Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Johnny B Great (Johnny Goodison)

In this post Pete Clemons turns his attentions to one of the earliest of Coventry musicians who made a sizable impact on both the Coventry music scene of the 60's and the music business itself. Johnny Goodison - also known as Johnny B Great. This is that article from the Coventry Telegraph.





Johnny B Great and the Goodmen - 1st two singles available free download here













Johnny Goodison playing If I had a Hammer




One Mistake - Johnny Goodison



According to Dean Nelson
"Johnny B Great (John Goodison) session singer from Coventry
Johnny B Great's real name was Johnny Goodisonalso had the songwriting alias Peter Simons. A later group was Johnny B Great and the Quotations, who backed the Walker Brothers, amongst others. Later he was lead singer in an early line up of the Brotherhood of Man, scoring a hit with "United we stand".
Goodison also worked as a producer and one of the results was the 1968 hit, "Race with the devil" by Gun(Adrian Gurvitz - "We never wanted the laugh on the record at all. We knew it would let us in for a lot of you¹re copying Arthur Brown remarks. Our Producer Johnny Goodison thought it was a good idea so we went along with it.").


Besides that, he arranged tracks for The Love Affair, Johnny and Russell and Sue & Sunny, toured
for some years with one of the orchestras of James Last. He wrote hit tunes for the Brotherhood of Man and the Bay City Rollers (Give A Little Love), as well as songs for A Song For Europe, in 1968, 1974, 1977 and 1980 respectively.
Johnny Goodison died in 1995. Great man.
Singles
Acapulco/You'll never leave him - 1964
School is in/She's a much better lover than you - 1964 - Credited to Johnny B Great and the Goodmen
One Mistake/A Little Understanding - 1970 - Johnny Goodison"


From Pete Chambers - Godiva Rocked to a Backbeat

"Part of the Larry Page stable based at the Orchid Ballroom."

" Johnny Goodison was a big man with a big voice. Originally a toolmaker in Coventry, he went under the name of Johnny B Good with his band the Goodmen.

Don Kerr - Guitar
Al King - Sax
Ollie Warner - bass
Nigel Lomas - drums

First single - School is in - Decca 1963 (Backing vocals The Orchids) This was the first single released by a Coventry group although it wasn't a hit. They in return played on the Orchids first single - Gonna Make him Mine.

Johnny performed If I had a Hammer for the film Just for You which featured the Orchids.
They appeared on the B Side of the original Doctor Who Theme.

For a while they went under the name of Johnny B Great and the Quotations, backing the Walker Bros and Little Richard.


More from them on You Tube
Strong Love - Johnny B Goodman and the Quotations http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfuz3i6YRAI

In the Midnight Hour - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQKBHHw4kHU

Everythings Gonna Be Alright - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjlWBwJQif0

Johnny was with the Freemen before going solo - see here https://sites.google.com/site/bandsfromcoventrypart2/home/the-freemen

and here http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/yourspace/2011/10/31/your-nostalgia-keresley-rock-fanatic-researching-coventry-s-music-scene-92746-29694188/2/

Johnny Goodison with 2nd Tyme Around - Let's Go (Huggin' and a Kissin' in the Moonlight)(UK Glam 75)


Running Away JOHNNY GOODISON

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