Guitarist from Tulsa, Oklahoma, whose family relocated to Los Angeles, California, when he was fourteen years old. He received his education at David Starr Jordan High School. While there, he was in a band called The Kinfolks. After graduation, they toured the U.S. with acts such as Hank Ballard & the Midnighters, Etta James, Little Willie John, Martha & the Vandellas, and The Olympics.
In 1967, he released his solo debut album, The Sidewalk, and went on to record twelve more albums under his own name.
He also made a name for himself as a session musician. Artists and groups with whom he has worked in the recording studios include Cannonball Adderley, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sammy Davis, Jr., The Four Tops, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Herbie Hancock, The Jackson 5, B.B. King, Little Richard, Dean Martin, Jeffrey Osbourne, Gene Page, Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, Boz Scaggs, The Temptations, Sarah Vaughan, and Bill Withers.
His discography is massive—he is purported to have played on more than 2500 albums, commercials and soundtracks—and here is but a sampling: ABC by The Jackson 5; Ben by Michael Jackson; Close Encounters by Gene Page; Innervisions by Stevie Wonder; In the City by Tavares; It Begins Again by Dusty Springfield; Making Music by Bill Withers; Now and Then by Smokey Robinson; Set My Love in Motion by Syreeta; That’s What Friends Are For by Johnny Mathis & Deniece Williams; and, We’ve Got Tonight by Kenny Rogers.
His music has been sampled by the likes of Busta Rhymes, De La Soul, Pete Rock, Tupac Shakur, and A Tribe Called Quest.
In 2008, he participated in the Playboy Jazz Festival as a member of an all-star band assembled by comedian Bill Cosby.
He has enjoyed a surge in popularity in Japan, where he collaborated with Dreams Come True, Marlena Shaw, and Miwa Yoshida. In 2008 and 2009, he released a pair of albums there, Thoughts and Wear My Love, respectively.
Johnny Mathis & Deniece Williams recordings
Emotion (Barry Gibb/Robin Gibb)
S CBS 6164B (UK 45)
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