"Johnny B. Goode" is Dead
Published April 13, 2005
Rock 'n' roll and blues piano great Johnnie Johnson — Chuck Berry's creative partner, melodic and rhythmic foil, and the man for whom "Johnny B. Goode" was named — has died at his St. Louis home at 80.
Johnson, age 4, took immediately to the new piano his parents brought into their Fairmont, West Virginia, home. By 9 he was playing jazz tunes by Count Basie, Oscar Peterson and Earl "Fatha" Hines on a local radio station. While serving in the Marines, Johnson performed in the Special Service Band, and, moving to Chicago after the war, he apprenticed with such blues masters as Muddy Waters and Albert King. By the early-'50s he was living in St. Louis, where he worked in a factory by day and fronted the Johnnie Johnson Trio, an R&B band, by night. When he had to replace an ailing saxophonist for a club date on New Year's Eve 1952, he hired a guitarist named Chuck Berry to fill in.
Berry's chunky riffing style alloyed perfectly with Johnson's blues and boogie woogie. Many of Chuck Berry's classics — including "Sweet Little Sixteen," "School Days," "No Particular Place to Go" and "Roll Over Beethoven" — were created when Berry showed up for rehearsal with lyrics and asked Johnson to flesh out the music. "Just me, Chuck and the piano," Johnson has said. Johnson and Berry traveled to Chicago in 1957, where they recorded "Maybellene" for Chess, the first of many Chuck Berry hits that featured Johnson on rollicking piano.
After more than 20 years together, Johnson and Berry parted ways in '73, and Johnson performed with Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, John Lee Hooker, Bo Diddley, the Kentucky Headhunters, Bob Weir of The Grateful Dead, Susan Tedeschi, NRBQ, Buddy Guy and Styx. Diverse!
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001 in the "sidemen" category, perhaps the greatest "sideman" of them all.
Johnson sued Berry in 2000 for back royalties on 52 of Berry's songs from 1955 to 1966, which Berry copyrighted under his own name only. But in an opinion issued in 2002, a federal judge determined that under the federal Copyright Act, Johnson was not entitled to anything because he had simply waited too long to pursue his case against Berry.
- "Johnny B. Goode" is Dead
- Published: April 13, 2005
- Type:
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Blues, Music: Classic Rock and Oldies, Music: News, Music: Roots Rock
- Writer: Eric Olsen
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- Eric Olsen's personal site
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Comments on this articleComments
interesting TP, thanks; yes, fascinating that the most influential singer/songwriter/guitarist in rock 'n' roll history actually led a piano band
On a related note, if you can find a copy of "I am the Blues" the PBS progem about Willie Dixon, you'll get a reall taste of rock history, Dixon wrote a ot of songs that became Chuck Berry signature pieces, as well as mandatory songs for any R'n'R collection.
yes, that's great - it's a book too
I was fortunate enough to be in the audience when the program was shot, not that I need much encouragement to call in sick to see a good band when I was 19.
that's super cool! I interviewed his widow for the Encyclopedia of Record Producers
updated
Before there was P. Diddy, there was Willie Dixon. Dixon is perhaps the greatest hitmaker of them all. His production, songwriting, and bass work has graced some of the greatest and most famous songs of the 20th Century. My Willie Dixon "Chess Box" is one of my favorites!
Johnnie Johnson's piano work is fabulous on all those Chuck Berry hits. I am sure you have checked it out but if not, his work on Buddy Guy's "Slippin' In" album (particularly "7-11") is really good, too.
agreed DJR, Dixon was at the center of the classic Chess sound
Also played on Buddy Guy's wonderful "The Real Deal" album, recorded live with the Saturday Night Live band at Legends.
I'll have to post my bio of the great Willie D
Styx? Wow. That got me curious. So I found this link which pictures Johnson with Styx in the studio. Zowie.
strange and super cool Jon, thanks!
updated with quotes from Berry
Question: Was'nt it Lafayette Leake who played piano on the actual recording of Johhny B. Goode?
Leake did play on Johnny B Goode and several other songs. Johnson did leave Chuck's band for a few years during that period. Johnnie led Albert King's rhtythm section during that period. It was actually King's strongest period of recording, that band made some great music.
There hasn't been any discussion here about Johnnie being Chuck's collaborator. He was. Chuck wrote the lyrics. Johnson had more to do with the music than Chuck did. Late in his life, Johnson did discuss this.
For a song very much in the Johnson /Berry musical vein, listen to "A Good Day." It is track 6 on Johnson's last recording, "Johnnie Be Eighty. And Still Bad!". The project was recorded in late 2004, and released just days after Johnson died.
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Johnnie Johnson appeared with Berry in "Hail, Hail Rock 'N Roll", and it was most interesting to note that Johnson was probably most responsible for Berry's songs being recorded and played live (by Berry) in piano keys. Most guitarists play Berry's songs in traditional guitar keys, and Berry's hired sidemen often find themselves flustered by Berry's choice of keys.