Jonathan Barnett Kaye (December 12, 1945 – August 18, 2002), known as Jonnie Barnett, was an American musician. In the 1970s, he performed as an opening act for several acts such as

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during ...

Cheech and Chong Cheech & Chong are a comedy duo consisting of Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong. The duo found commercial and cultural success in the 1970s and 1980s with their stand-up routines, studio recordings, and feature films, which were based on the hippie a ...

, and

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

. He also made appearances in the 1975 film ''

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

'', and in ''

Cheech and Chong's Next Movie ''Cheech and Chong's Next Movie'' is a 1980 American comedy film directed by Tommy Chong and the second feature-length project by Cheech & Chong, following '' Up in Smoke'', released by Universal Pictures. Plot Cheech & Chong are on a mission t ...

''. One of Barnett's compositions, "One Foot in the Blues", was recorded by

Johnny Adams Laten John Adams Jr. (January 5, 1932 – September 14, 1998), was an American blues, jazz and gospel singer, known as "The Tan Canary" for the multi-octave range of his singing voice, his swooping vocal mannerisms and falsetto. His biggest ...

and received a Blues Song of the Year award from 1997 W. C. Handy Blues Awards. Barnett also wrote a short story entitled "The Chain of Love" which appeared in the book ''Chicken Soup for the Country Soul''. He and songwriter

Rory Lee Feek Rory Lee Feek (born April 25, 1965) is an American country music singer and songwriter. In his career, he has written singles for Clay Walker, Blake Shelton, Tracy Byrd and other artists. He and his wife, Joey Feek, formed the duo Joey + Rory ...

later adapted this story into the song "

The Chain of Love "The Chain of Love" is a song written by Rory Feek and Jonnie Barnett, and recorded by American country music singer Clay Walker. It was released in January 2000 as the third single from his album '' Live, Laugh, Love''. "The Chain of Love" reac ...

", which was a Top 5 country hit for

Clay Walker Ernest Clayton Walker Jr. (born August 19, 1969) is an American country music artist. He made his debut in 1993 with the single " What's It to You", which reached Number One on the '' Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Son ...

in 2000. The song was based on a real-life event.The Chain of Love.com > Welcome to the Official Web Site of The Chain of Love.com
/ref> Barnett died of a stroke at the age of 56, on August 18, 2002, in

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnett, Jonnie 1946 births 2002 deaths American country rock singers American country singer-songwriters American male singer-songwriters 20th-century American musicians 20th-century American singers Country musicians from South Carolina 20th-century American male singers Singer-songwriters from South Carolina