Bruce Johnston
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Bruce Johnston (born June 24, 1944) is a musician who is better known as a member of The Beach Boys. Contrary to what many might believe, Johnston was actually not one of the original members of the band. He joined in 1965 after Brian Wilson announced he would retire from live performances.
Johnston, a Chicago native, subsequently would abandon the band many times, then return. This pattern continued until the late 1970s.
A man of many musical capacities, Johnston was raised in Beverly Hills, where he was a member of a band named The Sleepwalkers. He also participated in one song with The Teddy Bears, he was a member of the Ritchie Valens band, and founder of the Surf Stompers as well as member of the duo The Rip Cords (otherwise known as "Bruce and Terry") with Terry Melcher, which produced the hit, "Hey Little Cobra." He played various instruments in each of those bands, including the bass, guitar, keyboard and drums.
Johnston is frequently credited as one of the original greatest supporters of the Beach Boys' 1966 signature album Pet Sounds. He wrote several Beach Boy songs, notably, "Disney Girls" (1971), which was covered by both Captain & Tennille and Art Garfunkel. He also helped, as a songwriter, to create some Barry Manilow hits ("I Write the Songs") and he released his own solo album, Going Public, in 1977.
Johnston is still a member of the touring version of The Beach Boysde:Bruce Johnston