Welcome to the Johny Barbata official website!

I have lived an incredible life and now I have written my auto-biography to share with my fans and with rock 'n' roll enthusiasts.

My career began when I was a sophomore in high school. It started in San Louis Obispo, California, SLO High School. I was in a Band called The Sentinals and we had a #1 West Coast hit called "La Tinia". This was my first taste of traveling and being part of a band.

After The Sentinals, my good friend Lee Michaels and I left for Hollywood to pursue our musical careers. About a month after we arrived, I heard that The Turtles were looking for a drummer, they called me down to the studio to try me out on some session work, the first song we recorded was "Happy Together", we got it in one take! The producer, Bones Howe said "Get that drummer"!, and the rest is history. I played on 10 of The Turtles hits " She'd Rather be with me", "You Showed Me" and "Elenore", which I co-wrote, to name a few, it was a great ride! I have lots of great stories to tell, its all in the book.

After The Turtles, I went on to join C S N & Y and played on the "4 Way Street" tour and live album. I also played on some of their individual works such as Graham Nash's "Songs for Beginners" and Neil Young's live album "Time Fades Away" also his hit single "Ohio" and Stephen Stills self-entitled album "Stephen Stills" and also the "Crosby/Nash" album totaling 7 albums in all. I have many great stories to tell about the music and the times.

From Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, I went to San Francisco and joined the Jefferson Airplane which turned into Jefferson Starship, I was the only drummer to play in both the Jefferson Airplane and the Jefferson Starship playing on their biggest hits such as "Miracles", "Count on Me", "Ride the Tiger", "With your Love" and many more, totaling 10 albums in all. With such great artist and characters as Grace Slick, Marty Balin and Paul Kantner, my book is filled with personal stories and intimate relationships. I've played on over 100 albums and 20 hit singles.

I hope that you enjoy my stories as I recall the days of my life as a member of all these Super-groups and the memories of what seemed like rock 'n' roll heaven, but are certainly rock 'n' roll history.

Johny Barbata

The Legendary Life of a Rock Star Drummer