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Holly Johnson (born William Johnson; February 9, 1960; name on passport William Holly Johnson) is an English
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 artist
Artist

The definition of an artist is wide-ranging and covers a broad spectrum of activities to do with creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art....
, writer
Writer

A writer is anyone who creates a written work, although the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, as well as those who have written in many different forms....
 and musician
Musician

A musician is a person who plays or writes music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music:* An instrumentalist plays a musical instrument....
.

son was born in Liverpool
Liverpool

Liverpool [] is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a History of borough status in England and Wales in 1207 and was granted City status in the United Kingdom in 1880....
, England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
. Actively involved in the Liverpool punk rock
Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock....
/new wave
New Wave music

New Wave is a genre of rock music which originated from the late 1970s. It emerged from punk rock as a reaction against the popular music of the 1970s....
 scene, Johnson played bass with Big in Japan
Big in Japan

Big in Japan was a punk band that emerged from Liverpool, England in the late 1970s. They are better known for the later successes of their band members than for their own music....
 and released several solo singles on the Eric's label (first of them in 1979), before finding fame as the lead singer and lyricist of Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Frankie Goes to Hollywood were an England dance-pop band that were extremely popular in the mid 1980s. The Liverpool group was fronted by Holly Johnson , supported by Paul Rutherford , Peter Gill , Mark O'Toole and Brian Nash ....
, who experienced both controversy and commercial success during their heyday in the early 1980s.






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Holly Johnson (born William Johnson; February 9, 1960; name on passport William Holly Johnson) is an English
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 artist
Artist

The definition of an artist is wide-ranging and covers a broad spectrum of activities to do with creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art....
, writer
Writer

A writer is anyone who creates a written work, although the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, as well as those who have written in many different forms....
 and musician
Musician

A musician is a person who plays or writes music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music:* An instrumentalist plays a musical instrument....
.

Career

Johnson was born in Liverpool
Liverpool

Liverpool [] is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a History of borough status in England and Wales in 1207 and was granted City status in the United Kingdom in 1880....
, England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
. Actively involved in the Liverpool punk rock
Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock....
/new wave
New Wave music

New Wave is a genre of rock music which originated from the late 1970s. It emerged from punk rock as a reaction against the popular music of the 1970s....
 scene, Johnson played bass with Big in Japan
Big in Japan

Big in Japan was a punk band that emerged from Liverpool, England in the late 1970s. They are better known for the later successes of their band members than for their own music....
 and released several solo singles on the Eric's label (first of them in 1979), before finding fame as the lead singer and lyricist of Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Frankie Goes to Hollywood were an England dance-pop band that were extremely popular in the mid 1980s. The Liverpool group was fronted by Holly Johnson , supported by Paul Rutherford , Peter Gill , Mark O'Toole and Brian Nash ....
, who experienced both controversy and commercial success during their heyday in the early 1980s. Some of the band's controversy stemmed from the gay
Gay

The term gay was originally used, until well into the mid-20th century, primarily to refer to feelings of being "carefree," "happy," or "bright and showy"; it had also come to acquire some connotations of "immorality" as early as 1637....
 themes of their videos and appearance. Both Johnson and vocalist Paul Rutherford
Paul Rutherford

Paul Rutherford is the former backing singer and dancer with 1980s pop band Frankie Goes to Hollywood , one of the group's two openly gay singers....
 were open about their homosexuality
Homosexuality

Homosexuality refers to human sexual behavior or same-sex attraction between people of the same sex or to homosexual orientation. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "having sexual and romantic attraction primarily or exclusively to members of one?s own sex"; "it also refers to an individual?s sense of personal and social identi...
.

Holly left the group in 1987 after disagreeing on their further musical direction, becoming the subject of an injunction from the group's record company, ZTT Records
ZTT Records

ZTT Records is a record label founded in 1983 by NME journalist Paul Morley, record producer Trevor Horn, producer/engineer Gary Langan and businesswoman Jill Sinclair....
, which cited his prior recording agreement and effectively barred him from releasing solo material with new label MCA Records
MCA Records

MCA Records was an United States-based record label owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part....
.

Johnson embarked on a protracted legal battle with ZTT, the case finally being settled in Johnson's favour in 1989, the judge ruling that ZTT's original contract had constituted an unreasonable restraint of trade
Restraint of trade

'Restraint of trade' is a common law doctrine relating to the enforceability of contractual restrictions on freedom to conduct business. In an old leading case of Mitchell v....
. The result represented a landmark legal outcome within the music business. Johnson's relationship with ZTT owners Trevor Horn
Trevor Horn

Trevor Charles Horn is an English pop music record producer, songwriter and musician. He was born in Hetton-le-Hole, England.Horn has produced commercially successful songs and albums for numerous British and international artists....
 and Jill Sinclair apparently broke down irretrievably due to the court case.

Johnson finally released his first solo album
Solo album

In popular music, a solo album is an album made by a current or former member of a rock group. A solo album may feature simply one person performing all instruments, but may also feature the work of other collaborators; rather, it may be made with different collaborators than the musician is usually associated, though just how different t...
, Blast, which reached number one in the UK in May 1989 and spawned four hit-singles, "Love Train" (#4, Jan 1989), "Americanos
Americanos

"Americanos" is the second single from former Frankie Goes to Hollywood singer Holly Johnson, from his 1989 debut album Blast.The song was written by Holly Johnson....
" (#4, Apr 1989), "Atomic City" (18, Jun 1989) and "Heaven's Here". The album went Platinum
Platinum

Platinum is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78. Its name is derived from the Spanish term platina del Pinto, which is literally translated into "little silver of the Pinto River." It is in Group 10 of the periodic table of elements....
.

In May 1989 a charity version of "Ferry Cross the Mersey
Ferry Cross the Mersey

Ferry Cross the Mersey is the name of a 1964 song, film, and soundtrack album, all related to Liverpool and the Mersey Sound, as well as the Mersey Ferry, which still runs to Liverpool from Birkenhead and Seacombe on the Wirral Peninsula....
" was recorded by Liverpool artists suchs as The Christians, Holly Johnson, Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney

Sir James Paul McCartney Member of the Order of the British Empire is a multiple Grammy Award-winning England singer-songwriter, poet, composer, multi-instrumentalist, entrepreneur, record producer, film producer, Painting, and Animal rights....
 and Gerry Marsden
Gerry Marsden

Gerry Marsden is an England musician and television personality, best known for being leader of the British band Gerry & The Pacemakers.Marsden's interest in music began at an early age....
.

Relations with MCA cooled over dissatisfaction with promotional budgets for his second solo album, Dreams That Money Can't Buy, released in 1991 after Johnson had left the label.

Personal life

In November 1991, Johnson learned he was HIV positive. This triggered a temporary withdrawal from the music business and public life in general. His condition was made public in April 1993. In 1994 his critically acclaimed autobiography, A Bone In My Flute, was published.

Since the mid 1990s, Johnson has worked primarily as a painter. His works have been exhibited at the Tate Liverpool
Tate Liverpool

Tate Liverpool is an art gallery and museum in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, and part of Tate, along with Tate St Ives, Cornwall, Tate Britain, London, and Tate Modern, London....
, and The Royal Academy
Royal Academy

The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London, England. As an academy, it functions to encourage British art, and has a membership of practising artists....
. He has contributed to Modern Painters
Modern Painters (magazine)

Modern Painters is a monthly art magazine published in New York City by Louise Blouin Media. The magazine is published 12 times per year; it includes profiles on two international artists per issue; columns by international contributors; interviews with and articles by contemporary artists and curators; and information on exhibitions, books,...
 and the Paul Smith sponsored CARLOS magazine. He has continued to make music via his own Pleasuredome label, such as 1999's Soulstream, an album that includes a re-recording of "The Power of Love
The Power of Love (Frankie Goes to Hollywood song)

"The Power of Love" is the third single from Frankie Goes to Hollywood, released in November 1984. It is taken from the album Welcome To The Pleasuredome....
".

Discography

Albums (CD)

  • Blast (1989) MCA (DMCG 6042)
  • Hollelujah - The Remix Album (1990) MCA (DMCL 1902)
  • Dreams That Money Can't Buy (1991) MCA (MCAD 10278)
  • Soulstream (1999) Pleasuredome (PLDCD001)


Singles (CD)

  • Love Train (1989) MCA (DMCAT 1306)
  • Americanos
    Americanos

    "Americanos" is the second single from former Frankie Goes to Hollywood singer Holly Johnson, from his 1989 debut album Blast.The song was written by Holly Johnson....
     (1989) MCA (DMCAT 1323)
  • Atomic City (1989) MCA (DMCAT 1342)
  • Heaven's Here (1989) MCA (DMCAT 1365)
  • Where Has Love Gone (1990) MCA (DMCAT 1460)
  • Across The Universe (1991) MCA (MCSTD 1513)
  • The People Want To Dance (1991) MCA (MCSTD 1563)
  • Legendary Children (All Of Them Queer) (1994) Club Tools (CLU 6045-5)
  • Disco Heaven (1999) Pleasuredome (PLDCD1004) CD1 & CD2
  • The Power Of Love 1999 Pleasuredome (PLDCD1005) CD1 & CD2


Books

  • A Bone In My Flute; hard cover Century UK ISBN 0-7126-6145-X, 17 March 1994; soft cover Arrow UK ISBN 0-09-939341-7, 6 April 1995


External links