Rock 'N' Roll Hall Of Famer Johnnie Johnson Receives Congressional Gold Medal
On Monday, November 28, 2016, Johnnie Johnson, famed pianist and Rock 'n' Roll Hall Of Famer, posthumously received the Congressional Gold Medal for his service as a U.S. Marine during World War II. The award, presented to Johnson's widow, Frances Johnson, by Congresswoman Claire McCaskill at The National Blues Museum in St. Louis, is the highest civilian honor awarded in the United States, going to people whose achievements had an impact on American history and culture. With his service, Johnson helped to integrate the previously all-white Marine Corps, inspiring social change.
Johnson is best known for his work with Chuck Berry. Many of Berry's hits, including Maybellene, Nadine, Carol and School Days, were fueled by Johnson’s ferocious two-fisted piano playing.
Johnson, who died in 2005, was most recently heard on Meet Me In Bluesland, an album released in 2015 but cut in 2003 with his friends, Grammy-winning Southern blues rockers The Kentucky Headhunters.The album features not only Johnson's famed piano playing but also his very last vocal recording on the song, She's Got To Have It.
Johnnie Johnson was born on July 8, 1924 in Fairmont, West Virginia. He began playing piano at age five and never stopped. While serving in the Marines, he joined The Barracudas, a Marines servicemen’s band. He moved to Detroit and then Chicago, eventually playing with Muddy Waters and Little Walter. He landed in St. Louis in 1952 where he formed The Sir John Trio, playing jazz, blues and pop standards. Chuck Berry, an ambitious local guitarist and songwriter, was added to the group the same year and eventually took over leadership of the band. After Berry scored a contract with Chess Records, the hits came fast and furiously.
When Chuck wasn’t touring, Johnson played with Albert King, and recorded a number of singles with him for the Bobbin label. Tired of the road, Johnson left Chuck’s band in 1973 and returned to St. Louis to become a bus driver. With the 1987 release of the Chuck Berry documentary, Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll, Johnson found himself back in the spotlight, reintroduced to the world by his friend-to-be Keith Richards. After three solo recordings, Johnson joined his musical cohorts The Kentucky Headhunters for 1993’s That’ll Work. In 1996 and 1997 he toured with Ratdog, the band fronted by The Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir. Johnson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001 and continued to perform and record until his death in 2005. His 2003 sessions with The Kentucky Headhunters, released in 2015 as Meet Me In Bluesland, are some of the most spirited and organic recordings of his remarkable and still influential career.
