It's Saturday, 8:00am. November 17th
@ C2-161 Habbaniya C.C.,
Bet-Nahrain "Mesopotamia"
J. Johnson
was born to
Yountan Aghajan Moshil
and
Shalim Gewargis Daniel.
Johnson
is the second of five sons. The
eldest is
John,
the middle child is
Eddison,
and the two youngest are
Micheal,
and
Maurice.
Besides his education, sports, arts, painting
and
calligraphy,
Johnson
started to have
a huge desire
for music. He would accompany
his late mother when she
would visit her
parents
and three brothers, who
were dedicated
musicians, twice a week.
That is where his love for music began,
watching his
late uncles
"Avshalim
&
Shlemoon
& uncle
Shimshoon"
who is liven in Turlock CA. jamming on their
instruments, preparing for gigs on weekends.
At the age of 10,
Johnson
started to sing,
along with
his late best friend, Shoura Eshaya,
playing the
harmonica.
After a few years,
Johnson
began reading
music by
himself, and playing the accordion and classic guitar.
When he was 15, his oldest brother John formed a
five piece band, and
Johnson
was a
member, playing
his guitar.
And at the age of 17,
Johnson
was still in highschool
when his
favorite late uncle Shlimoon gave him his first
Alto Saxophone.
It was a dream come true when his fingers
touched the beautiful instrument.
Johnson
began studying music theory,
practising
and reading every day.
After his high school graduation,
Johnson
began
travelling from his home town to
the capital of Iraq,
Baghdad, about
55 miles every weekend with his
brother
John to play at parties and weddings with
their uncles. After some time,
Johnson
settled down
in Baghdad, where he studied
some more during the
days, and at night began
jamming and hanging
around with friends.
Rehearsling, jamming, playing and listning to music,
he was inspired by some giant musicians such as sax
players "Ben Webster" and "Stan Getz" and piano
players "Duke Ellington" and "Dave Brubeck".
During this time,
Johnson
joined the famous Iraqi
singer
Ilham Al Madfai
in playing gigs and
parties
all over Baghdad.
In 1969,
Johnson formed a four piece band, who
began
playing gigs every night in hotels.
In the summer he would move up north to the
mountains
on vacation and for more music.
After a year he joined
one of the best bands
"The Kings" (formerly "4 Kings").
Between jobs, he used to get away once in a
while to
travel around the world for fun
and explore the life
out there.
Besides his music career,
Johnson
was also
a designer
draftsman, where he met and fall
in love with
Victoria
a secretary of a
Consulting Engineering Company.
They were married on june 3, 1976, and
vacationed
for their honeymoon in Athens,
Greece.
They lived in Athens for 13 months, where
he joined
a Greek band, having fun and making
a career by
playing gigs at nights in hotels
and restaurants.
On July 13, 1977, they left Athens, Greece
for Canada,
to live a better life.
As landed immigrants,
Johnson
found a job
as a
designer draftsman for a Consulting
Engineering
Company in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
But
Johnson
never gave up his love for music.
He
formed a five piece band named "Assyrian Kings",
joined by his brother John on keyboards, his
brother
Maurice on lead vocal and guitar,
and their friends
Emiel Esu on drums and Jalal
David on bass.
On October 6, 1978,
Johnson and
Victoria
were
blessed
with a little girl named
Laura.
After 4 years of hard
work as a designer draftsman
and jamming with his band,
Johnson
and his family
moved to Mississauga, Ontario,
where on
Septermber 7, 1982 they were blessed with
their
son
Noel, and on February 7, 1987, another
blessing they named
Jonathan,
During these years,
Johnson continued playing
with
his band the "Assyrian Kings", when his
popularity
began to rise. He also began to travel
independently
around North America as a solo
artist.
By 1991
Johnson
lost his adorable and unforgettable
mother which she devoted her life for her kids as
every mom does, so he start to slow down performing
for a while.
Johnson's
fans urged him to put music together
on a
album, which he did, naming it
"Irresistible Lips",
self
produce on December 20, 1995.
This album was a great
hit, selling many copies.
Then in 1998 he lost his faithful father who use to
work 16 hours a day for the love of his family. a
great dad loved his Church, Christianity and his family
till the last moment.
With people still asking for more music from him.
Lately we knew that he is writing some new jazzy
music
for a wave radio station in Hamilton and
in L.A, after they start
to play two of his
songs on the air.
And for his Assyrian fans, he is recording the best
instrumental songs of the Assyrian legends..starting
with Ashur Bet Sargis.
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