Marcus Johnson (born 1971) is an American jazz musician, producer and entrepreneur.

Early life

Marcus Johnson was born in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

. When he was 10 years old, he established a neighborhood lawn care service. He and his family moved to Washington, D.C. when he was 12 years old. As a teenager, he started an auto-detailing company“Artists: Marcus Johnson”
''Smooth and Soul'', Retrieved on 3 March 2013. and played in a jazz band at Montgomery Blair High School. Subsequently, Johnson studied music production at the University of Miami. Johnson earned a bachelor of arts degree in music at

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

, where he was a member of

Alpha Phi Alpha Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate List of African-American fraternities, historically African American Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the ...

fraternity. At

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

, he earned both

M.B.A. A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

and J.D. degrees. Johnson grew up listening to a wide variety of music, but found his calling in jazz, where he incorporates the rhythms of

rap Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates " rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backin ...

with R&B. His interest in jazz became apparent when he began playing piano at the age of 13. Johnson's step-father purchased his first keyboard after winning Maryland's Pick 3 Lottery. Johnson was inspired to learn traditional and contemporary jazz music by observing other musicians, including musicians

Joe Sample Joseph Leslie Sample (February 1, 1939 – September 12, 2014) was an American jazz keyboardist and composer. He was one of the founding members of The Jazz Crusaders in 1960, whose name was shortened to "The Crusaders" in 1971. He remained a p ...

and

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk ( October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the Jazz standard, standard jazz repertoire, includ ...

Musical career

Musician

Johnson independently released his first jazz album, ''Lessons in Love'', while studying at Georgetown University. In 1997, he released a second independent jazz album, ''Inter Alia''. His listener base attracted the attention of N2K Encoded Music, now known as

N-Coded Music N-Coded Music was a jazz record label in New York City founded by Dave Grusin, Larry Rosen, and Phil Ramone as N2K Encoded Music in 1997. Their original business model was to break out new artists and groups from various genres (mainly smooth ...

. He signed with the label and subsequently released the album ''Chocolate City Groovin'' (1998).

Music publishing

Also while studying at Georgetown, Johnson established Marimelj Entertainment Group, Inc., a production company and music publishing firm. The mixture of contemporary jazz, alternative, and R&B creates what the company calls “the Urban Groove”. Johnson's success with his albums caught the attention of

Black Entertainment Television Black Entertainment Television (BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is the flagship channel of the BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. Originally launched ...

(BET) founder and businessman Robert L. Johnson, who invested in Marimelj. Under their partnership, Marimelj's label, Three Keys Music, established its own full service recording studio, Studio 8121; and two music publishing companies, Marimelj Music Publishing and Three Keys Music Publishing. Three Keys is an independent music publishing company Johnson created. It was started as a local record label. The record label also features and produced music for national jazz artists: Michael Lington, Jaared Arosemena, Bobby Lyle, Nick Colionne, R&B singer Alyson Williams, neo-soul singer Zahzarah; and smooth jazz saxophonists Phillip Martin and Brian Lenair. To date, Johnson has released more than fifteen Billboard-charted CDs.

Personal life

Johnson resides in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. He has a daughter.

Awards

Johnson was nominated for an

NAACP Image Award The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. The over 40 ...

in 2010. He was also nominated for Best Urban Contemporary Instrumentalist in the

Washington Area Music Association The Washington Area Music Association (WAMA) is a regional music industry not-for-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. WAMA's activity centers on highlighting the area's cultural contribution by assisting regional musicians with becoming ...

's WAMMIES in 2013. Johnson was awarded the Samuel A. Halsey Award from his alma mater, Georgetown University, on January 17, 2015.

Discography

* ''Lessons in Love'' (1997) * ''Inter Alia'' (1997; re-released in 2000) * ''Chocolate City Groovin'' (1998) * ''Urban Groove'' (2000) * ''Comin' Back Around'' (2001) * ''In Person - Live at Blues Alley'' (2002) * ''Just Doing What I Do'' (2004) * ''Smooth Jazz Christmas ''(2005) * ''Phoenix'' (2007) * ''In Concert for a Cause'' (2008) * ''Flo: Chill'' (2008) * ''Flo: Romance'' (2008) * ''Flo: Standards'' (2008) * ''Poetically Justified'' (2009) * ''This Is How I Rock'' (2010) * ''Flo Chill, Vol. 2: Juris'' (2010) * ''Flo (For The Love Of) Holiday'' (2011)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Marcus 1971 births American jazz musicians American lawyers Georgetown University alumni Howard University alumni Living people