At the age of 14, Rhodes began his career in musical ensembles the Palace Guard as the group's drummer before joining the Merry-Go-Round as a multi-instrumentalist.

[6] As a member of the Merry-Go-Round, Rhodes wrote or co-wrote eleven of the twelve songs on the band's first and only album, released in 1967.

Rhodes's debut solo album is generally considered to be his self-titled 1970 release, which he recorded in his home studio.

[7] Silent for 43 years, he was a cult figure of psychedelic pop music when he released his last album, Rainbow Ends, in 2016.

Rhodes opened for the week at the Troubadour nightclub on February 9, 1971, concurrent with a large earthquake that struck the Los Angeles area.

The mixdown engineer on Farewell to Paradise was Curt Boettcher, the producer and musician who is best remembered for his work on the "soft pop" albums by Sagittarius and The Millennium.

[13] Dunhill sued Rhodes for $250,000 and withheld royalties because of his failure to deliver albums on the timescale required by the contract.

[16] In January and February 2009, Italian director Cosimo Messeri shot a documentary movie about Rhodes's vicissitudes: life, past, present, troubles and hopes.

The movie, titled The One Man Beatles, was selected for the International Rome Film Festival 2009,[17] and it received standing ovations.

[18] In 2009, Rhodes once again entered the recording studios with a new band and all-new material, joined by the co-founder of The Grass Roots and The Merry-Go-Round drummer Joel Larson, co-founder and former bassist for Counting Crows, Matt Malley, and guitarists Jim Rolfe and Dan Mayer.

[citation needed] In 2010, Rhodes, along with Matt Malley, joined Iain Matthews on a new version of "Time Will Show the Wiser," arranged, produced and performed by Nick Vernier Band.

[citation needed] On November 3, 2011, Rhodes released three new songs on iTunes titled "Just Me And You", "What's A Man to Do" and "This Wall Between Us", featuring backup singing by Vicki and Debbi Peterson of The Bangles and guitar work by Richard Thompson.

[19] In 2014, Rhodes began work with musician/producer Chris Price on a full album of songs, recorded in his original home studio, intended as a stylistic follow-up to Farewell to Paradise.

It features contributions from Roger Joseph Manning, Jr., Jason Falkner, Aimee Mann, Jon Brion, Susanna Hoffs, Nels Cline, Pat Sansone, Taylor Locke, Fernando Perdomo, Joe Seiders, Bleu, Probyn Gregory and Nelson Bragg.

The first single, "Dog On A Chain", featuring harmonies by Mann and a solo by Brion, was premiered by the Wall Street Journal's blog Speakeasy.