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) and "Take Me to the River" (1975).
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 neighbour. 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.
After several years 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 break beat 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, 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.
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" 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 label mate 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 were just better produced."
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.
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, and the Geto Boys. This stimulated his
interest in making a comeback in the music industry. He recorded the album Back
in the Game, released by Delmark Records in 1994, which featured the Hi Rhythm
Section and his youngest daughter, Syleena Johnson.
In 2017, 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.
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| Syl and brother Jimmy |
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.
(Edited from Wikipedia)
