Johnny Knight / Real name John Mangiagli.
John is originally from the Bronx, New York City. He came to California in 1954. In 1957, at the age of 19, he started out with Johnny Otis (of Willie and the Hand Jive fame). At that time, he recorded his first record, Snake Shake. He wrote and recorded several songs between 1957 and 1968. In 1965, he wrote, arranged and produced a hit record called “The Gamma Goochee”. He used the title of the song as his stage name for that record, by Gamma Goochee himself. The record was later covered by the Kingsmen of “Louie, Louie” fame, Joe Walsh of the Eagles and three other underground groups. His song was re-released on the Colpix Dimension compilation and on Ace records, “Great Googa Mooga” album.
He has performed with Little Richard and has recorded with Elvis Presley’s lead guitar man, James Burton, Glen Campbell and Ray Charles’ background singers, the Raelettes. In his early years, he did concerts with the Beach Boys and the Coasters. He also worked with Tommy Boyce and Bobby hart (hit song writers for the Monkees).
