Marcus Johnson (born 1971) is an American jazz musician, producer and entrepreneur.

Early life

Marcus Johnson was born in Columbus, Ohio. At age ten, he established a neighborhood lawn care service. He and his family moved to Washington, D.C. when he was 12 years old. As a teenager, he started an auto-detailing company
''Smooth and Soul'', Retrieved on 3 March 2013. and played in a jazz band at Montgomery Blair High School. Subsequently, Marcus attended the University of Miami to study music production. Johnson earned a bachelor of arts degree in music at Howard University, where he was a member of

Alpha Phi Alpha Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate historically African American fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the 1905–1906 school year at Cornell University but later evolved int ...

fraternity. At Georgetown University, he earned both

M.B.A. A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

and J.D. degrees. Marcus grew up listening to a wide variety of music, but found his calling in jazz, where he incorporates the rhythms of

rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

with R&B. His interest in jazz became apparent when he began playing piano at age 13. Marcus's step-father purchased his first keyboard after winning Maryland's Pick 3 Lottery. Marcus was inspired to learn traditional and contemporary jazz music by observing other musicians. (Joe Sample and Thelonious Monk are two names he frequently cites).

Musical career

Musician

While studying at Georgetown University, Johnson independently released his first jazz album, ''Lessons in Love'', which sold more than 40,000 units. In 1997, he released his second jazz album, ''Inter Alia''. These two independent CDs topped the bestseller charts at Tower Records stores in the Washington, D.C. area. His growing reputation attracted the attention of N2K Encoded Music, now known as

N-Coded Music N-Coded Music was a jazz record label in New York City founded by Dave Grusin, Larry Rosen (producer), Larry Rosen, and Phil Ramone as N2K Encoded Music in 1997. Their original business model was to break out new artists and groups from various g ...

, which signed him and released ''Chocolate City Groovin.

Music publishing

Also while studying at Georgetown, Johnson established Marimelj Entertainment Group, Inc., a production company and music publishing firm which churns out a mixture of contemporary jazz, alternative, and R&B to create what the company calls “the Urban Groove.” Johnson's success with his albums caught the attention of

Black Entertainment Television Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los ...

(BET) founder and businessman Robert L. Johnson, who invested in Marimelj. Under their partnership, Marimelj's label, Three Keys Music, established its own full service recording studio, Studio 8121; and two music publishing companies, Marimelj Music Publishing and Three Keys Music Publishing. Three Keys is an independent music publishing company Johnson created. It was started as a local record label. The record label also features and produced music for national jazz artists: Michael Lington, Jaared Arosemena, Bobby Lyle, Nick Colionne, R&B singer, Alyson Williams, neo-soul songstress, Zahzarah; and smooth jazz Saxophonists Phillip Martin and Brian Lenair. To date, Marcus has released more than fifteen Billboard charted CDs, and has the distinction of having his groundbreaking 2008 Billboard Top 20 Contemporary Jazz FLO (For the Love Of) Anthology, which consisted of three distinct CDs -- FLO Chill, FLO Romance and FLO Standards - all chart Top 10 on Billboard Contemporary Jazz Charts simultaneously.

Personal life

Johnson resides in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. He has a daughter.

Awards

Johnson was nominated for an

NAACP Image Award The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. Similar to ...

in 2010. He was also nominated for Best Urban Contemporary Instrumentalist in the

Washington Area Music Association The Washington Area Music Association (WAMA) is a regional music industry not-for-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. WAMA's activity centers on highlighting the area's cultural contribution by assisting regional musicians with becoming ...

's WAMMIES in 2013. He was awarded the Samuel A. Halsey Award from his alma mater, Georgetown University, on January 17, 2015.

Discography

* ''Lessons in Love'' (1997) * ''Inter Alia'' (1997; re-released in 2000) * ''Chocolate City Groovin'' (1998) * ''Urban Groove'' (2000) * ''Comin' Back Around'' (2001) * ''In Person - Live at Blues Alley'' (2002) * ''Just Doing What I Do'' (2004) * ''Smooth Jazz Christmas ''(2005) * ''Phoenix'' (2007) * ''In Concert for a Cause'' (2008) * ''Flo: Chill'' (2008) * ''Flo: Romance'' (2008) * ''Flo: Standards'' (2008) * ''Poetically Justified'' (2009) * ''This Is How I Rock'' (2010) * ''Flo Chill, Vol. 2: Juris'' (2010) * ''Flo (For The Love Of) Holiday'' (2011)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Marcus American chief executives of food industry companies American jazz musicians American lawyers Georgetown University alumni Howard University alumni Living people 1971 births