Roy Lee Johnson (December 31, 1938 – June 3, 2024) was an American R&B and

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

songwriter, singer, and guitarist. He is best known for his composition " Mr. Moonlight", which has been covered by many artists, including

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

. Johnson is recognized as an influence on the bands that made up the

British Invasion The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when Rock music, rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of Culture of the United Kingdom, British culture became popular in the United States with sign ...

. He was born in

Centralhatchee, Georgia Centralhatchee is a small village in Heard County, Georgia, Heard County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. The population was 348 in 2020. History The town of Centralhatchee was originally a militia district known as "Black Ankle". ...

,Martin Goggin, ''The Story of 'Mr Moonlight', Roy Lee Johnson'', ''

Juke Blues ''Juke Blues'' is a British magazine covering blues, R&B, gospel, soul, zydeco, and jazz. It was established in 1985 in London by Cilla Huggins, John Broven, and Bez Turner, and is now published in Bath, Somerset, England. Cilla Huggins has been ...

'' no.59, 2005, pp. 16-23 and began playing guitar as a child. Around 1955, he joined his first band, The Brassettes, who included Robert Ward and who played local dances in and around Hogansville. After the band won a talent contest in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, they recorded Johnson's song, "Nobody Does Something For Nothing", for the small Stat label. In the late 1950s, Johnson moved to

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, joining Ward in the Ohio Untouchables. However, by 1961 he had returned to Atlanta, and began playing in

Piano Red Willie Lee Perryman (October 19, 1911 – July 25, 1985), usually known professionally as Piano Red and later in life as Dr. Feelgood, was an American blues musician, the first to hit the pop music charts. He was a self-taught pianist who played ...

's band, the Interns. His song "Mr. Moonlight", which he had written in high school, was first recorded by Piano Red, credited as "Dr. Feelgood and the Interns", and released in 1962 as the

b-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

of "Doctor Feel-Good" on

OKeh OKeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name originally was spelled "OkeH" from the init ...

4-7144. Johnson left the Interns in 1963, and released his first solo record, "Too Many Tears", on OKeh that year. Neither it nor its follow-up, a reworked "Nobody Does Something For Nothing", were successful. However, in 1964 the Beatles covered "Mr. Moonlight" on the album ''

Beatles for Sale ''Beatles for Sale'' is the fourth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released on 4 December 1964 in the United Kingdom on EMI's Parlophone label. The album marked a departure from the upbeat tone that had characterised ...

'' (on ''

Beatles '65 ' ''Beatles '65'' is an album by the English rock band the Beatles that was issued in the United States and Canada in December 1964. Released as the North American alternative to ''Beatles for Sale'', it was the band's fifth studio album culled ...

'' in the US), the success of which allowed Johnson to form his own band. He recorded three singles for

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

in 1966-67, including "My Best Just Ain't Good Enough", and another single for the Josie label.

Otis Redding Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...

, for whom he had previously been a support act, then introduced him to

Phil Walden Phil Walden (January 11, 1940 – April 23, 2006) was a co-founder of the Macon, Georgia-based Capricorn Records, along with former Atlantic Records executive Frank Fenter. Biography Walden received his undergraduate degree in economics from Ma ...

, who recorded three singles with him in 1968 at the

FAME Studios FAME (Florence Alabama Music Enterprises) Studios is a recording studio located at 603 East Avalon Avenue in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, United States, an area of northern Alabama known as the Shoals. Though small and distant from the main recording l ...

Muscle Shoals Muscle Shoals is the largest city in Colbert County, Alabama, United States. It is located on the left bank of the Tennessee River in the northern part of the state and, as of the 2010 census, its population was 13,146. The estimated popula ...

, featuring the studio rhythm section. The singles included "Cheer Up, Daddy's Coming Home" and "Take Me Back and Try Me", but again were not hits. He then formed a new band, Roy Lee Johnson & The Villagers, who recorded a self-titled album for

Stax Records Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in September 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records. ...

in 1973, influenced by the

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

style of

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

. However, the band broke up after the sudden death of 21-year-old bass player Michael James. He continued to release occasional singles in the late 1970s and 1980s, setting up his own studio and continuing to perform with various bands. In the early 1990s, tracks he had recorded were released in the UK as the album ''All Night Long'' (Howzat LBW1). He released another album, '' When a Guitar Plays the Blues'', in 1998. Johnson died on June 3, 2024, at the age of 85.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Roy Lee 1938 births 2024 deaths People from Heard County, Georgia African-American male singer-songwriters American male singer-songwriters American rhythm and blues guitarists American male guitarists American rhythm and blues singers American soul singers American rock songwriters Stax Records artists Guitarists from Georgia (U.S. state) 20th-century American guitarists African-American guitarists 20th-century African-American male singers 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American singers Singer-songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state)