Johny Barbata's career began when he was a sophomore in high school. It started in San Louis Obispo, California, SLO High School. Johny was in a band called The Sentinals and they had a #1 West Coast hit called La Tinia



After The Sentinals, his good friend Lee Michaels and Johny Barbata left for Hollywood to pursue our musical careers. About a month after they arrived, Johny heard that The Turtles were looking for a drummer. They called him down to the studio to try him out on some session work. The first song they recorded was Happy Together, they got it in one take! The producer, Bones Howe said "Get that drummer" and the rest is history.



Johny Barbata played on 10 of The Turtles hits including She'd Rather be with me, You Showed Me and Elenore.



After The Turtles, Johny Barbata went on to join C S N & Y and played on the "4 Way Street" tour and live album. He also played on some of their individual works such as Graham Nash's "Songs for Beginners" and Neil Young's live album "Time Fades Away" and Stephen Stills self-entitled album "Stephen Stills" and also the "Crosby/Nash" album.



From Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Johny Barbata went to San Francisco and joined the Jefferson Airplane which turned into Jefferson Starship. He was the only drummer to play in both the Jefferson Airplane and the Jefferson Starship playing on their biggest hits, totaling 10 albums in all. He has played on over 100 albums and 20 hit singles.



Johny Barbata has played with Dave Mason, Eric Clapton, Leon Russell, Booker T. Jones, Linda Rondstadt, The Everly Bros, John Sebastian, Lee Michaels, Johnny Rivers, Joni Mitchell, Graham Nash, Neil Young, Grace Slick, Stephen Stills, David Crosby and many others.