Johnny Guitar Watson

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Johnny Guitar Watson (1987)

Johnny "Guitar" Watson (born February 3, 1935 in Houston , Texas , † May 17, 1996 in Yokohama , Japan ) was an influential American blues , soul and funk musician from the 1950s to 1990s.

biography

As a teenager in Texas, Watson performed with emerging blues musicians such as Albert Collins and Johnny Copeland . At the age of just 15 he moved to Los Angeles , where he was on the keys in Chuck Higgins' band . In 1953 he made his first recordings as Young John Watson , still on the piano , but in the following year he attracted attention as a guitarist with the avant-garde track Space Guitar . In 1955 he had his first hit with Those Lonely Lonely Nights .

After 1960, the musical chameleon Watson experimented with various styles of jazz and recorded a piano album that completely dispensed with the use of guitars. In the following years, the adventurous Texan toured with his colleague Larry Williams through Great Britain, released several albums and landed a hit in Europe in 1967 with the Joe Zawinul composition Mercy, Mercy, Mercy . After that, he initially held back with further publications.

Back in the States, Watson changed style and image radically in the course of the early 1970s and now - inspired by the self-confident appearance of black soul stars like Marvin Gaye or Curtis Mayfield - turned to a much more soul-heavy rhythm and blues . On the albums Listen and I Don't Want To Be A Lone Ranger , released in 1973 and 1975, Watson combined the traditional blues with rock 'n' roll , Motown soul and P-funk , integrated his own ideas into rap and street speech and distilled from them over the years an independent, “positive” sounding West Coast R&B.

With the album Ain't That a Bitch released in 1976 at the latest, the 41-year-old finally became one of the pioneers of funk, which he continued to develop consistently. The album was inducted into The Wire's “100 Records That Set the World on Fire (While No One Was Listening)” .

In the years up to 1981 he brought out seven studio releases in quick succession for the DJM label under his own name and had veritable chart successes with songs such as Superman Lover , A Real Mother for Ya and Booty Ooty . In addition, Watson played two albums with his Watsonian Institute in 1978 and 1979 , on which his accompanying musicians were the focus. In addition to the (Moog) bass-heavy hook line, driving snare drum and the indispensable blues guitar solos of high recognition value , Watson's trademark was above all the broad singing style in which he sometimes also knew how to perform socially critical lyrics in a humorous and self-ironic way.

Despite stylistic concessions, Watson always remained firmly rooted in the blues. For example, he released his 1958 classic Love Bandit / Gangster Of Love - later successfully covered by Steve Miller - again in 1962 and 1978. He proceeded similarly with other compositions, such as the Lone Ranger , recorded for the first time in 1975 , which can also be found in a much more groovy version on his 1980 album Love Jones . The works of this period between 1975 and 1981 form the backbone of the numerous best-of compilations available , although these only reflect a fraction of Watson's oeuvre.

Johnny "Guitar" Watson on December 8, 1976 in Paris, France

In the 1980s, things then calmed down around him. After a label change to A&M, Watson released the album That's What Time It Is (Executive Producer: Herb Alpert ) in late 1981, which left an ambivalent impression on both critics and fans. He then took a creative break that lasted until 1985, although the Texan entertainer also toured almost non-stop through clubs around the world during this time. The long player Strike on Computers was followed by another wait until the release of his last studio work, Bow Wow , for which he received a Grammy nomination for best R&B album in 1994 . This phase was also characterized by extensive tours around the globe.

Watson had a significant influence on other greats in rock and pop music. The anticipation of playing the guitar by mouth, which Jimi Hendrix perfected a decade later to become his trademark, is legendary . Watson recorded some of his albums (especially Johnny Guitar Watson And The Family Clone ) almost entirely on his own. On friendly terms with Frank Zappa, who is similarly versatile in this regard , he made guest appearances on his albums One Size Fits All and Them or Us . Zappa stated that the Watson track Three Hours Past Midnight inspired him to become a guitarist. Many of the songs by Johnny “Guitar” Watson were later used as sample templates in the hip-hop scene . In 1996 he received the Pioneer Award from the Rhythm & Blues Foundation together with Bo Diddley , Bobby Womack and the Isley Brothers .

Johnny "Guitar" Watson died of heart failure in May 1996 at the age of 61 on an open stage while touring Japan at the Blues Café , Yokohama. Watson was buried in Glendale , California . In 2008 he was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame .

"They called Elvis 'The King', but the sure-enough king was Johnny 'Guitar' Watson." ( Etta James )

In 2006, Gangster of Love was used as the theme song for an AX commercial. While the European version was starring Ben Affleck, the American version saw Nick Lachey in the lead role.

Discography (selection)

  • Gangster Of Love ( compilation with recordings from 1953 to 1963, first published in 1978)
  • I Cried For You (1963)
  • Johnny Guitar Watson (1963)
  • The Blues Soul of Johnny Guitar Watson (1964)
  • The Larry Williams Show Featuring Johnny Guitar Watson (1965)
  • Bathroom (1967)
  • In The Fats Bag (1967)
  • Two For The Price Of One (1967, with Larry Williams )
  • Lists (1973)
  • I Don't Want To Be A Lone Ranger (1975)
  • The Gangster Is Back (1975, compilation)
  • Ain't That a Bitch (1976)
  • Captured Live (1976)
  • A Real Mother for Ya (1977)
  • Master Funk (1978)
  • Funk Beyond the Call of Duty (1977)
  • Giant (1978)
  • Gettin 'Down With Johnny Guitar Watson (1978, compilation)
  • What The Hell Is This? (1979)
  • Love Jones (1980)
  • Johnny Guitar Watson and the Family Clone (1981)
  • The Very Best Of Johnny Guitar Watson (1981, compilation)
  • That's What Time It Is (1981)
  • Hit The Highway (1985, compilation)
  • Strike on Computers (1986)
  • 3 Hours Past Midnight (1986, compilation)
  • I Heard That! (1987, compilation)
  • Gangster Of Love (1988, compilation)
  • Plays Misty (1992, compilation)
  • Bow Wow (1994)
  • Live In Panama City (1999)
  • Space Guitar (2004, compilation)
  • You Need It - Anthology (2004, compilation, 2 CDs)
  • The Ultimate Collection (2004, compilation, 3 CDs)
  • The Funk Anthology (2005, compilation, 2 CDs)
  • Space Guitar (2006, compilation)
  • The Best Of The Funk Years (2006, compilation)
  • Untouchable! The Classic Recordings 1959–1968 (2007, compilation)
Johnny "Guitar" Watson as a guest musician
  • George Duke : I Love The Blues, She Heard My Cry (1975)
  • Frank Zappa: One Size Fits All (1975)
  • Watsonian Institute: Master Funk (1978)
  • Watsonian Institute: EPD - Extra Disco Perception (1979)
  • Herb Alpert: Beyond (1980)
  • Frank Zappa: Them or Us (1984)
  • Frank Zappa: Meets the Mothers of Prevention (1985)
  • Bo Diddley: A Man Amongst Men (1996)
DVD
  • Johnny "Guitar" Watson in Concert Without Filter 1990 (2005)
  • Johnny Guitar Watson Live in Concert 1993 - The Legend Of Rhythm & Blues Remixed in DTS 6.1 (2006)
  • Johnny Guitar Watson Live in Concert 1993 North Sea Jazz Festival (DVD and audio CD, 2006)

literature

  • Virginia Watson: Johnny Guitar Watson Songs . Voggenreiter Verlag, Bonn, 2004. With 32 songs (texts and sheet music) and CD with 15 hits.
  • Vincent Bakker: The Gangster of Love - Johnny "Guitar" Watson: Performer, Preacher, Pimp . Issued: CreateSpace / Amazon, USA, April 2009. First complete biography and discography, with 280 songs and 470 references. "Extended Edition": with 300 images and 476 pages, 2014, ISBN 978-1495337321 .

Web links

Commons : Johnny "Guitar" Watson  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.rockabillyhall.com/JohnnyWatson1.html
  2. ↑ Website CreateSpace: Review Extended Edition (Engl.)
personal data
SURNAME Watson, Johnny Guitar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Watson, John; Watson, Johnny; Watson, Young John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American guitarist and pianist (blues, soul, funk, fusion)
DATE OF BIRTH February 3, 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH Houston , Texas
DATE OF DEATH May 17, 1996
PLACE OF DEATH Yokohama , Japan