HOLLY JOHNSON Biography
1960: Born near Penny Lane in Wavertree, Liverpool, 9th February in a room soon to be adorned with Beatles wallpaper, in the 60′s capital of pop culture.
1965: St Mary’s C of E Primary school, played with girls, wrote poetry, starred in school plays, wrote his first song on a glockenspiel.
1972: Liverpool Collegiate Grammar School for boys. Played in the Rugby team.
1973: Discovered Marc Bolan and David Bowie! Dyed his hair, acquired nickname JOYFUL JOHNSON. Began writing songs on an acoustic guitar purchased with cigarette coupons. He traded his collection of Bowie ephemera for those coupons! Started to attend school less and less because of the persecution he and his friend Honey Heath had to suffer due to their outrageous appearance and blossoming individuality.
1974: Discovered Andy Warhol, The Velvet Underground, Derek Jarman, William Burroughs and Jean Genet. Never looked back!
1976: Officially left school. Becomes member of Liverpool’s Demi Monde. Supported Punk Band as a soloist with acoustic guitar a rendition of Jaque Brel’s “My Death”.
1977: First performances as a soloist and as a member of seminal New Wave combo Big In Japan. Part of the Eric’s club scene that spawned Echo and The Bunnymen, Teardrop Explodes etc. Performed also with Jayne Casey as a Performance Art/Music duo The Sausages From Mars. Lived in Gambier Terrace, once home of John Lennon .
1978: Started to make Silk Screen Prints and Art T-Shirts as part of his unique Pop Art Statement. Inspired by Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable,becomes a MULTI MEDIA ARTIST. Big In Japan fold soon after Holly is ousted due to band politics. Their mistake.
1979: recorded first solo single YANKEE ROSE c.w.Treasure Island and Desperate Dan for the Erics label. This appeared shortly after the Big In Japan EP FROM A TO B AND BACK AGAIN the first record on the ZOO label. Contains lyric and bass contributions from Holly SUICIDE A GO GO and NOTHING SPECIAL : Recorded HOBO JOE single for the Erics label. Formed the original Frankie Goes To Hollywood- rehearsed for 3 months but left to work on W.I.N. a studio based project (with Steve Lovell) which lasted two years.
1980: Worked on a building site in London for three months converting Warehouses at Metropolitan Wharf into artists studios- visited Paris in search of Genets Tuilleries- returned to Liverpool wearing a sailors hat.
1981: Took LSD. Ignored the Toxteth riots despite living in Toxteth. Appeared in The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward as a Wraith At The Everyman Theatre. A Gothic Opera based on the H.P. Lovecraft book.
1982: Formed the second version of F.G.T.H. Started work on Art portfolio inspired by Warhol and Gilbert and George. 1983: About to start Art college when F.G.T.H. signed to ZTT and recorded RELAX.
1984: RELAX reached number one in U.K. , Germany and other territories, SOLD MILLIONS. Banned by the BBC! TWO TRIBES (9 weeks at number 1) and THE POWER OF LOVE both topped UK charts making British Pop History. While TWO TRIBES was at number 1 RELAX re-entered the charts and took the number two spot which had not happened since John Lennon’s death in 1980. Welcome To The Pleasuredome F.G.T.H. s number 1 debut album sells 3 million copies. First U.S. tour. Meets future manager and partner the art collector Mr Wolfgang Kuhle.
1985: World tour including Japan. Met Andy Warhol at last. Appeared in the Brian De Palma motion picture BODY DOUBLE. Started working on follow up album. Holly appears on the LIVE AID record.
1986/7: Starts drawing and painting again – while working on LIVERPOOL- F.G.T.H.s second album. RAGE HARD the first single went to number one in Germany number 4 in the UK During the recording Holly becomes unhappy with the musical direction of F.G.T.H. Holly leaves the group in March 87 after European tour and takes legal advice over the ZTT recording and publishing contract which he and Wolfgang believe to be unfair. ZTT put an injunction on Holly’s recording career. Holly starts to paint in oils.
1988: Holly goes to court- In a legal history making court decision Holly is set free from the Unfair ZTT/Perfect Songs Recording and Publishing contracts. Signed to MCA.
1989: BLAST- Holly’s first solo album reaches number one in the UK Spawning three hit singles-LOVE TRAIN- AMERICANOS- and ATOMIC CITY. Platinum album. Holly sings on the Number one PWL single FERRY ACROSS THE MERSEY along with Paul McCartney, Gerry Marsden, and The Christians. Proceeds of this single went to the families of the victims of the Hillsborough disaster.
1990: Holly records LOVE ME TENDER for an NME charity album of Elvis favourites.. Writes a song with VANGELIS. HOLLELUJAH the remix album is released including classic Frankie Knuckles remix of LOVE TRAIN. BLAST the videos is released. Starts to write and record new album but relations with MCA become strained.
1991: Holly breaks with MCA -he discovers that no promotion budget has been set for his new album. DREAMS THAT MONEY CAN T BUY- Holly’s second solo studio album is released half heartedly by MCA. In November Holly discovers he is HIV POSITIVE. Stops making music and begins writing his autobiography, painting and coming to terms with his diagnosis.
1992: Writing and painting. Holly withdraws from the world. Starts making 20th Century Icons a series of collages using gold leaf and Objet Trouve inspired by his friend Derek Jarman. Continues writing his book. Tells family off his HIV infection.
1993: Supported by Wolfgang, Holly announces his HIV Status in The Times, Easter issue but is crucified by the tabloid press who steal the article before it is printed. Finishes first draft of his memoirs which he continues to edit for the rest of the year. RELAX is remixed and becomes a hit again as does THE POWER OF LOVE, TWO TRIBES and WELCOME TO THE PLEASUREDOME. BANG! the greatest hits of F.G.T.H. sells a million copies throughout Europe.
1994: Holly’s autobiography A BONE IN MY FLUTE published by Century , Random House-receives rave reviews and is a bestseller. The cover is a portrait of Holly by the French Artists Pierre et Gilles. Jimmy Sommerville presents Holly with a legendary handbag at the book launch Holly collaborates on musical projects with Vinnie Reilley from The Durrutti Column. Writes and performs a song with Ryuichi Sakamoto for Sakamotos forthcoming album, – the title is LOVE AND HATE. Holly appears in the video for this song, which is used live on stage as part of Sakamoto’s world tour.
Begins writing songs again with Nick Bagnall bass player with Fatima Mansions and P.J. Hardy. Produces the single LEGENDARY CHILDREN (ALL OF THEM QUEER) As a gift to the world, especially the gay community who have supported his career over the last ten years. The song is Number One in Israel. Holly Performs it in front of 150.000 people at the annual Gay Pride festival-the 25th anniversary of the stonewall riots. Holly exhibits paintings and Icons at THE ART SHOW at Alexander Palace in London ( including a Seven foot high nude portrait of Burt Lancaster)- this is the biggest art exhibition ever staged in the UK He also exhibits with the CONSUMERIST THEATRE OF DESIRE a group of avant garde artists and performers at VOLTAIRE STUDIOS in London.
1995: Holly hosts LIVE AT THE LIGHTHOUSE a televised concert to raise money for the LONDON LIGHTHOUSE, he performs THE POWER OF LOVE accompanied by Ann Dudley (ART OF NOISE) on piano. A BONE IN MY FLUTE comes out in paperback. Builds home studios- and starts to write and record. Illustrates for Details magazine, journalism for Modern Painters magazine.
1996: Exhibits at the 1996 Contemporary Art Fair with Jibby Bean. First One Man Exhibition The House Of Holly curated by Kate Chertavian and Wolfgang Kuhle at The Gallery, Cork Street, London. Plans to record again and create new website and multi media CD ROM Archive.
1997: Exhibits The Beatles Icon at The Royal College Of Art as part of The Milestones Exhibition organized by Brian Eno -in Aid Of War Child. Sculptures by Music Legends were subsequently auctioned off at The Saatchi Gallery. Appears at The Hillsborough Justice Concert with headliners The Lightening Seeds (Anfield Football stadium Liverpool) Holly’s appearance was described as The Highlight of the event (Daily Mirror, NME) The live recording of Ferry Across The Mersey appears on the album of the Event You’ ll Never Walk Alone (V2 Records) Also Appeared at Gay Pride
1997: Holly appears at GAY PRIDE LONDON the largest open air Music Festival in Europe. Continues to write and record.
1998: Returns to performing, P.A. at The Astoria London (G.A.Y.) And Gay happening at Konigsberg Club in Krefeld Germany. Holly appears at SUMMER RITES (Club festival) in Brockwell Park London
1998 . “HALLELUJAH!” (a new song) on Holly’s own PLEASUREDOME label , Mixed by Soundscapers and House Supremo Eric Kupper reach the top ten in The Record Mirror Club Chart and top fifteen in their Pop Tip Chart. This promo only release serves as a taster for……
1999: Disco Heaven the first commercial release on the PLEASUREDOME label (an ode to disco past and present ). The video, directed by Holly, features cameos from Boy George playing the ghost of Leigh Bowery and Jasper Conran playing the Late American Designer Halston. SOULSTREAM, released in October 1999. December sees the release (fifteen years after the original went to number one) of Holly’s version of The Power Of Love, with another self directed video – a collage of various live performances of the song. Holly chooses his 25 favourite Rock and Pop Icons of the 20th Century for a book published by absolute press, in aid of The Terence Higgins Trust – the U.K.’s largest HIV/AIDS charity.
2000: Holly appears as guest presenter on Virgin Radios TFI Nightly for two weeks. From April 11th Holly exhibits two works at The Liverpool Tate Gallery exhibition entitled “Peter Blake’s ABOUT COLLAGE”, which runs until March 2001. He presents a TV report for Hotlinks on BBC Choice on the opening of Tate Modern. 2000 sees the re-charting of FGTH’s The Power Of Love(Top 10) and Two Tribes (Top 20) remixes in the UK “Maximum Joy” a double album of FGTH originals and new remixes is released alongside a DVD called “Hard On” a Frankie video retrospective.
Holly is saddened by the accidental death of Kirsty MacColl in December; a good friend and musical collaborator (She provided vocals for Boyfriend 65 on the Dreams That Money Can’t Buy album, 1991.
2001: Holly performs Kirsty MacColls song “Don’t Come The Cowboy With Me Sonny Jim” at her memorial service at St Martins In The Fields Church Leicester Square London.
Invited by Pop Artist Sir Peter Blake R.A. to exhibit at the Royal Academy Of Art Summer Exhibition the painting “Cosmos Mariner (Destination Unknown)” – which is published by the Royal Academy as a Postcard .
At the invitation of Eileen Cooper R.A. Holly starts making prints at the Royal College Of Art (Post Experience Programme in Fine Art Printmaking.)
2002: Exhibitions: “We Did It” Domo Bal Gallery, London.(Group Show) “Chelsea Art Fair” With Art First Gallery Cork Street (Group Show) “Ausgang” Voltaire Studios, London (Group Show) “Royal Academy Of Art Summer Show” London “The House Of Hanover” Hanover Gallery, Liverpool (One Man Show) As part of The Liverpool Biennial “ARTAID” at Bloomberg Space, London (Group Show)
Art Journalism: Reviews for: The New Statesman: GIlbert and George show at The White Cube Andy Warhol Show at Tate Modern Modern Painters Magazine: Becks Futures at The ICA
2003: Royal Academy Of Art Summer Show exhibits two lithographs “UK AFTER THE RAIN” and “DIANA UNICORN”.
A photograph of Holly performing at The Hillsborough Justice concert at Anfield football ground is included in a new Sir Peter Blake Collage; a remix of the Sgt Pepper Album cover, comissioned by Tate Liverpool as part of Liverpool’s succesful Capital of Culture 2008 bid.
Portrait comission of Maer Roshan for CARLOS a new magazine sponsored by Paul Smith. Modern Painters (July issue) and the Daily Telegraph publish POP V. ART by Holly Johnson an essay on Musicians who were trained at Art Schools .
Holly Johnson Cosmos Mariner, destination unknown. The Odyssey Continues…
