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Brian Johnson

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This article is about the singer. For other people named Brian Johnson, see Brian Johnson (disambiguation).

Brian Johnson
Johnson with AC/DC on 23 November 2008 in Saint Paul, Minnesota
Johnson with AC/DC on 23 November 2008 in Saint Paul, Minnesota
Background information
Born (1947-10-05) 5 October 1947 (age 77)
Dunston, Gateshead, England
GenresHard rock, rock and roll, blues rock, glam rock, heavy metal
Occupation(s)Musician, singer-songwriter
InstrumentVocals
Years active1971–present
LabelsEMI, Epic, Atlantic
Websiteacdcrocks.com

Brian Francis Johnson (born 5 October 1947) is an English singer and songwriter. Since 1980, he was the lead singer of the Australian rock band AC/DC, with whom he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003. As of April 2016, Johnson is not participating in the remainder of the Rock or Bust World Tour due to hearing problems.

Johnson was one of the founder members of the rock band Geordie formed in Newcastle in 1971. After a few hit singles, including UK Top 10 "All Because of You" (1973), the band split up in 1978. Following the death of AC/DC frontman Bon Scott on 19 February 1980, Johnson was asked to audition for the band in London. AC/DC lead guitarist and co-founder Angus Young recalled: "I remember Bon playing me Little Richard, and then telling me the story of when he saw Brian singing [with Geordie]." He says about that night: "There's this guy up there screaming at the top of his lungs and then the next thing you know he hits the deck. He's on the floor, rolling around and screaming. I thought it was great, and then to top it off – you couldn't get a better encore – they came in and wheeled the guy off!'" Johnson was diagnosed with appendicitis later that night, which was the cause of his writhing around on stage.[1] The band agreed immediately that Johnson's performing style fit AC/DC's music. Johnson's first album with AC/DC, Back in Black, became the second best-selling album worldwide according to some estimates.

Early life

Johnson was born in Dunston, Gateshead, North East England. He is of partial Italian descent and is the oldest of four siblings. His father, Alan, was a sergeant major in the British Army's Durham Light Infantry and a coal miner;[2] he died during AC/DC's Ballbreaker World Tour. Johnson's mother, Esther (née De Luca), was Italian from Frascati.[3] When he was young, Johnson performed in various shows with the Scouts, and appeared in a play which aired on television, and joined a local church choir.[4]

Career

Early career

Johnson's first band was the Gobi Desert Canoe Club.[5] He was also in a band called Fresh.[6] From 1970, Johnson played with cabaret/club band The Jasper Hart Band,[7] performing songs from the musical Hair as well as soft-rock/pop songs of the time. He and other members of the band went on to form Geordie.

His first and only solo single, "I Can't Forget You Now", he released also as a member of Geordie in January 1976 on the Red Bus label. In 1982, a compilation including only Geordie's 1973–1976 ten songs was issued as Brian Johnson's solo album Strange Man on the MCA label. The US 1989 CD Keep On Rocking, with re-recorded versions of the band's twelve known songs was released under the name of Brian Johnson and Geordie as well as the Australian 1991 compilation CD Rockin' With The Boys 1972–1976.

AC/DC

Johnson performing with AC/DC in Tacoma, Washington, February 2, 2016

Following Bon Scott's death, the remaining members of the band briefly considered quitting. They eventually concluded, however, that Scott would have wanted AC/DC to continue. Various candidates were considered for his replacement, including ex-Back Street Crawler vocalist Terry Slesser and Slade's Noddy Holder, who declined, before selecting Johnson.[8] AC/DC guitarist and co-founder Angus Young later recalled, "I remember the first time I had ever heard Brian's (Johnson) name was from Bon. Bon had mentioned that he had been in England once touring with a band and he had mentioned that Brian had been in a band called Geordie and Bon had said 'Brian Johnson, he was a great rock and roll singer in the style of Little Richard.' And that was Bon's big idol, Little Richard. I think when he saw Brian at that time, to Bon it was 'Well he's a guy that knows what rock and roll is all about.' He mentioned that to us in Australia. I suppose when we decided to continue, Brian was the first name that Malcolm and myself came up with, so we said we should see if we can find him."[9] In March 1980 Johnson received a phone call inviting him to London to audition as the new vocalist for AC/DC. As a big AC/DC fan, he was happy to oblige. Malcolm remembers the day: "We were all sitting there going, Where's this guy Brian? He should have been here an hour ago. 'Oh him? He's downstairs playing pool with the roadies' – so we thought, well, at least he plays pool."[9]

When someone fetched him to meet them, Malcolm recalls that Johnson, "had tears in his eyes. He was as sad about Bon as we were. Anyway, we said, Do you want to give it a go? And he said, 'I do Whole Lotta Rosie with Geordie,' and off he went. We went, fucking hell, this guy is cutting the mustard. Anything else you know? 'Nutbush City Limits?' OK, we can knock that out, and he sang that great too. It put a little smile on our faces – for the first time since Bon. So we just started working with him then." Within days, Johnson was in the band, the news being made official, amusingly enough, on 1 April. A week after that he was sent a plane ticket to the Bahamas (their management's idea, for tax purposes) where he joined the Youngs, bassist Cliff Williams, drummer Phil Rudd and Highway to Hell producer Mutt Lange in Compass Point Studios.[9] The result was the album Back in Black, which was released in July that year. It was a worldwide success and went on to become the second best-selling album of all time. Their next album, For Those About to Rock We Salute You in 1981, also sold well. The raw, self-produced albums Flick of the Switch and Fly on the Wall were not as commercially successful as the previous two albums with Johnson. Who Made Who, released in 1986, was the soundtrack for the horror film Maximum Overdrive and brought back AC/DC's mainstream popularity. In 1986, Johnson appeared returned to Tyneside in the controversial music video for "You Shook Me All Night Long", and the video received significant airplay on MTV.[10]

Brian Johnson hangs on to a bell while performing the song "Hells Bells"

The 1988 album Blow Up Your Video was the last AC/DC album to feature lyrics from Johnson. Starting with The Razors Edge in 1990, guitarists Angus and Malcolm Young have written all of AC/DC's material. When asked by a fan during a radio interview why he stopped contributing lyrics, he laughed, "I ran out of words" and went on to explain that during recording he didn't always enjoy the pressure of having to come up with an album's worth of lyrics and was relieved when the Young brothers filled in during The Razors Edge. The band has since continued in that tradition for every album since. In 2014, they released their eleventh album with Johnson, Rock or Bust.

A symbol of the working class in the North of England, Brian Johnson customarily wears a newsboy cap on stage and frequently off.[11][12] Johnson has occasionally worn baseball caps as well. His brother suggested that the singer wear the cap onstage to prevent sweat rolling off his thick, curly hair into his eyes while singing. "He said, 'Put it on, at least you'll be able to see what the bloody freak you're doing!' So I put it on and after three songs in the second set, I looked at him, put my thumbs up – 'This is brilliant!' He never did get that hat back."[13]

In April 2016, during the "Rock or Bust" world tour, AC/DC announced the departure of Brian Johnson citing hearing issues. As the band explained it, Johnson risked total hearing loss if he continued. Johnson stated that his hearing issues hadn't come from performing for 36 years with AC/DC, but from having forgotten to put ear plugs in during a race that left him with a punctured left ear drum. Guns N' Roses singer Axl Rose was recruited to complete the remaining 10 shows in North America and 12 shows in Europe.[14] His last show with AC/DC was on February 28th, 2016; at the Sprint Center in Kansas City. [15] After departing AC/DC, he recorded a new song with comedian Jim Breuer called "Mr. Rock'n'Roll".

Helen of Troy musical

Since April 2003, Johnson, who says "I love musical theatre, especially the classic stuff, like Rodgers and Hammerstein",[16] has been working on a musical version of Helen of Troy with Sarasota Ballet choreographer, Robert de Warren. The musical is a Les Misérables-style musical with rousing anthems, tender ballads and minimal dialogue. He conceived the project with writers Ian La Frenais, Dick Clement and Brendan Healy[17] after seeing Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, Cats and being underwhelmed at what he saw.

Malcolm McDowell, who made his recording debut singing one of the songs for the soundtrack in Brian's studio, has agreed to play Zeus. The Cranberries singer Dolores O'Riordan and Bruce Vilanch are also set to participate.[18] In 2004 Johnson travelled to Greece to film an episode of the television series Goddess Odyssey in which he researched the Helen of Troy myth. It was released on DVD in July 2005 and contains music from the theatre production.[19] Phil Carson, former chief executive of Atlantic Records, supported the project but it was never staged.[20]

Other activities

A car and racing enthusiast, Johnson currently enjoys racing his vintage race cars: a Royale RP-4 and a Pilbeam MP84, which he races in vintage and historic races throughout the United States. In 1997, Johnson recorded with the band Jackyl on their song "Locked and Loaded", and in 2002 wrote lyrics on the track "Kill the Sunshine" from their album Relentless. In the video game Call of Duty: Finest Hour, he voices Sergeant Starkey. He made a cameo appearance in the 2005 film Goal! where he appears as a Newcastle United fan in a bar in California watching a Newcastle game.

In 2006 he took part in car racing reality television series The Race, broadcast on Sky One in the UK. In 2007 Johnson and AC/DC bassist Cliff Williams took part in the Classic Rock Cares tour to raise funds for the John Entwistle Foundation, which is run by Entwistle's long-time friend and drummer Steve Luongo.[21] They performed AC/DC songs as well as songs written by Johnson for the film Totally Baked.

On 26 July 2009, Johnson appeared as the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car on the BBC's Top Gear. His time of 1:45.9 tied him with Britain's Got Talent judge Simon Cowell and Grand Designs host Kevin McCloud for the second fastest time in the Chevrolet Lacetti, just 0.1 seconds behind Jay Kay.[22] Johnson subsequently appeared in the premiere of Top Gear series 20 and was the first star to record a time in their new Vauxhall Astra test vehicle, recording a time of 1:45.1. In April 2015, Johnson stated it was a mistake for the BBC to sack Jeremy Clarkson after the Top Gear presenter punched a colleague: "I know Jeremy and I know the lads [Richard Hammond and James May] and it’s [the punch] just totally out of character."[23]

His autobiography Rockers and Rollers was published in 2000.[24] He raced in the 2012 Rolex 24 at Daytona on 29 and 30 January 2012. He finished 12th in the Daytona Prototype class,[25] driving for 50+Predator/Alegra Racing, sharing the #50 Dinan/BMW Daytona Prototype with Elliott Forbes-Robinson, Byron DeFoor, Jim Pace, and Carlos de Quesada. He competed in the 2012 Silverstone Classic Celebrity Challenge race. In 2013, Johnson appeared as a guest singer on two songs on Sting's album The Last Ship which features artists with roots in the northeast of England.[26]

In May 2014, Quest broadcast Cars That Rock with Brian Johnson, a documentary series fronted by Johnson where he explores his favourite iconic motor cars. The first episode looks at the history of the Mini, with Johnson driving a big selection of the car, including the cars from the 1969 British caper film The Italian Job and the world's fastest Mini. It concludes with Johnson racing a Mini Cooper at Brands Hatch, and finishes with him stating he has bought the car he raced.


Personal life

Johnson married his first wife, Carol, in 1968,[27] and they have two daughters: Joanne (born 1968), and Kala (born 1973).[28] They divorced during the writing of The Razors Edge album. He is married to Brenda,[29] and lives in Sarasota, Florida. He is an atheist.[30][31]

He is an avid supporter of Football League Championship football club Newcastle United, and was asked to make a substantial investment in the club around 1981/82 after being invited to meet the board by club legend Jackie Milburn.[32]

In September 2009, Johnson was diagnosed with Barrett syndrome.[33] This caused AC/DC to cancel several shows on their 2010 tour in support of Black Ice; however, doctors were able to successfully prevent the disease from developing into cancer.[33] According to The Sunday Times Rich List of British millionaires from the world of music, Johnson was worth £50 million in 2011.[34]

On 9 July 2014, Johnson was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Music by Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne in recognition of his significant contribution to the music industry.[35] In October 2014, Johnson became a supporter of the Yorkshire Dementia Charity based in the village of Topcliffe.[36]

Discography

With Geordie

Title Release date Label
Hope You Like It 1973 Repertoire Records
Don't Be Fooled by the Name 1974 Repertoire Records
Save the World 1976 EMI
No Good Woman 1978 EMI

With AC/DC

Title Release date Label U.S. Album Sales Worldwide sales
Back in Black July 1980 Atlantic 22,000,000 50,000,000
For Those About to Rock November 1981 Atlantic 4,000,000 7,000,000
Flick of the Switch September 1983 Atlantic 1,000,000 4,000,000
Fly on the Wall June 1985 Atlantic 1,000,000 4,200,000
Who Made Who May 1986 Atlantic 5,000,000 10,000,000
Blow Up Your Video January 1988 Atlantic 2,000,000 4,000,000
The Razors Edge September 1990 Atco 5,000,000 12,000,000
Live October 1992 Atco 5,000,000 8,000,000
Ballbreaker September 1995 Elektra 2,000,000 6,000,000
Stiff Upper Lip February 2000 Elektra 1,000,000 4,000,000
Black Ice October 2008 Columbia 2,500,000[37] 6,200,000
Rock or Bust November 2014 Columbia 500,000[38] 2,800,000

Solo

Title Release date
National Lampoon's Totally Baked: A Potumentary Soundtrack April 2007

References

  1. ^ "ACDC Biography". ACDC Biography. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  2. ^ "Video: Brian Johnson: 'cars give me the same thrill as music'". Telegraph. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  3. ^ "Brian Johnson biography". IMDb.com.
  4. ^ "Johnson biodata". Bedlam in Belgium. Retrieved 21 December 2006.
  5. ^ Rockers and Rollers: An Automotive Autobiography, p. 7.
  6. ^ Rockers and Rollers: An Automotive Autobiography pg. 107
  7. ^ "A History of The Jasper Hart Band". Retrieved 1 August 2009.
  8. ^ Classic Rock magazine, June 2009, p.41
  9. ^ a b c Wall, Mick (2012). AC/DC: Hell Aint a Bad Place to Be. London: Orion Publishing group. ISBN 978-1-4091-1535-9.
  10. ^ You Shook Me All Night Long Allmusic
  11. ^ Anthony Bozza (2009). Why AC/DC Matters. p.54. HarperCollins, Retrieved 30 November 2011
  12. ^ Katie Wales (2006). Northern English: a cultural and social history. p.26. Cambridge University Press, 2006
  13. ^ "AC/DC Lead Singer Brian Johnson – Black Ice and U.S. Soldiers – Celebrity Drive – Motor Trend". Motor Trend. Retrieved 10 April 2010.
  14. ^ Kreps, Daniel (16 April 2016). Brian has stated however, that he will be able to work in the studio and hopes to be able to perform with ACD/DC some time in the future-on-tour-20160416 "AC/DC Confirm Axl Rose Is New Lead Singer, Joining Band on Tour". RollingStone.com. Retrieved 17 April 2016. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  15. ^ "Revisiting Brian Johnson's Last AC/DC Show". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  16. ^ "Bruce Vilanch Added to Cast of Helen of Troy Musical Reading". Playbill.
  17. ^ Stephenson, John-Paul (13 October 2012). "Interview:Brendan Healy". Giggle Beats. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
  18. ^ Classic Rock magazine, October 2003
  19. ^ "Helen of Troy – Brian Johnson Ballet". Crabsody in Blue. Retrieved 24 March 2010.
  20. ^ ;. "The Youngs: The Brothers Who Built AC/DC: Riff Raff". PopMatters. Retrieved 13 February 2016. {{cite web}}: |author= has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  21. ^ "Classic Rock Cares". Crabsody in Blue. Retrieved 24 March 2010.
  22. ^ "Celebrity Laps: Top Gear". BBC. 14 September 2015.
  23. ^ "Brian Johnson: 'I think they made a mistake about Jeremy Clarkson'". The Telegraph. 13 September 2015.
  24. ^ "Rockers And Rollers By Brian Johnson! | News | The Official AC/DC Site". Acdc.com. 28 February 2000. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  25. ^ "2012 Rolex 24 at Daytona results from Racing Reference". racing-reference.info. 29 January 2012. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  26. ^ "Sting to release first new original album in 10 years, 'The Last Ship'". Daily News. New York. 5 June 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  27. ^ Rockers and Rollers: An Automotive Autobiography pg. 100
  28. ^ Rockers and Rollers: An Automotive Autobiography, pp. 84, 106
  29. ^ Jay Cridlin (3 November 2014). "Ron White talks marriage, sobriety, friendship with AC/DC's Brian Johnson". Tampabay.com. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  30. ^ "At Home with AC/DC's Brian Johnson". SPIN. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  31. ^ Johnson, Brian, Rockers and Rollers: A Full-Throttle Memoir, Religion comes and goes, depending on age or thinking about what comes next. I'm a lucky lad. I've never believed in God as such, but if there has to be one, then let it be the one who looked after me. He's cool. I'm sure he can't be the same one that people pray to in war; he surely can't be the one who tells people to kill anyone or anything in their way; and he can't be the one that some made-eyed Southern preacher says keeps talking to him.
  32. ^ "Forget Ashley! AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson almost bought Newcastle!". Tribal football. Retrieved 13 September 2015
  33. ^ a b Ac/Dc's Johnson Opens Up About Cancer Scare
  34. ^ "The top 50 richest people in music: Sunday Times Rich List"'. This is Money. Retrieved 22 October 2012
  35. ^ "AC/DC rock singer becomes Doctor of Music". Northumbria.ac.uk. 9 July 2014. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  36. ^ "AC/DC's Brian Johnson becomes supporter of Yorkshire dementia charity". The Guardian. 13 September 2015.
  37. ^ "AC/DC add stadium dates to the Black Ice World Tour". LondonNet. Retrieved 16 January 2009.
  38. ^ Christman, Ed (9 January 2015). "Music in 2014: Taylor Takes the Year, Republic Records on Top, Streaming to the Rescue". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
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