Steph Johnson
Once Johnson started on the path of a musician, things happened quickly. “I started to sing about a year before I picked up a guitar,” she points out. “I took a few vocal lessons. Then, literally a month later, I was a member of a jazz gospel choir and was hired to sing with (upright bass player) Glen Fisher. All the sudden I was sitting in with amazing jazz players including musicians who had backed Ray Charles and Frank Sinatra.”
Though only a professional musician for a few weeks, she held her own. “It was all too surreal,” she remarks. “Sitting in with bands as a “jazz” vocalist is pretty tough; although I loved it I wanted to be more than a singer. That’s when I pulled my dad’s old Guild guitar -which I still use – out of the garage.” She immediately set the bar high. “I picked up the guitar because I wanted to sing my own songs,” Johnson explains. She laughs when she adds “as opposed to a piano or tuba, because it was easier to carry with me.”
Within months Johnson had formed a band and began making her presence known in the Southern California club scene. “I like playing by myself sometimes,” she says. “But I find I am much more comfortable singing when I don’t have to hold down the music part too.” Playing endless gigs to perfect her new songs also paid dividends in other ways. “I learned so much working as much as I did right out the door,” she says. “Lugging my own PA around, dealing with bookers and clubs, three to four hour gigs with the drunk guy in the corner always yelling out “Free Bird” at the top of his lungs. And then the drunk guy then asking me out.” Johnson is clearly bemused but knows it all falls under ‘paying ones dues.’ “It all made me a stronger performer, a stronger person really.”
In 2004 Johnson released her debut EP, A Demonstration, and continued to build a following, her hard work resulting in a nomination in the category of “Best Acoustic Performer” at the 2005 San Diego Music Awards. Even with all the successes thus far, 2006 will be a banner year for Johnson. Look for the release of her debut album, Genesee Avenue, this spring, as well as touring, festival dates and much more ahead. Steph Johnson acknowledges that the album’s release will mark the beginning of a new phase of her career as a musician. “I know I will sing and write and play guitar for the rest of my life. Where that takes me I don’t know.” While Johnson may not know exactly where her music may take her, with a talent as big as she has, music fans will definitely want to follow.
