Eric Johnson
Eric
Johnson was born in Austin, Texas on August 17, 1954. His
father introduced him to music at an early age. By the time he
was 5, Eric was taking piano lessons, and was writing music by the
time he was 8.
When Eric was 10, his brother started a band. After hearing the guitarist play, he was convinced that he needed to learn to play this instrument. He got his first guitar a year later, and was in a band himself by the age of 13.
Throughout the 70's, Eric experimented with instrumental music.
In 1974, Eric joined a band called The Electromagnets formed by Bill Maddox and Steve Barber. It was mildly successful, and helped him refine his musical style.
In 1976, the band broke up, and Eric went on to sign a 6 year contract with Bill Ham and Lone Wolf Productions the following year. He now had a debut album, Seven Worlds, but was looking for a label to sign him. His manager would settle for nothing less than a major record label. Unsuccessful in his search, the record was shelved. It was not released until 1978. (with little input from Eric) Since Eric could not afford to buy out his own contract with Lone Wolf, he decided to wait it out.
In 1984, with his contract expired, Eric rejoined the music scene and landed a spot on Austin City Limits. When the "artist formerly known as Prince" saw the show, he convinced his label, Warner Bros. to sign him. Within months, he was signed to a deal with Reprise, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. He was off to a rocky start, however. He was determined to be able to produce his own album, but the label had different ideas. They wanted him linked with producers who would "cast him in the mold" of other guitarists before him. Unwilling to compromise his artistic vision, approximately a year passed before a compromise was reached with himself and his label.
Eric's album, Tones, earned him a Grammy nomination, as well as frustration from his fans at the unavailability of his album. Warner Bros. did little to promote his album and let his contract run out.
Frustrated by the way his career was moving after almost 20 years in the business, Eric shopped around at the indie level for a record deal. He found what he was looking for with Cinema Records. Not only did he sign a deal with them, but they gave him free reign in the studio. Nearly halfway through his sessions, however, Cinema lost it's distribution deal with Capital records. Luckily for Eric, enough material had been produced that Capital decided to pick up the record themselves.
In 1990, Ah Via Musicom was released. It received rave reviews and the promotional support of the label. Four songs off of this album received considerable airplay, and the album went to gold status. Johnson also shared the award for Best Overall Guitarist in the 1990 Guitar Player's Readers Poll with Steve Vai. (he also won this award on several other occasions) He was also voted one of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of the 20th Century by Musician Magazine.
In 1992, the song Cliffs of Dover gained him his first Grammy Award for Best Instrumental.
In 1996, Eric released his next long awaited album entitled Venus Isle. Eric found himself nominated again for a Grammy Award. This album features Eric's tribute to SRV with a solo by Stevie's older brother Jimmy. In the fall of the same year, Eric left on a tour with fellow guitarists Joe Satriani and Steve Vai. The tour was one of the most sought after concert tickets of the year. The tour was nicknamed G3 , and a live album was released entitled G3 Live.
In 1998, Eric released his next album entitled Seven Worlds.
In 2000 Eric released Live and Beyond with his band Alien Love Child.
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Alien Love Child, Eric Johnson: Eric Johnson and Alien Love
Child - Live and Beyond Performed by Alien Love
Child, Eric Johnson. For guitar and voice. Format: guitar
tablature songbook. With guitar tablature, standard
notation, vocal melody, lyrics, chord names and guitar
notation legend. Rock. Series: Hal Leonard Guitar Recorded
Versions. 88 pages. 9x12 inches. Published by Hal Leonard.
(HL.690486) See more info... |