Johnny Colla (born 2 July 1952) is an #musician, playing the #guitar and #saxophone is a founding member of #rock #band Huey Lewis and the News. He has been heavily involved in the San Francisco Bay Area music scene for more than 35 years, having been in several other bands, including Sly and the Family Stone, Sound Hole, and Johnny Colla & The Lucky Devils.[2]
The first bands that Colla was involved with were Yewess Army and Cottonmouth from Fairfield CA and the Furlanders.[2] After these he joined Sound Hole as a saxophonist. Sound Hole was successful at a local level and became Van Morrison’s backing band for a time. Other members of Sound Hole were drummer Bill Gibson and bassist Mario Cipollina. Sound Hole was the major local competition to Huey Lewis’ band, Clover. After Sound Hole, Colla was part of Sly and the Family Stone for a few months and recorded with them. In the late 1970s Sound Hole and Clover merged to form a new group, the American Express, which later became known as Huey Lewis and the News. For the News, Colla became saxophonist, rhythm guitarist,backing singer and songwriter.
Colla co-wrote hit songs such as “The Heart of Rock & Roll”, “If This Is It”, “The Power of Love”, and “Back in Time”. Lewis and Colla co-produced the band’s 2001 album Plan B.
https://youtu.be/M7JVlpm0eRs
