Holly Johnson
| Holly Johnson | |
|---|---|
2014 in Berlin
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | William Johnson |
| Born |
9 February 1960 Liverpool, England, United Kingdom |
| Genres | Pop, dance, new wave |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, painter, writer |
| Instruments | Vocals, bass guitar |
| Years active | 1977–present |
| Labels | Uni Records, MCA Records, Eric's Club, ZTT Records |
| Associated acts | Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Big in Japan |
| Website | hollyjohnson |
William Holly Johnson (born 9 February 1960), born William Johnson and known professionally as Holly Johnson, is an English artist, musician and writer, best known as the lead vocalist of Frankie Goes to Hollywood, who achieved huge commercial success in the mid-1980s. Prior to that, in the late 1970s he was a bassist for the band Big in Japan. In 1989, Johnson's debut solo album, Blast, reached number one in the UK albums chart. Two singles from the album – "Love Train" and "Americanos" – reached the top 5 of the UK Singles Chart. In the 1990s he embarked on a painting career.
Johnson, (whose maternal grandfather was three-quarters Indian), was born in Liverpool, attended Liverpool Collegiate in Everton and was actively involved in that city's punk rock/new wave scene of the late 1970s. Johnson played bass with local band Big in Japan and also released two solo singles on the Eric's label. Both "Yankee Rose" and "Hobo Joe" failed to chart however. Johnson later found fame as the lead singer and lyricist of Frankie Goes to Hollywood, who experienced both controversy and phenomenal commercial success during 1984.
After gaining some measure of local celebrity from being a member of Big In Japan, Johnson became involved with a group of younger musicians who together would become the nucleus of Frankie Goes To Hollywood. Johnson himself named the new band after seeing the headline of an article about Frank Sinatra. This new band quickly gained a reputation for their stage show which had strong SM overtones. It was during this period that guitarist Brian Nash and backing vocalist Paul Rutherford completed the band's established line up.
After the band's reputation grew large enough to attract record company interest, they were eventually signed to a new record company, ZTT. Johnson became exposed to the general public via the phenomenal success of their debut single Relax, which was a huge, and controversial, hit in 1984. After such success during 1984, when the band spent nearly four months at the top of the singles chart, Johnson was firmly established as a household name.
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