Australian
Rock musician. Born Fairmont, West Virginia, July 8, 1924. Died St Louis, Missouri, April 13, aged 80.
JOHNNIE JOHNSON was one of rock'n'roll's earliest pioneers, whose sound was an enduring influence on every subsequent generation of musicians. He not only played piano on most of Chuck Berry's greatest hits but composed the music for many of them and was the inspiration for the lyrics of Johnny B. Goode.
When an American biography of him was published in 1999, it was subtitled The Father of Rock'n'Roll, and although there are other claimants to the title, few would take issue with Johnson's right to stand alongside them.
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