Retrospective

Johnny Green started his music career at the age of 14 when his first band was T&T (Turtle Necks) which consisted of three people, 2 guitars and 1 accordian. He started in Door County, Wisconsin where he played supper clubs and ballrooms. At 16, he moved to Milwalkee, Wisconsin and started a group called the Royal Lancers. The group later recorded "I fought the Law and the Law won" which became number one on the charts for 17 weeks. The "B" side also became a top hit and was called "Say Mamma" (see the Rockabilly Hall of Fame). The group did not want to tour in the early 1960's so Johnny Green formed "Johnny Green and the Greenmen" and began touring as a backup band for Jimmy Velvet (Blue Velvet; Mission Bell; (You're Mine And) We Belong Together; Roses Are Blue; Teen Angel; It's Almost Tomorrow; Take Me Tonight Venus; I won'tBe Back ThisYear) and managed by Col. Parker and Elvis Presley. After that tour the band began touring with such acts as the Drifters, the Coasters, Johnny Tilltitson, Fats Domino, Dion and the Belmonts, just to name a few.

In 1964 the band was featured at the New York World's Fair as the main attraction for the play "To Broadway with Love".

In 1966 the group was offered appearances in Hawaii with Don Ho and stayed there for a full year. In that time they appeared with the Dave Clark Five, Kui Lee, and some of the stars from Hawaii Five-O. While in Hawaii Johnny made acquaintences with the personnel of the Armed Forces which later lead to his Viet Nam tour.

After leaving Hawaii in 1966 Johnny went to Hollywood to audition for the band roll in the TV Batman series and the Greenmen got the part. They appeared in 27 episodes as the Joker's henchmen bad guys. They also appeared in the number one Batman show "Surf's Up, Joker's Under" as that crazy green haired band on the beach.

In 1967 the group went to a show held in a gymnasium featuring Bob Hope who made a joke about their green hair in the middle of his show and invited them to meet him after the show. Johnny had been playing for military installations in the U.S. and showed interest in playing in Viet Nam and Mr. Hope then asked if the group would tour with him and in 1968 they left for Viet Nam with the USO armed forces tour.

Because of their stint with Bob Hope they were invited to play for President Nixon at the Grand Military Ball in the Los Angeles Times Building. Some of the distinguished guests were then Governor Ronald and Nancy Regan and most of the stars from the Star Trek TV show to name a few.

In 1967 the Greenmen appeared in the Movie "The Balad of Billie Blue", staring Joey Ross, from the TV show "Car 54", Jason Ledger and Eric Estrada. The Greenmen recorded the movie sound track and their movie roll was to teach the character, played by Jason Ledger, how to play music. The movie was filmed in Herb Alberts sound studio in Hollywood.

The group began touring abroad in Germany, Paris, Turkey, Greece, Spain and Italy. And then in 1969 the Greenmen went on an extended stay to Iran and became the personal musicians for the Shah for a year. After leaving Iran they played for the President of Iraq in Baghdad and stayed in Iraq for about six months before leaving for Beirut, Lebanon where they played at the Casino De Lebanon.

Then they went back home to New York to work on the U.S.S. Rotterdam cruise ship, the largest ship owned by Holland America. For four years (1973 - 1976) they played on their other ships Princendam, Volendam and Statendom to name a few.

From 1976 through 1982 the group played in Newfoundland (off of the coast where the Titanic went down), then played most cities in Canada.

In 1982 Johnny Green built his own night club in Medford, Oregon and named it "The Manhattan Rose" where they play the club as the house band.

In 1985 and 1986 they toured Reno, Nevada and Las Vegas, NV before touring many U.S. cities ending in 1989 before getting an offer to play in Branson, Missouri where they stayed until 1991. The Greenmen had their own show at the Branson Music Hall owned by Johnny Green's Manager, Marty Conn. The Hall was then sold to Freddy Fender who they had played with at the Hall.

From 1991 through 1993 the Greenmen toured the U.S. and Johnny opened another club in 1994 in Annandale, Minnesota called Johnny Green's Fine Foods and Spirits. The club featured the best steaks in town branded with 'JG' into the steaks. The band played at the club every 3-6 weeks when they would play for a two week period then toured the U.S. again. In 1997 the club was sold and Johnny stayed on the road touring the U.S. playing many U.S. cities.

The band played the 25th year anniversary of Woodstock in 1994 and they also attend and play the annual Sturgis Bike Rally in Sturgis, South Dakota.

Johnny Green is on the Board of Directors for the Rock Country Hall of Fame for the annual music awards ceremony...

...Check back again soon, for the story continues...