Hillery Johnson was a record label owner, record producer, manager and songwriter and vice-president of a major record American record label.

Background

In 1966, Hilary Johnson along with Leo Austell and Archie Russell founded Brainstorm Records and Productions. Later he worked for

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...

and then

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

. By 1973 he was working for

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wit ...

where he held the position of promotional manager for special marketing. By the mid-1970s he was with

Playboy Records Playboy Records was an American record label, based in Los Angeles, California, and a unit of Playboy Enterprises. Artists recording for the label included Al Wilson (singer), Al Wilson, Barbi Benton, Blue Ash (band), Blue Ash, Bobby Taylor & th ...

as their national r&b promotion director. By 1977 he was vice-president of

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

. As a composer, along with Michael Wycoff he co-composed "Try And Love Again for The Manhattans. In 1993, Johnson was involved in legal action against Joseph Jack Productions. He was suing the production company and its owner Joseph Jackson over money he alleged was owed to him for negotiating a recording agreement. He claimed he was owed $15,000 for representing Jackson in an attempt to work out an A&M recording deal for

Janet Jackson Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and dancer. She is noted for her innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows. Her sound and choreog ...

Labels founded

In 1966, as a young man, Johnson and Archie Russell along with Leo Austell, a veteran in the record scene co-founded Brainstorm Records. This came about as a result of the label Austell was with,

Vee Jay Vee-Jay Records is an American record label founded in the 1950s, located in Chicago and specializing in blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll. The label was founded in Gary, Indiana in 1953 by Vivian Carter and James C. Bracken, a h ...

records collapsing. Another label creation that Johnson responsible for was Twin Stacks. It was the subsidiary of Brainstorm. Both labels lasted for four years and were successful mainly in their geographical region. They did however have some real solid success. As a production company they did extremely well with

Betty Everett Betty Jean Everett (November 23, 1939 – August 19, 2001) was an American soul singer and pianist, best known for her biggest hit single, the million-selling " Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)", and her duet " Let It Be Me" with Jerry Butler ...

scoring several national hits including " There'll Come A Time". He founded the

Palm Springs Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land ...

based label Valley Vue Records Another label he started was one he co-founded along with

Tom Takayoshi Tom Takayoshi was a record label founder as well as a president of a major United States record label. His involvement in the music industry goes back to the early 1960s. Background Abkco Records At some time, possibly the early 1970s Takayoshi ...

, was Hilltak Records. Takayoshi was the former president of Playboy Records. The Hilltak label was a subsidiary of Atlantic Records. Johnson and

Willie Henderson William Henderson (born 24 January 1944) is a Scottish people, Scottish retired association football, footballer. He played most of his career for Rangers F.C., Rangers, and spent the latter part of his career with Sheffield Wednesday F.C., She ...

put together the disco group,

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

. The group had four female singers, with the lead singer was Patti Williams. They were signed to the Hilltak label.

Acts

Johnson introduced the Temptations to a party crowd of 500 that included

Bette Midler Bette Midler (;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Be ...

and

Teddy Pendergrass Theodore DeReese Pendergrass (March 26, 1950 – January 13, 2010) was an American soul and R&B singer-songwriter. He was born in Kingstree, South Carolina. Pendergrass spent most of his life in the Philadelphia area, and initially rose to musi ...

at Studio 54 in Manhattan in May 1977. The party was to announce the Temptations leaving

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

for Atlantic. Some of the acts Johnson has managed include Rene & Angela and Lalah Hathaway.Soul Express Onlin
THE MANHATTANS – part 4 (1980 – 1989) “SHINING STAR”
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Hillery American entertainment industry businesspeople Record producers from California Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Hilltak Records