Joe Rivers, one half of the dynamic R&B doo-wop duo Johnnie & Joe, who had a big hit with “Over the Mountain Across the Sea,” died on Aug. 26 at Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, NY. He was 88.
The duo’s (Johnnie Mae Sanders and Joe Rivers) “Over the Mountain Across the Sea” climbed to #3 on the R&B chart and #8 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2012 Johnnie & Joe were inducted into the Doo-Wop Hall of Fame of America.
“Over the Mountain Across the Sea” was released in 1957 and became an instant hit. “A lot of people in the service loved the song,” said Rivers during an interview with this publication in 2024. “New York City disc jockeys like Alan Freed and Murray the K were playing the record constantly.”
Johnnie & Joe became instant celebrities in the Harlem community and performed at the Brooklyn Paramount and the Apollo Theatre. When it was time to go on their first tour, Joe, then 15 years old, had to get permission from his mother. They often appeared on Dick Clark’s [teen dance] Show but Joe recalled the golden rule “No dancing with white girls.”
Touring in the south during segregation proved to be very difficult and somewhat risky for the young duo. In some places, the band had to play behind a sheet so the audience couldn’t see that the Black group was being accompanied by an all-white band. Rivers explained “Sometimes [pop singer] Paul Anka would go into restaurants to get food for us.” While touring they met B.B. King, Big Joe Turner, Fats Domino, Roy Hamilton, Pearl Bailey (before her fame), Harvey and the Moonglows, and Big Mae Bell.
After graduating from Harlem’s Cooper J.H.S., Joe was faced with a dilemma — his mom asked if he wanted to attend high school or continue touring. He decided to stay on the road. He said, “I made $100 touring cities and I sent $75 to my mom and kept $25. It was important for me to help my family.”
Joseph “Joe” Rivers was born on March 18, 1937, in Ridgeville, South Carolina, to Daniel Blige Rivers and Queenie Victoria Gourdine Rivers. He was the third oldest of nine siblings. In 1950, his parents moved the family to New York City. Their first residence was a one room apartment on 126th Street and 7th Avenue before eventually moving to a larger place on 122nd Street.
His next-door neighbor Rex Garvin was a singer, songwriter, and pianist who was the force behind his soon to be legendary doo-wop career. Garvin worked with another neighbor Zelma “Zell” Sanders, who owned her own record label J & R Records, she teamed Joe up with her daughter Johnnie and the duo was set.
“Rex had to teach me about diction because I had a strong southern accent. It took a year to get my diction right.” Rivers shared that Rex had written the duo’s Billboard chart buster song in the bathroom.
Following their hit record, Johnnie & Joe continued together through the 1980s. They performed in oldies concerts throughout the United States, the Desert Storm Review, traveled to England to perform for Queen Elizabeth and recorded the album, Kingdom of Love, in 1982. Following Johnnie’s death in 1988, Rivers began singing with Barbara Toomer, a former member of The Toys (“A Lover’s Concerto”) and other female vocalists, who stepped in to carry on the Johnnie & Joe legacy.
Joe eventually went to acting school and auditioned for a role in the film “Blackboard Jungle” that starred Sidney Poitier. In 1973, he married Ida Mae Jenkins, his beloved wife of 36 years. Together while living in the Bronx, they raised three children, Vanessa, Johnny, and Melissa. Joe worked for many years with Bell Atlantic, Amtrak, and Carlyle Record Warehouses Corporation. Following his retirement, the couple purchased a home in 1999 in Newburgh, New York, where they resided until their transitions.
Long after his doo-wop career, Joe was still a respected singer at his church Christian Parish for Spiritual Renewal, where he was a dedicated member of over three decades driving down from Newburgh every Sunday. This is the same church that held his memorial just last week, where he began attending years ago, located directly across the street from his family’s second apartment, in the 1950s.
“I love jazz but I am a ballad singer and I always sang off key,” said Rivers. Perfectionists are never satisfied with their performance. Rivers’ beloved church members, and those throughout Harlem and the world old enough to remember will acknowledge he was a great singer — they never heard him miss a note. It’s nice to be important but more important to be nice; he will be remembered for being an incredible human being, a great father, grandfather, and friend.
Joe is survived by his daughters Vanessa Rivers Smallwood and Melissa Rivers; his son-in-law Ronald Smallwood; his grandson Daniel Wallace; sister Lola Leaf; his companion Maria Golden; and a host of nieces, nephews, his goddaughter, and friends.