Syl Johnson

Biography

Sylvester Johnson (born Sylvester Thompson; July 1, 1936 – February 6, 2022) was an American blues and soul singer, musician, songwriter and record producer. His most successful records included "Different Strokes" (1967), "Is It Because I'm Black" (1969) later covered by reggae artists Ken Boothe and Delroy Wilson, and "Take Me to the River" (1975), a cover of Al Green's 1974 original.

Early life and recording debut

Born near Holly Springs, Mississippi, the sixth child of a harmonica-playing farmer, he moved with his family in about 1950 to Chicago, where blues guitarist Magic Sam was his next-door neighbor. Johnson sang and played with Magic Sam and other blues artists, such as Billy Boy Arnold, Junior Wells and Howlin' Wolf, in the 1950s. He recorded with Jimmy Reed for Vee-Jay in 1959, and – after label owner Syd Nathan suggested he change his name from Thompson to Johnson – made his solo debut that same year with "Teardrops" on Federal, a subsidiary of King Records of Cincinnati, backed by Freddie King on guitar. However, Johnson's recordings for King and Federal met with little success, and he also kept a day job as a truck driver.

1960s: Career at Twinight Records

After several years of recording for small local labels, and performing regularly in local clubs, Johnson began recording for Twilight/Twinight of Chicago in the mid-1960s. Beginning with his first hit, "Come On Sock It to Me", in 1967, he dominated the label as both a hit-maker and a producer. His song "Different Strokes", also from 1967, is included on the breakbeat compilation album, Ultimate Breaks and Beats (SBR 504), and some years later was sampled on many hip hop tracks. Both "Come On Sock It to Me" and "Different Strokes" featured on Johnson's debut LP, Dresses Too Short×Dresses Too Short1968 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracksA1Dresses Too Short2:49A2I Can Take Care of Business3:03A3Different Strokes2:23A4Soul Drippin'2:25A5Fox Hunting on the Weekend2:33A6Ode to Soul Man2:35B1Come on Sock It to Me2:29B2I'll Take Those Skinny Legs2:00B3Try Me2:02B4Same Kind of Thing2:26B5I've Got the Real Thing2:44B6Sorry 'Bout Dat!2:17, in 1968.
Like other black songwriters of the period, Johnson wrote songs exploring themes of African-American identity and social problems, such as "Is It Because I'm Black", which reached number 11 on the Billboard R&B chart in 1969. The song has been described as "among the most affecting of the civil rights era," and provided the title track of his second album.

1970s: Hi Records and Willie Mitchell

In 1971, the producer Willie Mitchell brought Johnson to Hi Records. Together they recorded three albums, which generated a number of singles. Produced in Memphis with the Hi house band, these albums contained the hits "We Did It", "Back for a Taste of Your Love×Back for a Taste of Your Love1973 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1Back for a Taste of Your Love2:37A2I’m Yours2:55A3I Let a Good Girl Go4:23A4Anyway the Wind Blows2:58A5You Don’t Know Me4:04B1Feelin’ Frisky3:01B2We Did It2:38B3Wind, Blow Her Back My Way2:27B4I Hate I Walked Away3:29B5The Love You Left Behind2:46" and "Take Me to the River", his biggest success, reaching number 7 on the R&B chart in 1975, and first recorded as an album track by labelmate Al Green. However, at Hi Records, Johnson was always to some extent in the shadow of Al Green, commercially if not artistically. Mitchell also chose to use mainly in-house compositions rather than Johnson's original songs. According to Robert Pruter, "His output on the label was of a consistently higher quality than his Twinight work. In most respects, the Hi material possessed better melodies, had more rhythmic punch, and was better produced."
Reviewing one of his last albums for Hi, 1976's Total Explosion×Total Explosion1975 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracks1I Only Have Love3:06A2Bustin’ Up or Bustin’ Out4:25A3Star Bright Star Lite2:57A4Watch What You Do to Me2:47A5Steppin’ Out3:22B1Take Me to the River3:03B2It Ain’t Easy5:06B3’Bout to Make Me Leave Home4:14B4That’s Just My Luck3:12, Robert Christgau wrote in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981): "Johnson has tended to disappear in between Willie Mitchell and Al Green, but on this LP he takes his harmonica up to the microphone and stands clear as a lapsed bluesman. Good move. His voice is still shriller, and more strained than Green's, but that can be a satisfying distinction in the right context."

1980s: Retirement

After his years with Hi ended, Johnson produced two LPs for his own Shama label, the second of which, the soul/funk Ms. Fine Brown Frame (1982), was picked up for distribution by Boardwalk Records. The title track of that album was Johnson's last hit record.
Around the mid-1980s, Johnson mostly retired from performing, making only occasional appearances at blues clubs. At that time, he opened a chain of seafood restaurants, and began investing in real estate.

1990s: Return to music

In 1992, Johnson found out that his song "Different Strokes" had been sampled by several rappers, including Wu-Tang Clan, Public Enemy, Kool G Rap, Hammer, De La Soul, and the Geto Boys. This stimulated his interest in making a comeback in the music industry. He recorded the album Back in the Game×Back in the Game1 January 1994 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 14 tracks1Back in the Game3:462I Like Your Style3:513I Can’t Stop4:174Please Don’t Give Up on Me3:175Keep on Loving Me4:466Take Me to the River5:017Ghetto Woman3:468Watch What You Do to Me3:169Dipped in the Water4:3210Driving Wheel3:5911Any Way the Wind Blows4:1312Clean Up Man3:5213I Will Rise Again4:3914All of Your Love7:39, released by Delmark Records in 1994, which featured the Hi Rhythm Section and his youngest daughter, Syleena Johnson.
Johnson was one of the most sampled artists, largely from "Different Strokes" and "Is It Because I'm Black". He felt passionately that taking music from an original artist without proper compensation constituted theft, and he sued other artists for copyright infringement.

Any Way the Wind Blows documentary

The 2015 documentary Any Way the Wind Blows, directed by Rob Hatch-Miller, premiered at the Chicago International Film Festival. It takes its inspiration from events in the life of this "mostly forgotten" (according to Greil Marcus) soul singer from the 1970s seeking a second attempt at a career. While his records were being sampled by artists from Wu-Tang Clan to Kid Rock, to Jay-Z and Kanye West, Johnson often found himself with neither credit nor money.

Personal life and death

Johnson was the brother of blues guitarist and singer Jimmy Johnson and bassist Mack Thompson.
In 2014, he appeared in an episode of the TV One reality series R&B Divas: Atlanta, in which he offered advice and encouragement to his daughter Syleena before she gave a live performance. Johnson and his family appeared on the American reality television series Iyanla: Fix My Life, by the request of his daughter Syleena, to help her mother's alcohol addiction.
He died of congestive heart failure, at the home of one of his daughters, in Mableton, Georgia, on February 6, 2022, at the age of 85, six days after the death of his older brother Jimmy.

Compilations

Source:

2000: The Complete Syl Johnson on Hi Records (Demon, UK)
2003: Vanthology - A Tribute To Van Morrison (Evidence) (performing Morrison's Jackie Wilson Said)
2010: Syl Johnson: Complete Mythology (Numero Group)
2012: Backbeats Artists Series: Syl Johnson: Mississippi Mainman (Backbeats)