Sylvester Johnson (born Sylvester Thompson; July 1, 1936 – February 6, 2022) was an American
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
and
soul
In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being".
Etymology
The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...
singer, musician, songwriter and record producer. His most successful records included "Different Strokes" (1967), "
Is It Because I'm Black" (1969) and "
Take Me to the River" (1975).
Biography
Early life and recording debut
Born near
Holly Springs, Mississippi
Holly Springs is a city in, and the county seat of, Marshall County, Mississippi, United States, near the southern border of Tennessee. Near the Mississippi Delta, the area was developed by European Americans for cotton plantations and was dep ...
,
the sixth child of a harmonica-playing farmer, he moved with his family in about 1950 to
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
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, coordinates =
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, subdivision_name ...
, where blues guitarist
Magic Sam
Magic or Magick most commonly refers to:
* Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces
* Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic
* Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...
was his next-door neighbor.
[ Mark Winegardner, "Syl Johnson", ''Oxford American'', November 21, 2011]
Retrieved February 8, 2022 Johnson sang and played with Magic Sam and other blues artists, such as
Billy Boy Arnold
William "Billy Boy" Arnold (born September 16, 1935, Chicago, Illinois) AllMusic biography">AllMusic.html" ;"title="AllMusic">AllMusic biography/ref> is an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter. Arnold is a self-taught harmonica p ...
,
Junior Wells
Junior Wells (born Amos Wells Blakemore Jr., December 9, 1934January 15, 1998) was an American singer, harmonica player, and recording artist. He is best known for his signature song "Messin' with the Kid" and his 1965 album ''Hoodoo Man Blues'' ...
and
Howlin' Wolf
Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. Over a four-decade care ...
, in the 1950s.
[ He recorded with ]Jimmy Reed
Mathis James Reed (September 6, 1925 – August 29, 1976) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His particular style of electric blues was popular with blues as well as non-blues audiences. Reed's songs such as "Honest I Do" (1957), " ...
for 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 ...
in 1959, and – after label owner Syd Nathan
Sydney Nathan (April 27, 1904 – March 5, 1968) was an American music business executive who founded King Records, a leading independent record label, in 1943.
He contributed to the development of country & western music, rhythm and blues a ...
suggested he change his name from Thompson to Johnson[ – made his solo debut that same year with "Teardrops" on ]Federal
Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to:
Politics
General
*Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies
*Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...
, a subsidiary of King Records of Cincinnati, backed by Freddie King
Freddie King (September 3, 1934December 28, 1976) was an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the "Three Kings of the Blues Guitar" (along with Albert King and B.B. King, none of whom were blood related). Mos ...
on guitar. However, Johnson's recordings for King and Federal met with little success, and he also kept a day job as a truck driver.[
]
1960s: Career at Twinight Records
After several years recording for small local labels, and performing regularly in local clubs,[ Johnson began recording for Twilight/Twinight of Chicago in the mid-1960s.] Beginning with his first hit, "Come On Sock It to Me", in 1967, he dominated the label as both a hit-maker and a producer. His song "Different Strokes", also from 1967, is included on the breakbeat
Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that tends to use drum breaks sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as hip hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat hardcore, and UK ...
compilation album, ''Ultimate Breaks and Beats
''Ultimate Breaks and Beats'' (also commonly abbreviated as UBB) was a series of 25 compilation albums released from 1986 to 1991 by Street Beat Records edited by "BreakBeat Lou" Flores. Featured on the albums were tracks from 1966 to 1984 that ...
'' (SBR 504), and some years later 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 ...
on many hip hop tracks.[ Both "Come On Sock It to Me" and "Different Strokes" featured on Johnson's debut LP, ''Dresses Too Short'', in 1968.][
Like other black songwriters of the period, Johnson wrote songs exploring themes of African-American identity and social problems, such as " Is It Because I'm Black", which reached number 11 on 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 ...
'' R&B chart in 1969. The song has been described as "among the most affecting of the civil rights era
The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the United ...
,"[Ben Beaumont-Thomas, "Syl Johnson, much-sampled blues, funk and soul singer, dies aged 85", ''The Guardian'', 6 February 2022]
Retrieved February 8, 2022 and provided the title track of his second album.[
]
1970s: Hi Records and Willie Mitchell
In 1971, the producer Willie Mitchell brought Johnson to Hi Records
Hi Records is an American soul music and rockabilly label founded in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1957 by singer Ray Harris, record store owner Joe Cuoghi, Bill Cantrell and Quinton Claunch (formerly producers for Sun Records), and three silent partn ...
. Together they recorded three albums, which generated a number of singles. Produced in Memphis
Memphis most commonly refers to:
* Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt
* Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city
Memphis may also refer to:
Places United States
* Memphis, Alabama
* Memphis, Florida
* Memphis, Indiana
* Memp ...
with the Hi house band, these albums contained the hits "We Did It", "Back for a Taste of Your Love" and " Take Me to the River", his biggest success, reaching number 7 on the R&B chart in 1975, and first recorded as an album track by labelmate Al Green
Albert Leornes Greene (born April 13, 1946), better known as Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including " Take Me to the River", ...
. However, at Hi Records, Johnson was always to some extent in the shadow of Al Green, commercially if not artistically. Mitchell also chose to use mainly in-house compositions rather than Johnson's original songs.[ According to ]Robert Pruter
Robert Douglas Pruter (born July 1, 1944) is an American writer, mainly on soul and rhythm and blues music, and on sports. He was the rhythm and blues editor of '' Goldmine'' magazine from 1985 to 2006.
Career
In 1969, he was hired as an assist ...
, "His output on the label was of a consistently higher quality than his Twinight work. In most respects, the Hi material possessed better melodies, had more rhythmic punch, and were just better produced."
Reviewing one of his last albums for Hi, 1976's ''Total Explosion'', Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
wrote in '' Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies'' (1981): "Johnson has tended to disappear in between Willie Mitchell and Al Green, but on this LP he takes his harmonica up to the microphone and stands clear as a lapsed bluesman. Good move. His voice is still shriller, and more strained than Green's, but that can be a satisfying distinction in the right context."
1980s: Retirement
After his years with Hi ended, Johnson produced two LPs for his own Shama label, the second of which, the soul/funk ''Ms. Fine Brown Frame'' (1982), was picked up for distribution by Boardwalk Records
Boardwalk Records is a record label founded by Neil Bogart in 1980, after PolyGram acquired Casablanca Records from him.
History
The label had hit acts with Joan Jett and Harry Chapin. Other artists on the Boardwalk label included, Invisible Ma ...
. The title track of that album was Johnson's last hit record.
Around the mid-1980s, Johnson mostly retired from performing, making only occasional appearances at blues clubs.[Pruter, Robert. Liner notes to the album ''Back in the Game''.] At that time, he opened a chain of seafood restaurants, and began investing in real estate.["A Big Box for an Overlooked R&B Career,"](_blank)
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', December 2, 2010.
1990s: Return to music
In 1992, Johnson found out that his song "Different Strokes" had been 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 several rappers
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 ...
, including Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip hop group formed in Staten Island, New York City, in 1992. Its original members include RZA, GZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, and Masta Killa. Close affili ...
, Public Enemy
"Public enemy" is a term which was first widely used in the United States in the 1930s to describe individuals whose activities were seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society, though the phrase had been used for centuries to describe p ...
, Kool G Rap
Nathaniel Thomas Wilson (born July 20, 1968), better known by his stage name Kool G Rap (or simply G Rap), is an American rapper from Queens, New York City. He began his career in the mid-1980s as one half of the group Kool G Rap & DJ Polo and as ...
, Hammer
A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as w ...
, and the Geto Boys
Geto Boys (originally spelled Ghetto Boys) was an American hip-hop group originally formed in Houston, Texas. The Geto Boys enjoyed success in the 1990s with the group's classic lineup consisting of Bushwick Bill, Scarface and Willie D, earning ...
. This stimulated his interest in making a comeback in the music industry
The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...
. He recorded the album '' Back in the Game'', released by Delmark Records
Delmark Records is an American jazz and blues independent record label. It was founded in 1958 and is based in Chicago, Illinois. The label originated in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1953 when then owner, and founder, Bob Koester released a record ...
in 1994, which featured the Hi Rhythm Section
The Hi Rhythm Section was the house band for hit soul albums by several artists, including Al Green and Ann Peebles, on Willie Mitchell's Hi Records label in the 1970s. The band included the three Hodges brothers, organist Charles Hodges, bassis ...
and his youngest daughter, Syleena Johnson
Syleena Johnson ( Thompson; September 2, 1976) is an American singer-songwriter, actress and television presenter from Chicago, Illinois.
Personal life
Johnson is the daughter of 1960s R&B Hi Records singer Syl Johnson and Brenda Thompson, wh ...
.
Johnson was one of the most sampled artists, largely from "Different Strokes" and "Is It Because I'm Black". He felt passionately that taking music from an original artist without proper compensation constituted theft, and he sued other artists for copyright infringement.
''Any Way the Wind Blows'' documentary
The 2015 documentary ''Any Way the Wind Blows'', directed by Rob Hatch-Miller, premiered at the Chicago International Film Festival
The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...
. It takes its inspiration from events in the life of this "mostly forgotten" (according to Greil Marcus
Greil Marcus (born June 19, 1945) is an American author, music journalist and cultural critic. He is notable for producing scholarly and literary essays that place rock music in a broader framework of culture and politics.
Biography
Marcus wa ...
) soul singer from the 1970s seeking a second attempt at a career. While his records were being sampled by artists from Wu-Tang Clan to Kid Rock
Robert James Ritchie (born January 17, 1971), known professionally as Kid Rock (also known as Bobby Shazam), is an American singer, songwriter and rapper. His style alternates between rock, hip hop, country, and metal. A self-taught musician, ...
, to Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...
and Kanye West
Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer.
Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...
, Johnson often found himself with neither credit nor money.
Personal life and death
Johnson was the brother of blues guitarist and singer Jimmy Johnson and bassist Mack Thompson.
In 2017, he appeared in an episode of the TV One reality series '' R&B Divas: Atlanta'', in which he offered advice and encouragement to his daughter Syleena before she gave a live performance. Johnson and his family appeared on the American reality television series '' Iyanla: Fix My Life'', by the request of his daughter Syleena, to help her mother's alcohol addiction.
He died of congestive heart failure
Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...
, at the home of one of his daughters, in Mableton, Georgia
Mableton is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Cobb County, Georgia, United States. According to the 2020 census, Mableton has a population of 40,834. Upon Brookhaven's cityhood in December 2012, Mableton became ...
, on February 6, 2022, at the age of 85, six days after the death of his older brother Jimmy.
Selected discography
Albums
* 1968: ''Dresses Too Short'' ( Twinight)
* 1970: ''Is It Because I'm Black?'' (Twinight)
* 1973: ''Back for a Taste of Your Love'' ( Hi)
* 1974: ''Diamond in the Rough'' (Hi)
* 1975: ''Total Explosion'' (Hi)
* 1979: ''Uptown Shakedown'' (Hi)
* 1982: ''Ms. Fine Brown Frame'' (Boardwalk
A boardwalk (alternatively board walk, boarded path, or promenade) is an elevated footpath, walkway, or causeway built with wooden planks that enables pedestrians to cross wet, fragile, or marshy land. They are also in effect a low type of bridge ...
33260)
* 1994: '' Back in the Game'' ( Delmark)
* 1995: ''Music to My Ears'' (Hi)
* 1995: ''This Time Together by Father and Daughter'' (Twinight) with Syleena Johnson
* 1995: ''Bridge to a Legacy'' ( Antone's)
* 1999: ''Talkin' About Chicago'' (Delmark)
* 2000: ''Hands of Time'' ( Hep-Me Records)
* 2002: ''Two Johnsons Are Better Than One'' (Evangeline
''Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie'' is an epic poem by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, written in English and published in 1847. The poem follows an Acadian girl named Evangeline and her search for her lost love Gabriel, set during t ...
) with Jimmy Johnson
* 2003: ''Straight Up'' (P-Vine
P-Vine Records is an independent record label based in Tokyo, Japan.
History
It was started in 1976 by Blues Interactions, a firm founded in 1975 by Yasufumi Higurashi and Akira Kochi, as a record label focused on black music. The label name c ...
PCD-25004, Japan)
* 2013: ''Syl Johnson with Melody Whittle, Featuring Syleena Johnson'' (Twinight 4086-CD2)
* 2017: ''My Funky Funky Band'' ( Numero)
Compilations
* 2000: ''The Complete Syl Johnson on Hi Records'' (Demon
A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, ani ...
, UK)
* 2010: ''Syl Johnson: Complete Mythology'' (Numero Group)
* 2012: ''Backbeats Artists Series: Syl Johnson: Mississippi Mainman'' (Backbeats)
Chart singles
References
External links
*
*
*
The complete Syl Johnson discography at Soul Express
Syl Johnson Interview – NAMM Oral History Library (2013)
Syl Johnson
(interviewed May 30, 2010)
''Syl Johnson: Any Way The Wind Blows''
documentary
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Syl
1936 births
2022 deaths
American soul musicians
American blues guitarists
American male guitarists
American blues harmonica players
American blues singers
African-American guitarists
Blues musicians from Illinois
Blues musicians from Mississippi
People from Holly Springs, Mississippi
Hi Records artists
Guitarists from Chicago
Guitarists from Mississippi
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century American male musicians
P-Vine Records artists
20th-century African-American musicians
21st-century African-American people
Disease-related deaths in Georgia (U.S. state)