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Famous Like Me > Actor > J > Eric Curtis Johnson

Profile of Eric Curtis Johnson on Famous Like Me

 
Name: Eric Curtis Johnson  
   
Also Know As:
   
Date of Birth: 20th December 1971
   
Place of Birth: Skokie, Illinois, USA
   
Profession: Actor
 
 
From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia

Eric Johnson (born August 17, 1954 in Austin, Texas) is a Grammy Award winning guitarist and songwriter. He began his professional music career in the band Mariani in 1968. Their release of one hundred copies of a demo album is one of the rarest of all psychedelic records of that era valued at over $3000 a copy. He joined The Electromagnets in 1974. Johnson then recorded The Electromagnets album in autumn 1974 and toured with them until their breakup in 1977.

Eric Johnson, Virtuoso and Tone Wizard

In 1977 he worked on an album only released much later, Seven Worlds and signed a management contract which tied him up for five years. In 1985 he recorded his first solo album Tones which was released in April 1986. In 1987 he quit Warner Brothers and switched to Capitol Records before he recorded his next album in 1988-1989, Ah Via Musicom which was released in March of 1990. In 1996 he recorded Venus Isle and then he formed his second band: Alien Love Child. He formed the band in 1999.

Eric Johnson has a masterful technique, and is renowned for replicating his recorded sound live, and vice-versa. By many he is considered the best 'overall' guitarist because of his wide range of techniques and broad tonal pallete. Perhaps most famous for his wide intervals and string skipping runs, he also is associated with his use of the Fender Stratocaster, but has used other guitars such as those by Gibson. Johnson's "ear" is legend; it is said that he can tell what brand of battery is used in his various effects pedals.

Johnson received a great deal of criticism regarding the amount of time he spent preparing his follow-up to Ah Via Musicom. When that album's track "Cliffs of Dover" became a popular hit on radio and at sporting events, Johnson was expected to deliver a follow-up album quickly to capitalize on his sales success. Instead, he took six years perfecting his next work, reportedly mastering and subsequently trashing several complete albums, repeatedly starting from scratch. When Venus Isle was finally released on September 3, 1996, it received mixed reviews. The lukewarm response was attributed partly to the long wait and elevated expectations, as well as the fact that Johnson's fans wanted more guitar and less focus on vocals.


Solo Albums

  • Seven Worlds (1978) (re-issue, 1998)
  • Tones (1986)
  • Ah Via Musicom (1990)
  • Venus Isle (1996)
  • Souvenir (2002)
  • Bloom (June 14, 2005)

Albums played on

  • The Electromagnets (1975) by The Electromagnets
  • Christopher Cross (1979) by Christopher Cross
  • Read My Licks (1994) by Chet Atkins
  • G3 Live in concert (1997) by Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Eric Johnson
  • Live And Beyond (2000) by Alien Love Child

Charts and Awards by albums

  • 1987 - Tones - Grammy Award
  • 1991 - Ah Via Musicom - The Billboard

Charts and Awards by songs

  • 1990 - "Cliffs Of Dover" - Mainstream Rock Tracks
  • 1990 - "High Landrons" - Mainstream Rock Tracks
  • 1991 - "Righteous" - Mainstream Rock Tracks
  • 1991 - "Trademark" - Mainstream Rock Tracks
  • 1992 - "Cliffs of Dover" - Grammy best rock instrumental

External Link

  • Eric Johnson's homepage

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Eric Curtis Johnson