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Johnny "V" Vernazza was born in San Francisco and raised in Daly City. As we all know, the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1960s was a hotbed of music. Clubs were everywhere, and going out to jam at four or five venues a night was the norm — not to mention the Fillmore, the Avalon Ballroom, and concerts in Golden Gate Park. Starting out on guitar in 1963, Johnny also played bass for a time with a rock band that worked the Fillmore and toured as the opening act for Quicksilver Messenger Service, War, and Big Brother and the Holding Company.
Around 1970, he joined the gospel band Gideon and Power, which toured the United States and appeared on the Sonny & Cher Summer Show on NBC. As the blues scene gathered national and international momentum, Johnny "V" was playing alongside blues greats such as Luther Tucker and Sunnyland Slim. Around that same time he was holding court with a blues band in San Francisco's North Beach with former Elvin Bishop member Perry Welsh. Elvin would come in and jam, bringing along the likes of Paul Butterfield and other blues heavyweights.
It wasn't long before Elvin asked Johnny to join the new band he was putting together — and the rest is history. That partnership led to six albums and endless touring, including the #3 song in the nation in 1974, "Fooled Around and Fell in Love," which went Gold. A subsequent LP with the Marshall Tucker Band featured Johnny and Elvin on slide guitar. Together, their dual lead and slide work helped define a style that became part of the Southern Rock sound and continues to live on today.
