Emitt Rhodes is an exceptionally talented recording artist that has largely gone unnoticed by the mainstream music industry over his many years in the business. Even though those who did notice gave him critical acclaim for his work, he scored only minor hits on the major charts across the world.

Emitt Lynn Rhodes was born February 25, 1950 in Decatur, Illinois. He started his musical career as a drummer with a group called The Palace Guard and later The Merry-Go-Round where he mostly played guitar. They made appearances on several television shows including The Hollywood Palace, which can be found with a search of You Tube. The Merry-Go-Round had several minor successes with "Live” which went to #63 and "You're a Very Lovely Woman", making it to #94 on Billboard’s Top 100.

Story has it the group broke up before their contract with A&M records was fulfilled, so Emitt recorded on his own. A&M opted to not release those recordings at the time. A short time after Emitt bought his own equipment and put a recording studio in his parents' garage. He recorded his first album (Emitt Rhodes) in that home studio, which Billboard called one of the "best albums of the decade". They further said that he is "one of the finest artists on the music scene today”. He soon got a recording contract with ABC/Dunhill Records, who released his album, as well as the next two albums he recorded (Mirror and Farewell to Paradise). The album reached number 29 on the Billboard charts. The single "Fresh as a Daisy" reached number 54 on the Top 100, peaking at #20 on the WOLF Hot 30 February 24.. Meanwhile, shortly after the album Emitt Rhodes was released by Dunhill, A&M decided to release their old recordings of “The American Dream”, which reportedly confused record buyers.

Rhodes wrote all of the songs on all of his albums, he played all of the instruments, and sang all of the vocals while recording himself in his home recording studio on Emitt Rhodes, Mirror, and Farewell to Paradise. However, ABC/Dunhill’s contract required Emitt to supply them with an album every six months (six albums over three years), a schedule that was impossible for him to meet, since he was writing and recording each instrument and vocal individually by himself on all of the songs. ABC/Dunhill eventually sued him for $250,000 and withheld royalties because of his failure to deliver albums on the timescale required by the contract. The album Emitt Rhodes took nearly a year to record, the album Mirror took nine months, and Farewell to Paradise took over a year.

After that album, Rhodes stopped performing and released no more material, except on compilations. He continued to record his songs in his studio, but they were unreleased except for one song on Listen, Listen – The Best Of.  He worked as a recording engineer and record producer for Elektra Records and runs his own studio for recording other acts. A documentary of his life was put out in 2010, called “The One Man Beatles”, and much of his previously unreleased work has been released in various collections and reissues.