Robert White Johnson

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Robert White Johnson (born c.1952) [1] is an American songwriter and musician, based on Nashville, best known for co-writing "Where Does My Heart Beat Now", which was a major hit for Celine Dion. [2]

Contents

History

Robert White Johnson is a native of Moline, Illinois, where he commenced his career as a professional musician, playing drums. He originally went to Nashville at the behest of Dottie West, who was interested in developing Johnson's pop music career. He later became a staff writer for Tree Publishing. [2]

While continuing as a staff writer with Tree Publishing, in 1981 Johnson co-founded, with bass and keyboard player Jimmie Lee Sloas the rock band RPM, where Johnson was the lead singer. [3] The band released two albums and had a modest AOR hit single, "A Legend Never Dies". The group's albums were produced by Brent Maher and Gary Langan, respectively. [4] After the band folded, Johnson concentrated on his staff songwriting position, before becoming an independent songwriter and producer as of the mid-1990s. He has contributed songs, production or both to such bands as the Beach Boys, [5] Peter Wolf, [6] B.J. Thomas, [7] Lynyrd Skynyrd, [8] 38 Special, [9] Van Zant [10] and Celine Dion. He is also a songwriter and producer of popular Christian music. [2] In 1996, he won a Dove Award as producer of the Inspirational Album of The Year, Unbelievable Love, by Larnelle Harris. [2] Johnson is also a successful writer and performer of jingles. [2]

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References

  1. ↑ "Robert White Johnson". Quad-City Times. 12 August 1997. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Rick Moore, Nashville Songwriter Series: Robert White Johnson. American Songwriter , January 3, 2011. Retrieved 2016-04-15.
  3. ↑ Uncredited, Review of RPM CD reissue, 2004; Rock Report. Retrieved 2016-04-21.
  4. ↑ Uncredited, Profile of RPM; robertwhitejohnson.com. Retrieved 2016-04-21.
  5. ↑ "It's Gettin' Late" (1985), co-written with Carl Wilson and Myrna Smith Schilling.
  6. ↑ Co-writing and co-producing, with Taylor Rhodes and Peter Wolf, Wolf's 1990 album Up To No Good .
  7. ↑ Christmas is Coming Home (1997)
  8. ↑ Co-writer of several of the songs on The Last Rebel (1993).
  9. ↑ Co-writer, "Chattahoochie", on Rock & Roll Strategy (1988). AllMusic, Particulars of Rock & Roll Strategy. Retrieved 2016-05-11. Others credit him with contributing to several other of the album's songs.
  10. ↑ Producing a co-writing songs on Brother to Brother (1998) and Van Zant II (2001).
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