Ella Johnson (June 22, 1919 – February 16, 2004) [1] [2] was an American jazz and rhythm and blues singer.
Music career
Born Ella Mae Jackson in Darlington, South Carolina, United States, [2] she joined her brother Buddy Johnson in New York as a teenager, [3] where he was leading a popular band at the Savoy Ballroom. Her singing drew comparisons to Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. [1]
Johnson scored her first hit with "Please, Mr. Johnson" in 1940. [4] Subsequent hits included "Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball?", "When My Man Comes Home" and "Hittin' On Me". Her popular 1945 recording of " Since I Fell for You", composed by her brother, led to its eventual establishment as a jazz standard. She continued to perform with Buddy Johnson into the 1960s. AllMusic noted that her "later solo sides for Mercury are pale imitations of her work with the band." [3]
In February 2004, she died of Alzheimer's disease in New York at the age of 84. [1] [3]
Discography
- Swing Me with Buddy Johnson (Mercury, 1958) [4]
With Buddy Johnson
- Rock and Roll (Mercury, 1956)
- Go Ahead and Rock Rock Rock (Roulette, 1959)
- Say Ella (Juke Box, 1983) [4]
References
- ^ a b c "Ella Johnson, 86, Singer in Jazz Bands". The New York Times. 20 March 2004. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
- ^ a b Doc Rock. "The Dead Rock Stars Club 2004 January To June". Thedeadrockstarsclub.com. Retrieved 2016-08-21.
- ^ a b c Hank Davis. "Ella Johnson". AllMusic. Retrieved 2016-08-21.
- ^ a b c Colin Larkin, ed. (1995). The Guinness Who's Who of Blues (Second ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 202. ISBN 0-85112-673-1.
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- 1919 births
- 2004 deaths
- People from Darlington, South Carolina
- American jazz singers
- American rhythm and blues singers
- East Coast blues musicians
- Jump blues musicians
- Deaths from dementia in New York (state)
- Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in New York (state)
- 20th-century American singers
- 20th-century American women singers
- 21st-century American women
- American jazz singer stubs