Johnny Varro was born in Brooklyn in 1930 and began studying piano at age 10. As a teenager, he went to jam sessions on the Lower East Side where he met some of the greatest players of the era such as Willie "The Lion" Smith, "Big Sid" Catlett and "Hot Lips" Page.

His first professional job was with Bobby Hackett. In 1957, Eddie Condon asked Johnny to play at his club as intermission pianist. That gig extended into Johnny becoming Condon’s band pianist. The players in the band at that time included Buck Clayton, Wild Bill Davison, Pee Wee Russell, Cutty Cutshall, George Wettling, Yank Lawson and Peanuts Hucko.

Between stints at Condon's, Johnny played at most of the New York jazz nightclubs, including The Embers, The Roundtable, Condon's Uptown and the Metropole. Musicians such as Henry "Red" Allen, Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Shavers, Roy Eldridge and Jo Jones helped further his musical education.

In 1965, he moved to Miami Beach and worked on the Jackie Gleason Show. He also worked with Flip Phillips, Billy Butterfield and Phil Napoleon, and toured with the Dukes of Dixieland.

Johnny moved to Los Angeles in 1979 and played most of the jazz clubs there. He now lives in the Tampa Bay, Florida, area. His high visibility on the jazz scene has made him one of the more popular jazz pianists. As noted by many jazz critics, "The beat is always there."