Kelly Johnson (guitarist)
Encyclopedia
Bernadette Jean "Kelly" Johnson (20 June 1958 – 15 July 2007) was an English
guitarist
, widely known in the UK in the early 1980s as the lead guitarist of the all-female British heavy metal
band Girlschool
.
in Edmonton
, which is in North London
, and part of the London Borough of Enfield
, where she discovered rock music and played bass and piano in school bands. She went back to guitar and was already writing and playing her own material when she met her future bandmates at the age of 19. After her first encounter with Kim McAuliffe and Enid Williams in April 1978, she was immediately accepted in the ranks of the new band formed from the ashes of the group Painted Lady, which took the name of Girlschool
.
Girlschool full-on raucous guitar playing, tousled, leather-clad looks (and what one reviewer described as "stiletto in the groin" attitude) soon won the band a cult following, giving them a high rank in the exploding New Wave of British Heavy Metal
phenomenon, thanks also to their strong relationship with contemporaries Motörhead. Johnson and McAuliffe drinking bouts were otherwise memorable as much as their fast ascension to headliner band.
Johnson was a songwriter, playing lead guitar and singing both lead and backing vocals on the group's first four albums. She provided both a strong visual focus for the band with her tall figure and blonde hair and an excellent musical contribution with her trenchant guitar playing. The eminent rock guitarist Jeff Beck
was quoted as saying he "couldn't believe it was a girl playing", a remark described by the DJ John Peel
as the most sexist comment he had ever heard. On the other hand, Lemmy Kilmister, the leader of Motörhead, declared about Kelly Johnson that "the nights that she was really on, she was as good as Jeff Beck".
Girlschool didn’t take feminist positions, but the simple fact of being an all-female band in a genre dominated by male musicians and often by machismo and sexist attitudes was a statement in itself. Moreover, Johnson professed from the beginning of her career a strong sensibility to environmental themes, which was expressed in some of her songs. She became later an environmentalist
, an activist for animal rights
and also a vegetarian.
Girlschool had their best UK chart success in 1980 and 1981, with the EP St. Valentine's Day Massacre and the album Hit and Run
, but their success soon declined and their approach to the US market with the album Play Dirty
was not as successful as hoped. At the beginning of 1984, Johnson left the band. As Kim McAuliffe stated in 1997, "basically Kelly just got fed up with the whole thing (...) she wasn’t into heavy rock anymore".
Johnson immediately left England for Los Angeles, California
, to start a new career and to live with Vicki Blue
, former bassist of the American all-female band The Runaways
, who was also her manager. In LA, she wrote her own music and recorded demos of mainstream rock with large use of synthesizers and electronic effects, but no label put her under contract. In 1987, she entered the rock band World’s Cutest Killers, which included on rhythm guitar and vocals former Painted Lady and The Go-Go's
member Kathy Valentine
. WCK changed their name to The Renegades and worked the local club circuit, but gained no record contract. Concluded her experience with this band after two years, she left music altogether to learn sign language and work with the deaf.
The pull of rock 'n' roll was too strong to keep Johnson away from her guitar for long and in 1993, after almost ten years in the USA, she returned to the UK to resume her role as lead guitarist of Girlschool for a much publicized reunion tour. She remained with the band and toured incessantly until 1999, when she was diagnosed with cancer. Even if she left active duty, Johnson remained strictly associated with Girlschool, playing the occasional gig, instructing her substitute Jackie Chambers and gathering photos and material for a band biography.
Johnson died on Sunday 15 July 2007, aged 49, after a six-year battle against spinal cancer
. The fact she had this disease was not widely known outside her close circle of friends and family. At Kelly’s memorial, her friend and former bandmate Tracey Lamb read the eulogy she had written for her:
Girlschool performed a tribute gig on 20 August 2007 at the Soho Revue Bar in London, with many of Johnson’s friends and former band members.
Gold Top guitar, modified with gold plated machine heads and DiMarzio
pickups and an Ibanez Destroyer
-II. She used Marshall
50 and 100 amplifiers and no pedals or effects. During her staying in Los Angeles, she used instead a tiger striped Aria
RS guitar, which she contiuned to use in the 90s along with a Gibson SG
.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
, widely known in the UK in the early 1980s as the lead guitarist of the all-female British heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
band Girlschool
Girlschool
Girlschool are a British heavy metal band originating out of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene in 1978 and frequently associated with contemporaries Motörhead. They are the longest running all-female rock band, still active after more than 30 years...
.
Biography
Johnson started playing piano after her father when five years old and switched to guitar at twelve. She attended Edmonton County SchoolEdmonton County School
Edmonton County School was a specialist technology college in Edmonton in the London Borough of Enfield in north London.-Admissions:The Cambridge Campus buildings are the site which was used by the former grammar school on the Great Cambridge Road near Bush Hill Park railway station...
in Edmonton
Edmonton, London
Edmonton is an area in the east of the London Borough of Enfield, England, north-north-east of Charing Cross. It has a long history as a settlement distinct from Enfield.-Location:...
, which is in North London
North London
North London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...
, and part of the London Borough of Enfield
London Borough of Enfield
The London Borough of Enfield is the most northerly London borough and forms part of Outer London. It borders the London Boroughs of Barnet, Haringey and Waltham Forest...
, where she discovered rock music and played bass and piano in school bands. She went back to guitar and was already writing and playing her own material when she met her future bandmates at the age of 19. After her first encounter with Kim McAuliffe and Enid Williams in April 1978, she was immediately accepted in the ranks of the new band formed from the ashes of the group Painted Lady, which took the name of Girlschool
Girlschool
Girlschool are a British heavy metal band originating out of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene in 1978 and frequently associated with contemporaries Motörhead. They are the longest running all-female rock band, still active after more than 30 years...
.
Girlschool full-on raucous guitar playing, tousled, leather-clad looks (and what one reviewer described as "stiletto in the groin" attitude) soon won the band a cult following, giving them a high rank in the exploding New Wave of British Heavy Metal
New Wave of British Heavy Metal
The New Wave of British Heavy Metal was a heavy metal movement that started in the late 1970s, in Britain, and achieved international attention by the early 1980s. The movement developed as a reaction in part to the decline of early heavy metal bands such as Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Black...
phenomenon, thanks also to their strong relationship with contemporaries Motörhead. Johnson and McAuliffe drinking bouts were otherwise memorable as much as their fast ascension to headliner band.
Johnson was a songwriter, playing lead guitar and singing both lead and backing vocals on the group's first four albums. She provided both a strong visual focus for the band with her tall figure and blonde hair and an excellent musical contribution with her trenchant guitar playing. The eminent rock guitarist Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...
was quoted as saying he "couldn't believe it was a girl playing", a remark described by the DJ John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
as the most sexist comment he had ever heard. On the other hand, Lemmy Kilmister, the leader of Motörhead, declared about Kelly Johnson that "the nights that she was really on, she was as good as Jeff Beck".
Girlschool didn’t take feminist positions, but the simple fact of being an all-female band in a genre dominated by male musicians and often by machismo and sexist attitudes was a statement in itself. Moreover, Johnson professed from the beginning of her career a strong sensibility to environmental themes, which was expressed in some of her songs. She became later an environmentalist
Environmentalist
An environmentalist broadly supports the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that seeks to improve and protect the quality of the natural environment through changes to environmentally harmful human activities"...
, an activist for animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
and also a vegetarian.
Girlschool had their best UK chart success in 1980 and 1981, with the EP St. Valentine's Day Massacre and the album Hit and Run
Hit and run
Hit and run typically refers to:* Hit and run , the crime of failing to stop and identify oneself after a vehicular collision* Hit and run , a baseball play in which runners are in motion before the ball is hit...
, but their success soon declined and their approach to the US market with the album Play Dirty
Play Dirty (album)
Play Dirty is the fourth studio album by British heavy metal band, Girlschool, released on Bronze Records in 1983 and produced by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea from the hard rock band Slade....
was not as successful as hoped. At the beginning of 1984, Johnson left the band. As Kim McAuliffe stated in 1997, "basically Kelly just got fed up with the whole thing (...) she wasn’t into heavy rock anymore".
Johnson immediately left England for Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, to start a new career and to live with Vicki Blue
Vicki Blue
Victory Tischler-Blue is an American film producer, director, writer, musician and photographer. She was born and raised in Newport Beach, California. Tischler-Blue began working in the entertainment industry at age 17, using the name Vicki Blue in the American all-girl teenage rock band The...
, former bassist of the American all-female band The Runaways
The Runaways
The Runaways were an American all-girl rock band that recorded and performed in the second half of the 1970s. The band released four studio albums and one live set during its run. Among its best known songs: "Cherry Bomb", "Queens of Noise", "Neon Angels On the Road to Ruin", "California Paradise"...
, who was also her manager. In LA, she wrote her own music and recorded demos of mainstream rock with large use of synthesizers and electronic effects, but no label put her under contract. In 1987, she entered the rock band World’s Cutest Killers, which included on rhythm guitar and vocals former Painted Lady and The Go-Go's
The Go-Go's
The Go-Go’s are an all-female American rock band formed in 1978. They made history as the first all-female band that both wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to top the Billboard album charts....
member Kathy Valentine
Kathy Valentine
Kathy Valentine is the American bass guitarist for the all-girl rock band, The Go-Go's....
. WCK changed their name to The Renegades and worked the local club circuit, but gained no record contract. Concluded her experience with this band after two years, she left music altogether to learn sign language and work with the deaf.
The pull of rock 'n' roll was too strong to keep Johnson away from her guitar for long and in 1993, after almost ten years in the USA, she returned to the UK to resume her role as lead guitarist of Girlschool for a much publicized reunion tour. She remained with the band and toured incessantly until 1999, when she was diagnosed with cancer. Even if she left active duty, Johnson remained strictly associated with Girlschool, playing the occasional gig, instructing her substitute Jackie Chambers and gathering photos and material for a band biography.
Johnson died on Sunday 15 July 2007, aged 49, after a six-year battle against spinal cancer
Spinal tumor
Spinal tumors are neoplasms located in the spinal cord. They are mostly metastases from primary cancers elsewhere . Primary tumors may be benign Spinal tumors are neoplasms located in the spinal cord. They are mostly metastases from primary cancers elsewhere (commonly breast, prostate and lung...
. The fact she had this disease was not widely known outside her close circle of friends and family. At Kelly’s memorial, her friend and former bandmate Tracey Lamb read the eulogy she had written for her:
Girlschool performed a tribute gig on 20 August 2007 at the Soho Revue Bar in London, with many of Johnson’s friends and former band members.
Equipment
During her first stint with Girlschool, Kelly Johnson used a 1980 Gibson Les PaulGibson Les Paul
The Gibson Les Paul was the result of a design collaboration between Gibson Guitar Corporation and the late jazz guitarist and electronics inventor Les Paul. In 1950, with the introduction of the Fender Telecaster to the musical market, electric guitars became a public craze. In reaction, Gibson...
Gold Top guitar, modified with gold plated machine heads and DiMarzio
DiMarzio
DiMarzio, Inc. is an United States manufacturer best known for its revolutionary direct-replacement guitar pickups. The company also produces miscellaneous guitar accessories, such as cables, straps and hardware.DiMarzio became known for its Super Distortion model, which was the first after...
pickups and an Ibanez Destroyer
Ibanez Destroyer
The Destroyer is an Ibanez brand electric guitar model manufactured at the FujiGen-Gakki musical instrument factory for the Hoshino-Gakki Company. The Destroyer model was first introduced by Hoshino-Gakki in 1975 and was based on the Gibson Musical Instruments' Explorer design...
-II. She used Marshall
Marshall Amplification
Marshall Amplification is a British company, founded by drummer Jim Marshall, that designs and manufactures music amplifiers, brands personal headphones/earphones , and, after acquiring Natal Drums, drums and bongos. Marshall amplifiers, and specifically their guitar amplifiers, are among the most...
50 and 100 amplifiers and no pedals or effects. During her staying in Los Angeles, she used instead a tiger striped Aria
Aria (guitar company)
Aria is a Japanese manufacturer of acoustic and electric guitars and basses.- History :Aria was formed in Japan in 1953 by Shiro Arai as Arai and Company. They began retailing acoustic guitars in 1960, although the company didn't actually start manufacturing their own until 1964. Aria arranged for...
RS guitar, which she contiuned to use in the 90s along with a Gibson SG
Gibson SG
At the launch of the SG in 1961, Gibson offered four variants of the SG; the SG Junior , the SG Special, the SG Standard, and the top-of-the-line SG Custom. However, Gibson's current core variants as of 2010 are the SG Standard and the SG Special...
.
Studio albums
- DemolitionDemolition (Girlschool album)Demolition is the first studio album by British heavy metal band, Girlschool.It was released in Europe on Bronze Records in 1980, with the catalogue number Bronze BRON 534...
(1980) - Hit and RunHit and Run (album)Hit and Run is the second studio album by British heavy metal band, Girlschool.It was originally released on Bronze Records in 1981, UK catalogue number BRON 534, having been recorded at Jackson's Studios, England, in December 1980 and January 1981. There was a limited pressing in red vinyl...
(1981) - Screaming Blue MurderScreaming Blue Murder (Girlschool album)Screaming Blue Murder is the third studio album by British heavy metal band, Girlschool. It was released on Bronze Records in 1982, and featured one line-up change in bassist Ghislaine 'Gil' Weston, formerly of The Killjoys, replacing the recently departed founding member Enid Williams...
(1982) - Play DirtyPlay Dirty (album)Play Dirty is the fourth studio album by British heavy metal band, Girlschool, released on Bronze Records in 1983 and produced by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea from the hard rock band Slade....
(1983) - 21st Anniversary: Not That Innocent21st Anniversary: Not That Innocent21st Anniversary: Not That Innocent is the ninth studio album by British heavy metal band, Girlschool, released on Communiqué Records in 2002. The production of the album lasted for a prolonged time and it was finally released when lead guitarist Kelly Johnson and bassist Tracey Lamb had already...
(2002)
EPs
- St. Valentine's Day Massacre (EP with Motörhead) (1981)
- Live and MoreLive and More EPLive and More is an EP by British heavy metal band, Girlschool published only in Japan. It was released in 1982 by Victor Musical Industries to coincide with their first Japan tour...
(EP) (1982) - WildlifeWildlife (Girlschool EP)Wildlife is an EP produced by British heavy metal band, Girlschool and published only in Europe. It was released in 1982 by Bronze Records as a launch for the album Screaming Blue Murder. During the recording sessions for the album, bassist and singer Enid Williams left the band and this EP is the...
(EP) (1982) - 1-2-3-4 Rock and Roll1-2-3-4 Rock and Roll1-2-3-4 Rock and Roll is an EP produced by British heavy metal band, Girlschool. It was released in 1983 by Bronze Records, in an attempt to boost the declining sales of the band and launch the upcoming new album Play Dirty...
(EP) (1983)
Live albums
- Girlschool LiveGirlschool LiveGirlschool Live was the first official live album by British heavy metal band, Girlschool, released on Communiqué Records in 1995. It features again Kelly Johnson on lead guitar.-Track listing:#"Screaming Blue Murder" - 3:29#"Hit & Run" - 2:56...
(1995) - King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents GirlschoolKing Biscuit Flower Hour Presents GirlschoolThe present recording is a live album by British heavy metal band, Girlschool, released by King Biscuit Flower Hour Records in 1997. It was recorded during the Play Dirty tour in the USA.-Track listing:#"Screaming Blue Murder" - 4:17#"Play Dirty" - 4:15...
(1997) - Race with the Devil LiveRace with the Devil LiveRace with the Devil Live is the third live album by British heavy metal band, Girlschool, released on Receiver Records in 1998. It is the recording of a concert held in Tokyo, during the 1982 Japanese tour...
(1998) - Race with the Devil (2002)
Compilations
- Cheers You Lot! (1989)
- C'mon Let's Go (1991)
- The Collection (1991)
- The Best of Girlschool (1993)
- From the Vaults (1994)
- Emergency (1997)
- The Collection (2 CD)The Collection (Girlschool album)The Collection is a double CD compilation album of the all-female British heavy metal band Girlschool. The album was released in 1998 by Renaissance Records, under licence from Castle Communications, and reissued in 2000 by Sanctuary Records, of which Castle had become a subsudiary...
(1998) - Can't Keep a Good Girl Down (1999)
- The Very Best of Girlschool (2002)
- Wild at Heart (2006)
- The Singles (2007)
Singles
- "Take It All Away / It Could Be Better" (1979)
- "Emergency / Furniture Fire" (1980)
- "Nothing to Lose / Baby Doll" (1980)
- "Race With The Devil / Take It All Away" (1980) UK #49
- "Yeah Right / The Hunter" (1980)
- "Hit And Run / Tonight" (1981) UK #32
- "C'Mon Let's Go / Tonight (live)" (1981) UK #42
- "Don't Call It Love / Wildlife" (1982)
- "20th Century Boy / Breaking All the Rules" (1983)
- "Burning in the Heat / Surrender" (1984)