 He started his music career in 1960 as the lead singer of the band Les Chats Sauvages, cutting his first record on his fifteenth birthday.In 1961, the British music magazine "NME" reported that a Rivers concert with his group Les Chats Sauvages at the Palais des Sports de Paris, whilst headlining with Vince Taylor, had turned into a full-scale riot.Rivers left Les Chats Sauvages in 1962 to pursue a solo career.