Jonny Barber knows a lot about Rock & Roll. Born in San Francisco, California in 1968, he uttered his first words, "Pretty lights!" on the way to his mother's banjo lesson with Jerry Garcia in a Menlo Park music store. Both the legendary Elvis '68 Comeback Special and Johnny Cash's Live at Folsom Prison album were made that year, which also had a tremendous impact on Jonny's musical legacy.
Jonny began playing guitar at the age of 8. As a kid, his mother rode him to guitar lessons on the back of her motorcycle, with the guitar tied to his back with a bungee cord.
Along with Jonny's hero, Elvis, Barber's Las Vegas roots run deep. His great, great, great grandfather, Charles Wesley Hubbard, was one of the first white settlers of Southern Nevada. His great grandma, Hortense Evans Nelson, sang for FDR at the dedication of the Hoover Dam. His great uncle Tommy played horn for Liberace. His mom, Phyllis Barber, was a Las Vegas Rhythmette, was recently inducted into the Nevada Writer's Hall of Fame for a Las Vegas memoir, "How I Got Cultured" and a collection of short stories with Hunter S. Thompson, Tom Wolfe and others. She also saw Elvis' first show ever in Las Vegas, in 1956 at the New Frontier Hotel, which prompted further rumors about Jonny's lineage.
With all the uncanny similarities between Jonny and Elvis, it was inevitable after hearing a fan remark, "You're like Elvis singing Johnny Cash better than anybody!", and "You know you don't look so much like Elvis as you do a painting of Elvis..." that he was given the nickname The Velvet Elvis. From January 8, 2004 (anniversary of Elvis' birthday) to August 16, 2011 (anniversary of Elvis' death), Jonny swung his hips and curled his lips all over the globe, even singing at Graceland, meeting members of Elvis' band, and hanging with Larry Geller (Elvis' hailstylist and spiritual mentor). He even performed at retired Denver Police Captain Jerry Kennedy's 80th birthday party, who was a very close friend to The King.
In 2007, Jonny began performing as Jonny Barber & The Rhythm Razors with rippin' doghouse bass player Michael Baird, who introduced him to Willie Lewis, founder of the Rock-A-Billy Record Co. label in Denver, Colorado. Considered by many to be the "living Sam Phillips", Lewis has been releasing traditional rockabilly records since 1983, including Go Cat Go's first record, one of Jonny's personal favorite rockabilly bands. Jonny began writing and recording his own original songs for the label, and also played lead guitar on some of Willie Lewis' recordings. Together they released several highly collectible colored vinyl 45's.
In 2008-2009, Jonny played lead guitar and co-wrote the songs for the band MAMA. Upon hearing the very riff-heavy Zeppelinesque sounds, Guitar God Steve Vai signed MAMA's debut album, Bayoutopia, to his Digital Nations imprint. The release date was March 2, 2010.
In 2010, Jonny found incredible chemistry with a rockabilly rhythm section calling themselves The Living Deads: Symphony Tidwell and Randee McKnight.
In a very short time, Jonny Barber & The Living Deads cut a wide swath across today's rockabilly scene. In 2010, they played main stage at the People's Fair in Denver, performed before a sold-out crowd at Red Rocks Amphitheater, sang the national anthem for the Rocky Mountain Roller Girls' bouts at the Fillmore Auditorium, rocked the inaugural Colorado Burlesque Festival at Lannie's Clocktower Cabaret, grossed out the Gothic Theatre for Troma Fest, shared a stage with acts Hillbilly Hellcats,Three Bad Jacks and Jesse Dayton, and still played regularly at Denver's true blue rockabilly bar The Skylark Lounge.
In October of 2010, the band crossed the pond for their first European tour, including Spain, France, Italy, Germany, and The Netherlands. Their debut album, "Jonny Barber & The Living Deads" was released July 26, 2011. A cross country U.S. Tour followed in Summer 2011, which included dates in New York City, Toronto, Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland, and many more, building even more momentum for this explosive live act.
In October of 2011, a family health emergency led to Jonny's decision to take some time off to TCB. Randee and Symphony moved to the East Coast to pursue their rock n' roll dreams together in their RV.
Jonny will soon return with a new lineup including Tommy Strange, Jr., son of Rockabilly Hall of Famer Tommy Strange, on the drums.