William L. Johnson is an American actor and musician who has held starring and prominent roles in many theatrically released projects, including Blue Hill Avenue , Motives 1, Motives 2, Mannsfield 12, Crossover, Doing Hard Time and Tears of a Clown. [1]
Johnson has also acted in several independent short films and features. He also performed in Showtime's A Spider's Web with Stephen Baldwin and Carrie Weir.[ citation needed ]
As a musician, Johnson has released an album under the persona of "Brotha Bill" called "BrothaBill- Underground Funky Street Soul Brotha". The music falls under the Neo soul, R&B and funk categories.[ citation needed ]
Soon after graduation from Emerson Visual and Performing Arts High School, he formed a group "Black to Black", supported by manager Jimmy Newton. In 1999, Johnson and producer/engineer Booker T. Jones conceived "BaldHeadDread", which garnered significant exposure when they scored the movie soundtrack for Ragdoll .[ citation needed ]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1999 | Ragdoll | Jean | |
2000 | The Playaz Court | Lorenzo | |
Killjoy | Lorenzo | ||
2001 | Two Degrees | Terry | |
Room for Seven | Gabe Ashe | ||
Nakita Blues | J-Smooth | ||
Blue Hill Avenue | E. Bone | ||
Sacred is the Flesh | Unknown | ||
2002 | Spider's Web | Conman Jerry | |
2003 | Cradle 2 the Grave | Uncredited | |
Sweet Oranges | Jamal Jenkins | ||
2004 | Motives | Ray | |
Doing Hard Time | Clever | ||
2005 | View in Black & White | James | |
Tears of a Clown | Kenny Lang | ||
2006 | Restraining Order | Thug | |
Crossover | Aub | ||
2007 | Motives 2 | Ray | |
Traci Townsend | Singer | ||
The Mannsfield 12 | Gutta | ||
2008 | Marco Polo | Jared | |
2010 | Trapped: Haitian Nights | Blazi | |
The Confidant | Detective Moore | ||
Ex$pendable | Arnold | ||
2013 | Dolls of Voodoo | Blazi | |
2015 | The Man in 3B | Gangsta #1 | |
2020 | Bernie Problems | Bernie |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2001 | The Steve Harvey Show | The Emcee | Episode: "Not the Best Man" |
2007 | All of Us | Brian | [1] |
2022–2024 | The Black Hamptons | Michael Donovan | 11 episodes |
William Earl "Bootsy" Collins is an American bass guitarist, singer-songwriter, and record producer.
The The are an English post-punk band. They have been active in various forms since 1979, with the singer-songwriter Matt Johnson as the only constant band member. The The achieved critical acclaim and commercial success in the UK, with 15 chart singles, and their most successful studio album, Infected (1986), spent 30 weeks on the chart. They followed this with the top-ten studio albums Mind Bomb (1989) and Dusk (1993).
Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. was an American singer, songwriter, composer, and actor. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records, serving as both an in-house songwriter and as a session musician and record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the mid-1960s. Hayes and Porter were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005 in recognition of writing scores of songs for themselves, the duo Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, and others. In 2002, Hayes was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
William Harrison Withers Jr. was an American singer and songwriter. He had several hits over a career spanning 18 years, including "Ain't No Sunshine" (1971), "Grandma's Hands" (1971), "Use Me" (1972), "Lean on Me" (1972), "Lovely Day" (1977) and "Just the Two of Us" (1980). Withers won three Grammy Awards and was nominated for six more.
Earl Silas Johnson IV, known as Earl King, was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter, most active in blues music. A composer of blues standards such as "Come On" and "Big Chief", he was an important figure in New Orleans R&B.
Booker Taliaferro Jones Jr. is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and arranger, best known as the frontman of the band Booker T. & the M.G.'s. He has also worked in the studios with many well-known artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, earning him a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Kevin Danell Mann, better known by his stage name Brotha Lynch Hung, is an American rapper, songwriter and record producer from Sacramento, California who has been described as "the creator of horrorcore rap". He is also a former 24th Street Garden Blocc Crip gang member, which is a Crip-affiliated street gang based in Meadowview, Sacramento.
Blue-eyed soul is rhythm and blues (R&B) and soul music performed by white artists. The term was coined in the mid-1960s, to describe white artists whose sound was similar to that of the predominantly black Motown and Stax record labels. Though many R&B radio stations in the United States in that period would only play music by black musicians, some began to play music by white acts considered to have "soul feeling"; their music was then described as "blue-eyed soul".
Jon Gordon Langseth Jr., known as Jonny Lang, is an American blues, gospel, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He has recorded five albums that have charted on the top 50 of the Billboard 200 chart and won a Grammy Award for Turn Around.
Charles Gayle was an American free jazz musician. Initially known as a saxophonist who came to prominence in the 1990s after decades of obscurity, Gayle also performed as pianist, bass clarinetist, bassist, and percussionist.
DJ Logic is an American DJ primarily known for his work in nu-jazz, acid-jazz, and with jam bands.
Montell Du'Sean Barnett Jordan is an American singer, pastor, songwriter, and record producer. Best known for his 1995 single "This Is How We Do It", Jordan was the primary male solo artist on Def Jam's Def Soul imprint until leaving the label in 2003.
Blind Willie Johnson was an American gospel blues singer and guitarist. His landmark recordings completed between 1927 and 1930—thirty songs in total—display a combination of powerful "chest voice" singing, slide guitar skills, and originality that has influenced generations of musicians. Even though Johnson's records sold well, as a street performer and preacher, he had little wealth in his lifetime. His life was poorly documented, but over time, music historians such as Samuel Charters have uncovered more about Johnson and his five recording sessions.
Michael Shrieve is an American drummer, percussionist, and composer. He is best known as the drummer of the rock band Santana, playing on the band's first seven albums from 1969 to 1974. At age 20, Shrieve was the second youngest musician to perform at Woodstock. His drum solo during "Soul Sacrifice" in the Woodstock film has been described as "electrifying", although he considers his solo during the same piece in 1970 at Tanglewood the superior performance.
Warren Haynes is an American musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known for his work as longtime guitarist with the Allman Brothers Band and as founding member of the jam band Gov't Mule. Early in his career he was a guitarist for David Allan Coe and The Dickey Betts Band. Haynes also is known for his associations with the surviving members of the Grateful Dead, including touring with Phil Lesh and Friends and the Dead. In addition, Haynes founded and manages Evil Teen Records.
Gordie Johnson is a Canadian musician, best known as the front man for the blues/reggae rock band Big Sugar, Austin-based blues/gospel band Sit Down Servant, and southern rock band Grady.
The Southside Movement was an American soul and funk musical group from Chicago, Illinois. Composed of vocalist Melvin Moore, guitarist Bobby Pointer, keyboardist Morris Beeks, bassist Ronald Simmons, drummer Willie Hayes, alto saxophonist Milton Johnson, trumpeter Stephen Hawkins, and trombonist Bill McFarland, the group began as the backing band for the soul duo Simtec & Wylie. Southside Movement issued their self-titled debut album on the Wand record label in 1973; it included the Top 20 US Billboard R&B chart hit, "I've Been Watching You". Their second album, Movin’ appeared in 1974, which provided another breakbeat favorite in the track "Save the World".
John Ellison is an American/Canadian musician, best known for writing the song "Some Kind of Wonderful." He was born in Montgomery, West Virginia, and was raised in Landgraff, West Virginia, a small, poverty-stricken coal mining village near Welch, West Virginia, and is a dual citizen of the United States and Canada, receiving his Canadian citizenship in 2006.
Eric Alexander Mercury was a Canadian singer who was a member of the soul group The Soul Searchers during the 1960s. He later made waves in 1969 with his Electric Black Man album. He had two hits: the first on the Canadian charts in 1972 with "I Can Smell That Funky Music", and the second in the United States in 1983, singing a duet with Roberta Flack with "Our Love Will Stop the World". He also co-wrote the song "Down the Backstairs of My Life".