Cliff Johnson, The name may seem like you know him, it seems familiar, then you may lapse into “Where have I heard that name before?” The former New York Yankee? Not the man who has designed the early computer game, “The Fools Errand”?
No, our Cliff Johnson is one of America’s greatest hidden treasures.
He is, if Robin Zander is the man of 1,000 voices, Cliff is the man of 2,000. He is the only person in Rock and Roll History to have his bands spawn not one, but two members of Cheap Trick, AND have two of his drummers move on to Ozzie Osbourne’s bands.
The only thing missing has been the hit that moves an artist over the top. Cliff has been number one in a small radio market in the Midwest for a song titled “Are You Alone”. This career retrospective (Razors and Rose Petals) should fix the lack of a “Hit Single”. The track “Wherever You Are” is the best new Beatles, Turtles, Beach Boys, & Raspberries inspired piece of Power Pop (Cliff is in the first chapter of whatever book is written about Power Pop or it is a fraud) since Bruce Springsteen’s “Hungry Heart”.
Where did he come from, and where did he learn those harmonies?
Cliff is a Chicago man, from the near west side suburb of Oak Park, a city with a who’s who of residents (or former residents), including Frank Lloyd Wright, Dan Castellaneta (The voice of Homer Simpson), Daws Butler (the voice of Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound, among others), James Dewar (who invented the Twinkie), Ray Kroc (Founder of a little restaurant named McDonalds), and of course. Cliff Johnson, founding member and singer/songwriter of Pezband, d’Thumbs, USSA, Off Broadway, Black n Blonde, and most recently, the Cliff Johnson Band.
The Harmonies? Three extremely harmonious older sisters doing (and outdoing) the harmonies on WLS or WCFL in the car made for an extremely competitive voice to fit in to the styling of the Shirelle’s, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield and a host of others. This competitive streak took the esteemed Mr. Johnson to the toppermost of the poppermost in Illinois State gymnastics. These moves made their way onto stages across the country, playing shows with The Beach Boys, Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson, AC/DC, Blackfoot, among others.
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