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Terry "Buzzy" Johnson | |
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| Birth name | Isaiah Johnson |
| Born | November 12, 1938 Baltimore, Maryland, United States |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, music producer |
Terry "Buzzy" Johnson (born Isaiah Johnson, November 12, 1938), is an American popular music singer, songwriter and music producer. [1]
Johnson was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and grew up as a neighbor of The Orioles' Sonny Til and The Swallows' Earl Hurley. In 1954, Johnson formed The Whispers (no relation to the more famous Los Angeles-based group) with four high school friends, and recorded for Gotham Records (based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). He wrote, arranged and sang lead on "Fool Heart" and "Are You Sorry?", both released in 1955. [2]
Johnson is the duet lead heard, along with Paul Wilson, on "Lovers Never Say Goodbye", "Love Walked In", "Time Was" and "But Not For Me", all Billboard chart hits (except the latter). He recorded three albums with The Flamingos, Flamingo Serenade, Requestfully Yours and Flamingo Favorites. They toured extensively and appeared five times on the TV show American Bandstand .
Shortly after Tommy Hunt left the group in 1961, the Flamingos split into two groups, one with the Careys and Paul Wilson and one with Terry Johnson and Nate Nelson calling themselves at varying times, the Modern Flamingos, the Fabulous Flamingos and later simply, Terry Johnson's Flamingos. The two recorded on Atco together in 1963 as the Starglows. The result was the Johnson-penned ballad "Let's Be Lovers" (b/w "Walk Away Softly", written by Skyliners' manager and "Since I Don't Have You" co-author Joe Rock). Johnson wanted to record more than tour while Nelson, having a family to support by this time, wanted to perform. Nelson joined The Platters shortly after. Johnson re-recorded "Let's Be Lovers" in 2005, with artists Jeff Calloway and TeeTee for his own Hot Fun Record label. Johnson is the owner of "The Flamingos" federal trademark [3] and leads the current incarnation of the group. The current lineup is Johnson, Starling Newsome, Stan Prinston and musical director Theresa Trigg. The Flamingos featuring Terry Johnson appeared on two PBS specials: Rock and Roll at Fifty (in which they were the only group to have more than two songs featured) and Doo Wop Cavalcade: The Definitive Anthology. In 2013, The Flamingos released the Diamond Anniversary Tour CD. They continue to perform in concerts across the country.
In 1964, Smokey Robinson recruited Johnson onto the staff of Motown Records where he and Robinson became regular collaborators. Their most notable credited work was the 1969 Billboard Top 10 hit for The Miracles, "Baby, Baby Don't Cry". Other charted hits include "Malinda" for Bobby Taylor & The Vancouvers and "Here I Go Again" for Smokey Robinson & The Miracles. Johnson also wrote and produced for the Four Tops, the Temptations, Martha and the Vandellas and the Supremes. In 1969, Johnson released the solo 45's "My Springtime" and "Whatcha Gonna Do", both b/w "Suzie" on Gordy Records (a Motown subsidiary.) He then released the follow-up "Stone Soul Booster" b/w "Sandy" under the name "Buzzie". When Smokey moved to California in 1974, Johnson remained in Detroit and later had a short-lived stint as Harold Melvin & The Blue-Notes’ musical conductor.
In 1996, Johnson and the surviving Flamingos were awarded the Rhythm & Blues Foundation's Pioneer Award and in 2001, Johnson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with The Flamingos. Shortly after, he re-focused his energy on touring as Terry Johnson's Flamingos, establishing the group as a mainstay of casinos and major concert package tours. In 2003, Johnson was honored by NARAS as "I Only Have Eyes For You" was inducted into the Grammy Award Hall of Fame. He is also an inductee of The Vocal Group Hall of Fame and has received the Heroes & Legends Award (HAL).
In 2017, Johnson released two No. 1 singles on the European Indie Music Chart breaking records for being No. 1 for four weeks and is featured on multiple playlist on Spotify. [4] Pollstar Magazine calls him the "Musical Chameleon". [5] Boyz II Men recruited him and his producing partner Theresa Trigg for their 2017 CD release Under The Streetlight, where they re-produced his famous arrangement of "I Only Have Eyes For You", which Johnson had arranged, sang and played guitar on for The Flamingos.
In 2013, Johnson released the Diamond Anniversary Tour 2013 CD to commemorate the 60th anniversary of The Flamingos. In 2015, The Flamingos, appeared on The View with Whoopi Goldberg.
The Supremes was an American girl group and a premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s. Founded as the Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successful American vocal band, with 12 number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. Most of these hits were written and produced by Motown's main songwriting and production team, Holland–Dozier–Holland. It is said that their breakthrough made it possible for future African-American R&B and soul musicians to find mainstream success. Billboard ranked the Supremes as the 16th greatest Hot 100 artist of all time.
William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive director. He was the founder and front man of the Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chief songwriter and producer. He led the group from its 1955 origins as "the Five Chimes" until 1972, when he announced his retirement from the group to focus on his role as Motown's vice president. However, Robinson returned to the music industry as a solo artist the following year. Robinson left Motown Records in 1990, following the sale of the company two years earlier.
The Flamingos are an American doo-wop group formed in Chicago in 1953. The band became popular in mid-to-late 1950s and are known for their 1959 cover version of "I Only Have Eyes for You". They have since been hailed as one of the finest and most influential vocal groups in pop and doo wop music history. In 2001, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Berry Gordy III, known professionally as Berry Gordy Jr., is an American retired record executive, record producer, songwriter, film producer and television producer. He is best known as the founder of the Motown record label and its subsidiaries, which was the highest-earning African-American business for decades.
The Miracles were an American vocal group that was the first successful recording act for Berry Gordy's Motown Records, and one of the most important and most influential groups in pop, rock and roll, soul and R&B music history.
Otis Williams is an American tenor/baritone singer. He is occasionally also a songwriter and a record producer. Williams is the founder and last surviving original member of the Motown vocal group The Temptations, a group in which he continues to perform; he also owns the rights to the Temptations name.
The Marvelettes were an American girl group that achieved popularity in the early to mid-1960s. They consisted of schoolmates Gladys Horton, Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart, and Georgia Dobbins, who was replaced by Wanda Young prior to the group signing their first deal. They were the first successful act of Motown Records after the Miracles and its first significantly successful female group after the release of the 1961 number-one single, "Please Mr. Postman", one of the first number-one singles recorded by an all-female vocal group and the first by a Motown recording act.
The Contours is one of the early American soul singing groups signed to Motown Records. The group is best known for its classic chart-topping 1962 hit, "Do You Love Me", which sold over 1 million copies and became a major hit again in 1988.
Claudette Annette Rogers Robinson is an American singer, best known as a member of the vocal group The Miracles from 1957 to 1972. Her brother Emerson "Sonny" Rogers was a founding member of the group, which before 1957 was named "The Matadors". Claudette replaced her brother in the group after he was drafted into the U.S. Army.
Robert Edward Rogers was an American musician and tenor singer, best known as a member of Motown vocal group the Miracles from 1956 until his death. He was inducted, in 2012, as a member of the Miracles to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In addition to singing, he also contributed to writing some of the Miracles' songs. Rogers is the grandfather of R&B singer Brandi Williams from the R&B girl group Blaque and is a cousin of fellow Miracles member Claudette Rogers Robinson.
Warren Thomas "Pete" Moore was an American singer-songwriter and record producer, notable as the bass singer for Motown group the Miracles from 1955 onwards, and was one of the group's original members. He is also a 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee, and a BMI and ASCAP award-winning songwriter, and was the vocal arranger on all of the group's hits.
"Shop Around" is a song originally recorded by the Miracles on Motown Records' Tamla subsidiary label. It was written by Miracles lead singer Smokey Robinson and Motown Records founder Berry Gordy. It became a smash hit in 1960 when originally recorded by the Miracles, reaching number one on the Billboard R&B chart, number one on the Cashbox Top 100 Pop Chart, and number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was the Miracles' first million-selling hit record, and the first-million-selling hit for the Motown Record Corporation.
Time Out for Smokey Robinson & the Miracles is a 1969 album by Motown group The Miracles. It reached #25 on the Billboard Pop Album chart, and contains four pop top 40 singles – "Doggone Right", "Abraham, Martin & John", "Here I Go Again" and the top ten pop smash hit "Baby, Baby Don't Cry". Time Out also features covers of Motown songs such as "For Once in My Life" and the Robinson-penned songs "My Girl" and "The Composer". Miracles members Marv Tarplin, Pete Moore and Ronnie White were also co-writers on several of the album's tracks, along with Motown staff songwriters Al Cleveland, Ron Miller and Terry Johnson. Miracle Pete Moore also co-produced two of the album's tracks, a prelude to his later production of the Miracles' massively successful platinum-selling City of Angels album of a few years later. The Miracles' Time Out album was originally released on CD in 1986, and again in 2001 coupled with their album, Four in Blue.
Marvin Tarplin was an American musician, best known as the guitarist for the Miracles from the 1950s through the early 1970s. He was one of the group's original members and co-wrote several of their biggest hits, including the 1965 Grammy Hall Of Fame-inducted "The Tracks of My Tears". He is also a winner of the BMI Songwriter's Award, and the ASCAP Award Of Merit, and was a 2012 posthumous inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Miracles.
William L. Griffin is an American singer and songwriter. He is best known for replacing Smokey Robinson as lead singer of The Miracles in 1972.
1957-1972 is a 1972 double album by The Miracles on Motown Records' Tamla label. This two-record set is noted as the group's final series of live concerts with original lead singer Smokey Robinson, recorded over a period of three days, July 14–16, during the 1972 National Parks Centennial, at the Carter Barron Amphitheater in Washington, D.C., and charted at #75 on the Billboard Top 200 Album chart, and at #14 on its R&B Album chart. During the show, Smokey's wife, original Miracles member Claudette Rogers Robinson, who stopped touring with the group in 1964, reunited with the Miracles on stage for the first time in eight years. As a celebration of the group's fifteen years together, The Miracles made this an "all request" show, where audience members could choose which of the group's long string of hits they wanted performed. Also, at the end of the concert, Miracles fans were introduced to the group's new lead singer, Billy Griffin. According to Smokey's autobiography, Smokey: Inside My Life, The Miracles' final concert was videotaped in movie form, but was never publicly released. However, 1957-1972 was released on CD originally in 1990, and re-released again in 2004 along with The Miracles' 1969 "Live" album in the 2004 Motown/Hip-O Select release Smokey Robinson and The Miracles: The Live Collection.
"Here I Go Again" was a 1969 hit single by The Miracles. It was written by Miracles members Smokey Robinson and Pete Moore, along with Motown staff songwriters Al Cleveland and Terry "Buzzy" Johnson, a member of the legendary R&B group The Flamingos.
Four In Blue is a 1969 album by the Motown R&B group The Miracles, issued on the label's Tamla Records subsidiary in the U.S., and the Tamla-Motown label elsewhere in the world,. It was the final Miracles album of the 1960s. It reached #78 on the Billboard 200 pop album chart, and reached the Top 10 of Billboard's R&B Album chart, peaking at #3, despite the fact that no singles were released from this album in the U.S. or the UK.
A Pocket Full of Miracles (TS306) is a 1970 album by Motown Records R&B group The Miracles, issued on its Tamla subsidiary label, one of three albums the group released that year. This album charted at #56 on the Billboard pop albums chart, and reached the top ten of the magazine's R&B albums chart, peaking at #10. It was released on September 30 of that year. Hit singles on the album included "Point It Out" and the topical Ashford & Simpson written-and-produced song "Who's Gonna Take the Blame", a sad, dark song about a girl that is turned out as a prostitute. Also included is the charting flip side "Darling Dear", B-side of "Point It Out", which reached #100 on the Billboard pop chart, and spawned a cover version by The Jackson Five.
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