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Best known for his guitar work in <a href="spotify:artist:39T6qqI0jDtSWWioX8eGJz">the Doobie Brothers</a>, Tom Johnston was born August 15, 1948, in Visalia, CA. Johnston fell in love with R&B music at a young age and learned to play the songs of <a href="spotify:artist:4xls23Ye9WR9yy3yYMpAMm">Little Richard</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2bmixwMZXlkl2sbIbOfviq">Bo Diddley</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:7GaxyUddsPok8BuhxN6OUW">James Brown</a> when he received his first guitar at the age of 12. He played in soul, blues, and even a Mexican wedding band in his teens and continued playing in a blues group while attending college in San Jose. It was there he met the legendary lead singer of <a href="spotify:artist:0NHSh9S0VQiFfsEFbvhRXN">Moby Grape</a>, Skip Spence, who was drumming for <a href="spotify:artist:2qFr8w5sWUITRlzZ9kZotF">the Jefferson Airplane</a> at the time. Spence introduced Johnston to John Hartman and the two would play together in numerous bands, finally finding success when they formed <a href="spotify:artist:39T6qqI0jDtSWWioX8eGJz">the Doobie Brothers</a>.
Despite Johnston's disappointment that the first <a href="spotify:artist:39T6qqI0jDtSWWioX8eGJz">Doobies</a> album went "Teflon" instead of gold or platinum, he stuck with the band and wrote "Listen to the Music" and "Rockin' Down the Highway" -- two songs that would be key to the band's massive success. A stomach ailment kept Johnston off the band's 1975 tour and his replacement -- <a href="spotify:artist:24hJWbo98sH84tb0nkeaqy">Michael McDonald</a> -- would eventually change the band's sound. Johnston didn't like where the band was going and decided to leave in 1977 for a solo career. His solo albums Everything You've Heard Is True from 1979 and Still Feels Good from 1981 failed to make much of an impact. In 1988, he rejoined the <a href="spotify:artist:24hJWbo98sH84tb0nkeaqy">McDonald</a>-less <a href="spotify:artist:39T6qqI0jDtSWWioX8eGJz">Doobies</a> and wrote their minor 1989 hit, "The Doctor." ~ David Jeffries
Despite Johnston's disappointment that the first <a href="spotify:artist:39T6qqI0jDtSWWioX8eGJz">Doobies</a> album went "Teflon" instead of gold or platinum, he stuck with the band and wrote "Listen to the Music" and "Rockin' Down the Highway" -- two songs that would be key to the band's massive success. A stomach ailment kept Johnston off the band's 1975 tour and his replacement -- <a href="spotify:artist:24hJWbo98sH84tb0nkeaqy">Michael McDonald</a> -- would eventually change the band's sound. Johnston didn't like where the band was going and decided to leave in 1977 for a solo career. His solo albums Everything You've Heard Is True from 1979 and Still Feels Good from 1981 failed to make much of an impact. In 1988, he rejoined the <a href="spotify:artist:24hJWbo98sH84tb0nkeaqy">McDonald</a>-less <a href="spotify:artist:39T6qqI0jDtSWWioX8eGJz">Doobies</a> and wrote their minor 1989 hit, "The Doctor." ~ David Jeffries
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