Johnny Echols

Born in Memphis in 1947 and settled in Los Angeles in the late 1950s, Johnny Echols made his mark in the history of American rock as cofounder and guitarist of Love, a group that emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of the California psychedelic scene. A childhood friend of Arthur Lee, whom he reconnects with in Los Angeles, Echols first played in several local bands before taking part in the formation of Love in 1965, after stints with The L.A.G.’s, The American Four and The Grass Roots. His guitar playing, rooted in rock but nourished by rhythm and blues and psychedelia, accompanied the group's first three albums, Love (1966), Da Capo (1966) and Forever Changes (1967), on which he is also credited as author or co-author of several titles. After Love’s breakup in 1968, Echols moved to New York, worked as a studio musician and taught guitar, before later settling in Arizona. From the 2000s, he returned to the stage with Arthur Lee and then with Baby Lemonade, helping to revive this repertoire in different forms, notably with The Love Band featuring Johnny Echols. Through this career, Echols has remained associated with a psychedelic rock approach where melodic arrangements, supple guitar lines and a sensibility from the Los Angeles scene of the sixties occupy a central place.