Zoë Johnston
| Zoë Johnston | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1976 |
| Origin | Nottinghamshire, England, United Kingdom |
| Genres | Electronic music, Electronic dance, Vocal trance, Folk, Acoustic |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, composer, lyricist, performer |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1999-present |
| Associated acts | Faithless, Above & Beyond, Bent, Delerium, sleepthief |
Zoë Johnston is a Grammy-nominated British singer, songwriter and artist, born in Nottingham, England c.1976. She has written and recorded songs with a number of bands including Faithless, Above & Beyond, Bent, and Delerium, and also with former Beautiful South frontman Paul Heaton as part of his solo projects. Her longest and arguably most successful musical collaborative partnership is with UK Trance group Above & Beyond.
Zoë wrote with Nottingham-based house duo Simon White and Cal Gibson (aka Neon Heights) firstly on the single ‘Cherry Trees’ (1999) and then on a number of tracks which were released on their debut album, ‘A View From The Heights’, released on both vinyl and CD by Glasgow Underground in 1999. In all work with Neon Heights, Zoë is credited under the moniker 'Zed J'. Numerous remixes of the album tracks followed. Johnston received praise in early write-ups with reviewers finding her vocals to be “so distinctive, almost unearthly”.[1] The track ‘Are We Thru?’ featuring Zoë Johnston is still celebrated as one of the label’s finest releases and most successful underground club tracks, with deep house pioneer and Memphis-based DJ Larry Heard’s remixes in particular garnering praise.[2]
She also wrote with Hubtone ('Wayback' - 1998 and 'Red Balloon' - 1999), Weekender (‘Sunday Session’ - 2000), and created an unreleased solo E.P. entitled 'Balloon Woods' (1999).
After reuniting as old school friends, Zoë began exchanging demos with Simon Mills (one half of the UK electronica duo Bent along with Nail Tolliday). The band were in the process of putting together their debut album having just been signed to Ministry Of Sound. At home Johnston was using a 4 track to record guitars and vocals and had just completed an acoustic version of her song ‘Private Road’. Simon immediately loved it and asked her to re-record it with Bent for inclusion on their debut album, ‘Programmed To Love’ (2000). Zoë played guitars and sang on the album version of the track. Shortly afterwards she wrote her vocal parts for the song ‘Swollen’ which was described by the British actor Michael Caine during his BBC Radio 4 broadcast of ‘Desert Island Discs’ as "one of the most romantic songs in chill music I've ever heard". In keeping with the format of the show, he included 'Swollen' in a list of only 8 songs he would take with him were he cast away on a desert island with limited resources. He also included the track on a self-compiled chill-out album entitled Cained.
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