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Johnny Craviotto, born John Angelo Craviotto (aka "Johnny C"), on November 21, 1946 in San Francisco, CA, to Angelo Craviotto and Ann Isero. He moved to Santa Cruz, CA as a youngster where he remained a resident for the remainder of his life.
Johnny will always be remembered as a drummer and a master drum builder who was involved in the music business for over half a century. He started playing drums at a young age and by the early 1960's played with the Santa Cruz-based band "Corny and the Corvettes", a very popular local band. Throughout the 1960's and 1970's Johnny C. was touring and recording with Rock 'N' Roll pioneers, including Buffy Sainte-Marie, Ry Cooder, Captain Beefheart, Arlo Guthrie and Moby Grape, amongst others. Johnny was especially proud of his work in the summer of 1977 playing with the Santa Cruz-based band "The Ducks" with Bob Mosley, Jeff Blackburn and Neil Young.
During that period Johnny also became interested in the history and construction of drums. Johnny combined his passions for vintage drum collecting, playing, and his knowledge of steam bending through boat building and turned these passions into a career as one of the world's most renowned and innovative drum makers. He developed his own formula for producing drum shells from a single piece of steam-bent hardwood. He first began building drums in a makeshift shop in a residential garage. In the mid 1980's, Johnny founded the Select/Solid Snare Drum Company with drummer Bill Gibson (Huey Lewis and the News). Though his first effort in the drum business lasted only a few years, the Solid drum company produced some of the most revered and sought after snare drums by both players and collectors alike. In 1993, Johnny formed his own company, Craviotto Percussion, and partnered with Drum Workshop, one of the industry's leading manufactures. They produced a line of steam bent solid shell snare drums. These solid maple and exotic wood shells produced for Drum Workshop further expanded Johnny's reputation as a master drum builder and the reigning authority on the subject of solid-shell drum design.
In 2004, with the help of a business partner, Johnny went on to establish the Craviotto Drum Company. While continuing with his tradition of building the world's finest solid shell snare drums, Johnny also created the world's first completely solid shell drum sets. These drum sets and snare drums are the finest instruments available today, being played throughout the world by musicians in all types of musical genres. Musicians from Ronnie Vannucci Jr. (the Killers), Chad Cromwell (Neil Young, Joe Walsh), Chris McHugh (Keith Urban), Lady Antebellum and Bernie Dresel to jazz heavyweights like Marcus Gilmore, Justin Faulkner and Matt Wilson take much pride in playing Craviotto drums. Johnny, following his passion, continued to work on these wonderful instruments even on the day of his passing.
Johnny began surfing in the late 1950's and became a well-known surfer within the Santa Cruz surfing community through the 1960's. He was a member of the Santa Cruz Surfing Association and also became a member of the West Side Longboard Coalition in 1986.
Outside of work, John was a fly-fishing and sprint car racing fanatic in the truest sense and cherished time spent with his friends. He also enjoyed vintage bottle collecting.
Johnny died unexpectedly from a sudden cardiac arrest on July 15, 2016 at his home in Santa Cruz, California; he was 69 years old.
