L.V. Johnson (December 25, 1946 – November 22, 1994) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

Chicago blues Chicago blues is a form of blues music developed in Chicago, Illinois. It is based on earlier blues idioms, such as Delta blues, but performed in an urban style. It developed alongside the Great Migration of the first half of the twentieth cent ...

and

soul-blues Soul blues is a style of blues music developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s that combines elements of soul music and urban contemporary music. Origin African American singers and musicians who grew up listening to the electric blues by a ...

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

and

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

. He is best known for his renditions of "Don't Cha Mess with My Money, My Honey or My Woman" and "Recipe". He worked with the

Soul Children The Soul Children was an American vocal group who recorded soul music for Stax Records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They had three top 10 hits on the U.S. ''Billboard'' R&B chart – "The Sweeter He Is" (1969), "Hearsay" (1972), and "I ...

, the Bar-Keys and

Johnnie Taylor Johnnie Harrison Taylor (May 5, 1934 – May 31, 2000) was an American recording artist and songwriter who performed a wide variety of genres, from blues, rhythm and blues, soul, and gospel to pop, doo-wop, and disco. In 2022, Taylor was ...

. Songs he wrote were recorded by

Tyrone Davis Tyrone Davis (born Tyrone D. Fettson or Tyrone D. Branch, October 3, 1937 – February 9, 2005) was an American blues and soul singer with a long list of hit records over more than 20 years. Davis had three number 1 hits on the '' Billboard'' ...

Bobby Bland Robert Calvin Bland (born Robert Calvin Brooks; January 27, 1930 – June 23, 2013), known professionally as Bobby "Blue" Bland, was an American blues singer. Bland developed a sound that mixed gospel with the blues and R&B. He was descr ...

and the Dells. He was the nephew of

Elmore James Elmore James ( Brooks; January 27, 1918 – May 24, 1963) was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and bandleader. Noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice, James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fam ...

Biography

Johnson was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, and learned to play the guitar from

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shi ...

. He was employed by

Stax Records Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records. Stax was ...

as a

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

and played on recordings by the

Bar-Kays The Bar-Kays are an American funk band formed in 1964. The band had dozens of charting singles from the 1960s to the 1980s, including "Soul Finger" (US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number 17, R&B number 3) in 1967, "Son of Shaft" (R&B number 10) in ...

, and the

. His songs "Are You Serious" and "True Love Is Hard to Find" were

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

s for

. His song "Country Love" was recorded by

. The Dells reached the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

with their version of Johnson's "Give Your Baby a Standing Ovation". Johnson was Davis's accompanist until embarking on a modest solo career in the early 1980s. He recorded for ICA, Phono, and

Ichiban Records Ichiban Records is an American independent record label, founded in 1985 by John Abbey and Nina Easton in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. History Wrap Records and Nastymix Records were some of its subsidiary labels. Urgent! Records and Mr. Henr ...

, but without much commercial success. He was also a co-owner of a steakhouse and

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

in Chicago. Johnson died of undisclosed causes in Chicago in November 1994, at the age of 47. His track "I Don't Really Care" was

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...

by J. Dilla on "Airworks", on Dilla's 2006

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, ''

Donuts A doughnut or donut () is a type of food made from leavened fried dough. It is popular in many countries and is prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and fra ...

''. The same track was sampled by

Madlib Otis Jackson Jr. (born October 24, 1973), known professionally as Madlib, is an American DJ, music producer, multi-instrumentalist, and rapper. He is widely known for his collaborations with MF DOOM (as Madvillain), J Dilla (as Jaylib), ...

and used in "Chittlins & Pepsi" by Strong Arm Steady (featuring

Planet Asia Jason Cullen Green (born October 24, 1976), better known as Planet Asia, is a rapper from Fresno, California. He is prominent for being one half of the now reunited hip-hop duo the Cali Agents and is currently a member of the groups Gold Chain ...

), on Strong Arm Steady's 2010 album, ''

In Search of Stoney Jackson ''In Search of Stoney Jackson'' is the second studio album by California based hip hop group Strong Arm Steady, released on January 26, 2010 under Stones Throw Records. The album's title is a reference to actor Stoney Jackson ('' The White Sha ...

''.

Discography

Albums

*''We Belong Together'' (Phono Records, 1981) *''All Night Party'' (Sunnyview Records, 1986) *''I Really Don't Care'' (1987) *''Cold & Mean'' ( Ichiban, 1989) *''I Got the Touch'' (Ichiban, 1991) *''Unclassified'' (Ichiban, 1992)

References

External links

Images of Johnson at Google.co.uk/images
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, L.V. 1946 births 1994 deaths Blues musicians from Illinois Songwriters from Illinois American blues singers American soul singers American blues guitarists American session musicians American soul guitarists American male guitarists Chicago blues musicians Electric blues musicians Singers from Chicago 20th-century American singers 20th-century American guitarists Guitarists from Chicago 20th-century American male singers American male songwriters

Biography

Discography

Albums

See also

References

External links