Johnny Kemp
Encyclopedia
Johnny Kemp is a Bahamian R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...

 singer and dancer. He began singing in nightclubs in the Bahamas at 13. He moved to New York in 1979 with the band "Kinky Fox." His self-titled debut album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 came out in 1986 and he scored a minor hit
Hit single
A hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...

 with "Just Another Lover." True success came the following year, however, with the release of his Secrets of Flying album, which contained a pair of Top 5 hits
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...

 on the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

R&B
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...

 chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....

: "Dancin' with Myself" and "Just Got Paid
Just Got Paid
"Just Got Paid" is a 1988 crossover single by singer/songwriter Johnny Kemp. The song made it to number one on the U.S. R&B singles and dance charts and reached number ten on the Billboard Hot 100...

," the latter hitting #1. "Just Got Paid" also cracked the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 in 1988, and went to top the Hot Dance Music/Club Play. It provided his only UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 entry, peaking at #68 for one week in August 1988. His only other Hot 100 entry was "Birthday Suit," a tune from the soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...

 to the movie
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

, Sing
Sing (1989 film)
Sing is a 1989 film, starring Lorraine Bracco, Peter Dobson and Jessica Steen. The movie is about a fictional New York City SING! production...

which climbed to #36 in 1989.

Kemp appeared on the 2007 DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 release by Keith Sweat
Keith Sweat
Keith Sweat is an American R&B/soul, singer-songwriter, record producer, radio personality and a major contributor to the new jack swing era.-Music career:...

 entitled Sweat Hotel Live. This DVD featured live performances by Sweat in a sort of reunion with other R&B/New Jack Swing
New jack swing
New jack swing or swingbeat is a fusion genre spearheaded by Teddy Riley and Bernard Belle which became extremely popular from the late-1980s into the mid-1990s. Its influence, along with hip-hop, seeped into pop culture and was the definitive sound of the inventive Black New York club scene...

 era pioneers of the late 1980s, including Teddy Riley
Teddy Riley (new jack swing)
Edward Theodore Riley , professionally known as Teddy Riley, is an American singer-songwriter, musician, keyboardist, and record producer credited with the creation of New Jack Swing. Through his production work with Michael Jackson, Bobby Brown, Doug E. Fresh, Today, Keith Sweat, Heavy D., Jane...

. Kemp appeared on the final track, an "all-star finale" rendition of "Just Got Paid," originally recorded at a February 2006 concert in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...

. Incidentally, Sweat had initially passed on the instrumental
Instrumental
An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....

 track that would eventually become "Just Got Paid," when it was first offered to him in the mid-1980s. Kemp listened to it, added his own lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...

 to the melody
Melody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...

, and "Just Got Paid" was born.

Kemp was the featured performer (singing "Just Got Paid") at the NJS4E event in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 on September 8, 2007. As the name implied, the show celebrated and commemorated 20 years of New Jack Swing, and took place at Ashford & Simpson
Ashford & Simpson
Nickolas Ashford , and Valerie Simpson , were a husband and wife songwriting/production team and recording artists....

's Sugar Bar.

Kemp is married and the father of two sons.

Discography

  • 1986: Johnny Kemp
  • 1987: Secrets of Flying
  • 1989: Sing
    Sing (1989 film)
    Sing is a 1989 film, starring Lorraine Bracco, Peter Dobson and Jessica Steen. The movie is about a fictional New York City SING! production...

    (soundtrack; included his song "Birthday Suit")

See also


External links

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