For casual soul and funk fans,
Syl Johnson's career began in 1967 with the funky, oft-sampled "Different Strokes" and was followed by the burning socially conscious anthem "Is It Because I'm Black." In the 1970s,
Johnson's name became synonymous with Hi Records in Memphis -- "I Hear the Love Chimes" was immortalized in
Quentin Tarantino's film Jackie Brown. But his story begins many years and labels before, in 1959 to be exact. He cut "Teardrops" and "They Who Love" for King Records' subsidiary Federal, based on the strength of a demo he walked in off the street with -- on his way to a Chess session!
Johnson recorded a slew of singles for Federal between 1959 and 1962, before leaving and recording for a series of labels that included Cha Cha, One-derful!, TMP-Ting, Zachron, Twinight, and P-Vine, all but the last cut before moving to Memphis and Hi in 1972. The story told here reveals that
Johnson -- despite his off-the-chart talent as a guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer -- never quite got over in the way that peers
James Brown,
Wilson Pickett,
Marvin Gaye, and
Al Green did.