojarston's ASCAP publishing firm, and is the only member of the band to have been named in the Top Artist of the Year awards. Johnston is the longest-serving active member of the Beach Boys after Love as of 2020.

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