BIOGRAPHY
Johnny Pierre was born to be a musician. After falling under the spell of the British Invasion in the early sixties, he began to form his own rock n' roll bands. In 1966, Johnny made his first professional appearances on stage while still a teenage Army brat living in France. It was during this period of his life that Johnny began to write his own songs. As the sixties drew to a close, Johnny returned to the States where he became involved in the folk music scene and began performing at local coffee houses and colleges in Pennsylvania.
1970 - 1974 found Johnny attending The University of Dayton in Ohio. While there, he formed a seminal rock combo named the Freelance Vandals. After graduation from college, Johnny spent a short period of time in Maryland pursuing his musical career.
In 1977, Johnny moved to the Long Island area of New York where he was involved in a reformed version of the Freelance Vandals for the next seven years during which he performed in a wide variety of venues, opening up for such artists as John Hiatt, Dr. John and NRBQ. During this period, Johnny's work as the lead singer/frontman for the band received accolades in such trade publications as Variety, The Hollywood Press and Creem Magazine. The band released several vinyl record projects during this period; a double 45 rpm collection known as The Dogpak (Dog Records, 1978) and a live album, Yer Money Or Yer Ears (Gunga Din Records, 1984).
The Freelance Vandals disbanded in 1984 and Johnny spent the next 15 years concentrating on his songwriting during which time he recorded several solo albums such as Like Milk For Feet and Radio Lux. During this period, he maintained a regular schedule of performances with a variety of local bands as well as performing as an acoustic solo artist.
In 2010, Johnny signed with Mind Smoke Records as a solo artist. Beisdes his solo work, Johnny spent time performing with the Americana Blues band, the Biscuit Kings. In the summer of 2011, the Biscuit Kings signed to the Mind Smoke label and released their debut album, Hambones & Trombones. Recently, Johnny released two Christmas singles (Doin That Holiday Thing and Christmas Forever Tonight) in celebration of the 2011 Holiday season.
Johnny's latest release is The Ghost of Pontchartrain, a mixture of blues and a symphonic sounds. Johnny describes this project as an imaginary soundtrack to a film about a ghost in New Orleans.
Johnny describes his music as a mixture of folk rock, spiced up with some blues stylings. His creative mission is to create modernistic music which captures the immediacy of old time blues and jazz.
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