Jiva

about

There are 3 artists that have used the name Jiva. 1. Jiva, funk-rock group from Los Angeles, produced by George Harrison Jiva was the first American act signed to Dark Horse Records. According to Geoffrey Giuliano's George Harrison biography, Harrison signed Jiva because they were followers of the young Indian Guru Maharaji, to whom he had been introduced by his future 2nd wife Olivia. Jiva played soulful white funk rock music. They only released one LP and one single on Dark Horse Records which both failed to chart. Jack Reed (manager): I managed the core of the Jiva crew (Lanning, Hilton & Reed) from the time they were a high school group called Tolbekin. I moved them to Los Angeles as Tolbekin, but the bass player soon left to take a full scholarship at Stanford and after that the band began a series of metamorphoses and playing lots of Los Angeles clubs before becoming Jiva. At one point it was an eight piece band with keyboards, two trumpets and a sax player and was called Titan. Of the eight players, five were named Michael, so only Michael Lanning as the lead singer got to keep his own name... all the others had to adopt nicknames. I personally nurtured them through several 'salad years' before we met George (Harrison) and also served as a recording engineer and mixer on the road. Jiva failed to attain 'star' status. We did, however, have a fantastic journey through the world of Rock & Roll. We got to hang out with half of The Beatles, George & Ringo, both of whom