Johnnie & Joe

---

title: "Johnnie & Joe" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["musical-groups-from-the-bronx", "chess-records-artists"] description: "American R&B vocal duo" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnnie_&_Joe" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American R&B vocal duo ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist"]

Field	Value
background	group_or_band
name	Johnnie & Joe
origin	The Bronx, New York, USA
genre	R&B
years_active	–
label	Chess Records (under lease from J & S Records)
past_members	Johnnie Richardson, Joe Rivers
::

| background = group_or_band | name = Johnnie & Joe | image = | alt = | caption = | alias = | origin = The Bronx, New York, USA | genre = R&B | discography = | years_active = – | label = Chess Records (under lease from J & S Records) | past_members = Johnnie Richardson, Joe Rivers

Johnnie & Joe were an American R&B vocal duo from The Bronx, New York, United States, who were best known for their 1957 hit "Over the Mountain; Across the Sea."

History

Johnnie Louise Richardson (June 29, 1935, Montgomery, Alabama – October 25, 1988, New York City) and Joe Rivers (March 20, 1937, Charleston, South Carolina – August 26, 2025, Suffern, New York) began singing together in 1957 and released several singles on Chess Records, which were leased from J & S Records, to whom the duo were under contract. Richardson was the daughter of the J & S label owner, Zelma "Zell" Sanders, who had been a touring member of The Hearts.

Richardson and Rivers resumed their professional partnership later in the 1960s. During the 1970s and '80s they performed in oldies concerts, and made a critically acclaimed album, Kingdom of Love, in 1982. Johnnie Richardson died of complications from a stroke in 1988.

Discography

Three of the songs hit the U.S. singles charts. "Over the Mountain; Across the Sea," written by Rex Garvin, went to #3 on the R&B chart and #8 on the Billboard Hot 100, and "I'll Be Spinning," written by Freddie Scott, went Top 10 R&B, both in 1957. "My Baby's Gone," a #15 R&B hit, was their last hit, although "Over the Mountain, Across the Sea" returned to the pop charts in 1960, peaking at #89 the second time around.

References

References

1. {{Allmusic
2. "REX GARVIN".
3. (18 September 2025). "Joe Rivers, famous doo-wop singer, dies at 88". Amsterdam News.
4. {{Allmusic. Ron. Wynn
5. "Johnnie & Joe Biography".
6. {{Allmusic
7. {{Allmusic

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::