35 Quotes by Johnny Rivers

When I came back to California in the early '60s I was hanging out with Jimmy Bowen, Phil Spector, and I wanted to be a record producer and work with other artists.

My first really good guitar was a Gibson J-45.

One thing will lead to another and somebody will come up with a riff or a line or something we build from.

One of the first groups we signed was the Fifth Dimension.

I got to see all these incredible blues players, like Jimmy Reed.

I didn't get to talk to him, I just kept looking at him. Elvis had all this greasy hair and pimples on his face; he played a mean guitar and sang like no one else. I thought he was the coolest guy I'd ever seen. I wanted to be just like him.

I accepted an offer to do a concert for the reopening of the Mall of Memphis.

He was signing everyone else up, ... He just didn't think I could sell any records.

Guys like Otis Blackwell and Bobby Darin, and all the guys who were writing songs for Elvis at the time, just hanging around, writing songs, talking about music.