, a mercurial singer/songwriter whose music ran the gamut from dance-pop to country. Born August 15, 1961, in London,
was raised in the flat above his father's pub, the Two Puddings, a haven for well-known celebrities and criminals; he also became exposed to music at the nightclubs and dancehalls owned by his uncle, where he saw performers like
.
formed his first band, Roadstar, when he was 11; at the age of 15, he was hired as a tea boy for the DeWolfe music publishing company, and within three years, he was working in their recording studio as an assistant engineer.
After the demise of the duo the Marble Index in 1979,
Johnson formed the first incarnation of
The The with synth player
Keith Laws; after playing their debut gig opening for
Scritti Politti, the group issued its first single, "Controversial Subject," on the 4AD label in 1980. A year later, contractual obligations forced
Johnson to issue the LP
Burning Blue Soul under his own name; that year, he also recorded as a guitarist with the band
the Gadgets, and
The The contributed a track to the Some Bizzare Album compilation.
In 1982,
The The -- now essentially a
Johnson solo project, backed by a revolving coterie of musicians -- recorded the album
The Pornography of Despair, which a dissatisfied
Johnson chose not to release; a 1983 single recorded with
Orange Juice's
Zeke Manyika, "This Is the Day," formed the centerpiece of
The The's proper debut, 1983's
Soul Mining, an excursion into dance-flavored pop. Illness sidelined
Johnson for much of the following year, and
The The did not return until 1986's
Infected, an eclectic commentary on the state of Britain in the modern world. Recorded with the aid of talents like
Neneh Cherry,
Art of Noise's
Anne Dudley, and
Swans'
Roli Mosimann,
Infected was also accompanied by an ambitious album-length video.
When
The The returned with the dissonant
Mind Bomb in 1989, they were once again a true band, with
Johnson joined by ex-
Smiths guitarist
Johnny Marr as well as bassist
James Eller and former
ABC drummer
Dave Palmer. The same lineup remained for 1993's pared-down
Dusk, but 1995's
Hanky Panky marked yet another new direction when
Johnson was joined by guitarist
Eric Schermerhorn, keyboardist
D.C. Collard, harmonica player
Jim Fitting, and drummer
Brian MacLeod on a brooding covers collection honoring the music of country great
Hank Williams. Despite recording some material in 1997,
Johnson didn't return with a new album until 2000's
NakedSelf, which included Schermerhorn plus a new rhythm section of Spencer Campbell and Earl Harvin. Despite some touring during 2000 and much of 2001, the band dissolved.
Johnson continued to be busy, soundtracking several films over the subsequent ten years (including 2009's Tony and 2010's Moonbug), forming a publishing company to issue his father Eddie's memoir of life running a pub in East London, and occasionally releasing one-off singles.
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Jason Ankeny, Rovi