Happy Birthday to Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys, who turns 75 today (June 27th). Johnston joined the group on April 9th, 1965 to become the permanent live replacement for the group’s leader and bassist Brian Wilson, who had quit the road the previous December to focus solely on songwriting and producing. Soon after Johnston had joined, Wilson featured him prominently on the group’s next single,1965’s Number Three hit “California Girls.” Johnston’s tenor voice was also notably featured in the fadeout of “God Only Knows” from the group’s 1966 Pet Sounds album. Johnston is currently out on the road with Mike Love‘s touring version of the Beach Boys and performs tonight in Rome, Italy. The band kicks off their next string of North American dates on Friday (June 30th) at New Buffalo, Michigan’s Four Winds New Buffalo / Silver Creek Event Center.
Unlike the rest of the Beach Boys, Johnston wasn’t raised in the blue-collar suburbs of Hawthorne or Inglewood, California, but in the affluent Bel Air section of Los Angeles, along with high school buddies Jan & Dean. As a teenager, Johnston ventured into Hollywood, hooking up with such aspiring legends as Phil Spector, who invited Johnston to join his first group, the Teddy Bears. Johnston passed on Spector’s offer, but later teamed up with Doris Day‘s son Terry Melcher to record what he called “Beach Boys knock-offs” as the Rip Chords, including “Hey Little Cobra.”
