Music was always around in the Meza family, with the clarinet, violin and trumpet being played by his older siblings and his Mother playing piano by ear. Starting on drums at the age of eight, Johnny taught himself guitar and bass when he was 12 years old. By the time he was 14 he began playing with Junior High buddies performing for school dances and private parties. With the influence of the Beatles and the Bossa Nova music of Antonio Carlos Jobim in the early sixties, he began composing his own songs and recording them onto a reel to reel tape recorder and mastering the art of sound on sound. At the age of 17, Johnny began accompanying himself on piano and performing with local bands playing the Hammond organ.

Attending San Bernardino Valley College after graduating from high school, Johnny majored in Harmony, Theory, Composition and Arranging. While attending college Johnny was asked to join and perform throughout Southern California dance and night clubs with the Top 40 and Show band, Horns, Strings and Things. It was during this time that a drummer friend, whose father was an avid Jazz record collector, introduced Johnny to the music of Be-bop and Straight Ahead Jazz. With Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, and Stan Getz, being the most influential. An offer to relocate to the San Francisco area proved to be a turning point. With the majority of the members of the band not wishing to go, Johnny, handling the writing and arranging chores, and the original bass player, recruited and rehearsed the six new members, arriving at U.C. Berkley thirty days later as the opening act at major venues and concerts for Santana, Malo, Tower Of Power and The Ohio Players.

Returning two years later to the Southern California area and switching from Hammond B-3 organ to the Fender Rhodes Piano, Johnny studied briefly with Sarah Vaughn's pianist, Paul Smith before being offered a job playing keyboards and singing with the lounge group Company's Company at Cleopatra's Barge in Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas. Now residing in the Palm Springs area with his vocalist wife Lola Rossi, Johnny performs regularly at local venues and Jazz clubs and has received 5 ADDY awards for his Radio and Television commercials that have aired in the Coachella Valley. With the Palm Springs Records debut of his new CD Kokopelli, Johnny, who composed, arranged and produced all the tracks, is ready to share his music with the wonderful people who support and attend Jazz Festivals.