Johnny Rivers was born John Henry Ramistella on November 7, 1942 in New York City. Though his family moved south to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he went to school, Johnny Rivers’s first success came through New York City. In 1958, New York famed disc jockey Alan Freed told Johnny Ramistella to change his name. He picked Johnny Rivers to commemorate the river that runs through Baton Rouge, the Mississippi.

Alan Freed also connected Johnny with George Goldner. Goldner’s Gone label put out some Johhny Rivers records and turned one over to Guyden—“You’re the One” b/w “There’s a Hole in the Ground” (Guyden 2038) . At this time, when Jamie/Guyden was starting its remarkably successful run with Duane Eddy, the labels were nationally distributed by George Goldner and Jamie’s affiliate, Univeral Record Distributing Corp., was Goldner’s Philadelphia regional distributor.

These were not Johnny Rivers’s key to success, and he returned to Baton Rouge in 1959. Playing around the South, he met Hank Williams’s wife Audrey, who persuaded Johnny to go to Nashville, where he picked up his songwriting career.

Moving on to California, he met James Burton, who by now in 1960 was Ricky Nelson’s guitar player and got Ricky to record songs by Johnny. In 1966 Johnny Rivers had a national hit with "Secret Agent Man," which was the television theme song to the American version of a British television series.

His big break came in being hired at the Whiskey a Go Go on Sunset Strip in Hollywood His act was so popular that Lou Adler of Dunhill Records put out Johnny Rivers Live At The Whisky A Go Go, which got to No.12 on the charts.