Johnny Nash
| Johnny Nash | |
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Johnny Nash in 1965
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | John Lester Nash, Jr. |
| Born | August 19, 1940 |
| Origin | Houston, Texas, U.S. |
| Genres | Rocksteady |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, composer, actor |
| Years active | 1956–present |
| Labels | Epic, JAD |
John Lester "Johnny" Nash, Jr. (born August 19, 1940) is an American rocksteady singer-songwriter, best known in the US for his 1972 hit, "I Can See Clearly Now". He was also one of the first non-Jamaican singers to record reggae music in Kingston, Jamaica.
Born John Lester Nash, Jr. in Houston, Texas, he began as a pop singer in the 1950s. He released four albums for ABC-Paramount, with his self named debut in 1958. Around 20 singles were released between 1958 & 1964 on a variety of labels such as Groove, Chess, Argo and Warners. He also enjoyed success as an actor early in his career appearing in the screen version of playwright Louis S. Peterson's Take a Giant Step. Nash won a Silver Sail Award for his performance from the Locarno International Film Festival. At this time, he also wrote the theme song to the syndicated cartoon The Mighty Hercules which appeared on television from 1963-1966.
In 1965, Johnny Nash and Danny Sims formed the JODA Records label in New York. One of the more interesting signings was four brothers from Newport, Rhode Island, ages 9, 11, 15 and 16, called The Cowsills; this was prior to their later signing with Mercury/Philips, and then MGM, for whom they had their first million-selling hit single, "The Rain, The Park & Other Things". The Cowsills went into the studio in New York with session musicians and recorded a number of songs like "Either You Do Or You Don't" and "You Can't Go Halfway". Eventually The Cowsills would write and record their own song, "All I Really Wanta Be Is Me", which became the group's debut single release on JODA (J-103).
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