User:Jriolo

JOHN RIOLO    Onstage at the San Jose Civic Auditorium 1966



John Riolo was the original drummer and a lead singer for PEOPLE! from the very beginning. He was a founding member along with Al Ribisi on electric guitar and Farfisa organ, Geoff Levin on electric guitar, Rob Levin on electric bass, and Dave Anderson on acoustic guitar and lead vocals. These were the original members of the group and they performed at local coffee houses, parties, and teen dances. When singer/acoustic guitarist Dave Anderson was replaced by Gene Mason and Larry Norman, John continued his drumming and lead singing providing a solid foundation for PEOPLE! in it’s next incarnation.

EARLY HISTORY OF PEOPLE!

It was fall of 1966 and twenty-one year old PEOPLE! guitar player and leader Geoff Levin was giving guitar lessons downtown at Moyer Brother's Music to finance his music equipment and pay tuition at San Jose State College. At that time Geoff had quite a few guitar students, and fortunately a new student was referred to Geoff by the store's management. The New student turned out to be Mike Hunter, aka Captain Mickey, the program director and a popular disk jockey at the biggest local AM radio station KLIV of San Jose, California. Mike wanted to learn some guitar to be able to sing for his beautiful wife. Geoff gave Mike lessons regularly and then realized that "Captain Mikey" might be able to promote PEOPLE! in the local music scene. Geoff was very cautious at first not to ruin a good student/teacher relationship, but then decided it would be O.K. to ask him to manage PEOPLE!. Later Geoff informed the band members that Mike Hunter would be coming by to audition them, so they prepared a song list to be ready when Mike came by the Ribisi Garage practice place.

In the year 1967 John was a junior in high school and the group PEOPLE! was about to go professional and tour extensively. He had not finished high school yet and could not travel more than on week-ends at the ripe age of 16-1/2 years, so PEOPLE! were forced to find a replacement. It was best that John graduate the next year from the famous Jesuit high school Bellarmine Prep to provide a solid foundation for his further education. John certainly feels that he was lucky to have worked with Larry Norman(who became the 'Godfather of Christian Music' and recorded well over 40 albums),his pal Al Ribisi(who owns LA Publishing and whose son is Giovanni the famous young actor), Geoff Levin(film score composer, great musician, top LA Record Producer), Robbie Levin(clothing mogul turned resort tycoon), and Gene Mason(life long professional entertainer, recording artist, bluegrass star).

The Rock Group PEOPLE! was a great experience for John, and he was very happy about all the new friends he had made around the Bay Area. John was always grateful that his life crossed paths with those talented boys and was rewarded richly with quality friendships and good experiences. "One thing I can definitely say about PEOPLE!", John has said, "is that they were all good boys and were a positive influence on my personal growth. They were always kind to me and had good manners on and off stage; I was steered free of trouble with those guys. When I had to be replaced, it was not exactly easy to say good-bye, but I was well known around town by that time and was immediately offered positions in some of the best bands.