Johnny Gill Biography - Graduated From Gospel To R&b, Scored A String Of Chart-topping Hits, Reunited With New Edition
soul voice
1966—
Singer
From 1988 to 1991 Johnny Gill was a regular at the number one slot on the rhythm-and-blues (R&B) music charts. His group New Edition had a number one album, Heart Break, in 1988. His 1990 solo release, Johnny Gill, produced three number one singles on its way to number one. Another song he duetted on, "Where Do We Go From Here," also landed at number one. The Indianapolis Recorder gushed, "Like the great soul singers of the past, Gill has all the right stuff: a natural voice of tremendous force, a soaring falsetto and the gift of impeccable timing. Both patient and urgent, sensitive and sultry, Gill raises romance to new heights." Gill continued to use that voice into the 2000s to put out dozens of more hits—on his own, with super-group New Edition, and as the G in R&B soul-meisters LSG.
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Johnny Gill Jr. was born on May 22, 1966, in Washington, DC, the fourth son of Johnny and Annie Gill. The senior Gill was a Baptist minister who raised his family according to scripture. While secular music such as R&B was forbidden, gospel was embraced and the family formed the group Wings of Faith and, later, The Gill Special. By the age of eight, Johnny Jr., whose deep, baritone voice wa…
When New Edition first hit the airwaves, its five members were between 14 and 16 years old. Their songs were bubblegum-sweet pop: "The Telephone Man," "Popcorn Love," "Cool It Now." They dressed in matching outfits, pumped out in-sync dance steps, and filled pages of teen magazines. They were as well loved for their youth as for their music. However, by 19…
Provocative, Gill's second album for Motown, came out in 1993. Again Motown went all out with production and marketing. Gill did the same. "I tried to give the best vocal performance on each song," he told Billboard. "I think that's what people expect of me." Unfortunately expectations did not translate into sales and the album barely reached RIAA gold sta…
In 1997 Gill joined forces with Gerald Levert and Keith Sweat to form LSG. The trio's first album, Levert-Sweat-Gill, led by the hit single "My Body," went
double-platinum and landed at the number two spot on the R&B charts, number four on the pop. The group's second effort, LSG2, released in 2003, took the third and sixth spots respectively. The same year Mot…
(With Stacy Lattisaw) Perfect Combination, Cotillion, 1983. Johnny Gill, Atlantic, 1983. Chemistry, Atlantic, 1985. (With New Edition) Heart Break, MCA Records, 1988. Johnny Gill, Motown, 1990. Provocative, Motown, 1993. Let's Get the Mood Right, Motown, 1996. (With New Edition) Home Again, MCA Records, 1996. (With Gerald Levert and Keith Sweat) Levert.Sweat.Gill, East West, 1997. (With Ger…
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