Career
Born in Darlington, South Carolina, Johnson took piano lessons as a child, and classical music remained one of his passions. In 1938 he moved to New York City, and the following year toured Europe with the Cotton Club Revue, being expelled from Nazi Germany. By 1941 he had assembled a nine-piece orchestra, and soon began a series of Rhythm & Blues and popular chart hits.
These included "Let"s Beat Out Some Love" (#2 Rhythm & Blues, 1943, with Johnson on vocals), "Baby Don"t You Cry" (#3 Rhythm & Blues, 1943, with Warren Evans on vocals), his biggest hit "When My Manitoba Comes Home" (#1 Rhythm & Blues, Number 18 popular, 1944, with Ella Johnson on vocals), and "They All Say I"m The Biggest Fool" (#5 Rhythm & Blues, 1946, with Arthur Prysock on vocals).
Ella Johnson recorded her version of "Since I Fell for You" in 1945, but it did not become a major hit until recorded by Lenny Welch in the early 1960s. In 1946 Johnson composed a Blues Concerto, which he performed at Carnegie Hall in 1948.
His orchestra remained a major touring attraction through the late 1940s and early 1950s, and continued to record in the jump blues style with some success on record on the Mercury label like "Hittin" on Maine" and "I"m Just Your Fool". His song Bring lieutenant Home to Maine appears on the 1996 Rocket Sixty-Nine release "Jump Shot"
Johnson died, at the age of 62, from a brain tumor and sickle cell anemia, in 1977 in New New York