Holly Johnson

William Holly Johnson (born 9 February 1960) is an English artist, musician, and writer, best known as the lead vocalist of Frankie Goes to Hollywood, who achieved huge commercial success in the mid-1980s.

Johnson was born on 9 February 1960 in Liverpool, England, to Eric and Pat (née McGlouchlin) Johnson.

His paternal grandfather Patrick was Irish and his maternal grandfather Patrick McGlouchlin was of 3/4 Indian descent.

Johnson was the third of four children and was nicknamed Billy as a child.

He started his education in Liverpool at St Mary's Church of England primary school and at age eleven went to the Liverpool Collegiate School in Everton.

At fourteen, Johnson took on the name Holly, inspired by actress Holly Woodlawn, a friend of Andy Warhol.

During his second year at the Liverpool Collegiate, Johnson and his friend were teased and nicknamed "Jolly Johnson" and "Honey Heath".

The two shared an interest in Marc Bolan and David Bowie.

Prior to that, in the late 1970s he was a bassist for the band Big in Japan.

While he attended Liverpool Collegiate, Johnson was actively involved in that city's punk rock/new wave scene of the late 1970s.

Johnson played bass with the local band Big in Japan and also released two solo singles on the Eric's label.

Both "Yankee Rose" and "Hobo Joe" failed to chart, however.

Johnson met his partner, Wolfgang Kuhle, in the early 1980s.

Kuhle, Johnson's personal manager, became a successful art dealer and collected paintings by Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell.

In 1982, Johnson joined Frankie Goes to Hollywood, and he later found fame as the lead singer and lyricist of the band.

The band's first three singles - "Relax" (1983), "Two Tribes" (1984), and "The Power of Love" (1984) all reached #1 of the UK Singles Chart; their fourth single, "Welcome to the Pleasuredome" (1985) reached #2.

Johnson became exposed to the general public via the phenomenal success of their debut single "Relax", which was a huge, and controversial, hit in 1984.

Frankie's debut album Welcome to the Pleasuredome, released in October 1984, sold around a quarter of a million copies in its first week, peaked at #1 on the UK Albums Chart, and was a top-10 seller internationally.

After such success during 1984, when the band spent nearly four months at the top of the singles chart, Johnson was firmly established as a household name.

In addition, Johnson did not perform on the successful charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" by Band Aid in December 1984.

Frankie Goes to Hollywood had not released any material since early 1985 and were absent from that year's Live Aid event.

By autumn 1986, his star had faded considerably.

Recorded in March-July 1986, Frankie Goes to Hollywood's second album, Liverpool, was released the following October.

Liverpool peaked at #5 in the UK Albums Chart and spawned three singles: "Rage Hard" (1986), "Warriors of the Wasteland" (1986), and "Watching the Wildlife" (1987).

"Rage Hard" was a top 5 hit in the UK Singles Chart, peaking at #4, but "Warriors of the Wasteland" and "Watching the Wildlife" peaked at #19 and #28 respectively, suggesting Frankie's popularity was waning.

In 1987, tension grew between Johnson and the rest of his group.

He also had an argument with his record company and won a case in court against them on restraint of trade.

He left Frankie Goes to Hollywood and the other members of the band were eventually let go by the label after the court case ZTT and Perfect Songs v Holly Johnson.

After gaining some measure of local celebrity from being a member of Big In Japan, Johnson became involved with a group of younger musicians who together would become the nucleus of Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

Johnson himself named the new band after seeing the headline of an article about Frank Sinatra.

This new band quickly gained a reputation for their stage show which had strong sadomasochistic overtones.

It was during this period that guitarist Brian Nash and backing vocalist Paul Rutherford completed the band's established lineup.

After the band's reputation grew large enough to attract record company interest, they were eventually signed to a new record company, ZTT.

Furthermore, the band was wracked by infighting; by 1987, Johnson's relationship with the rest of the band had broken down irretrievably, not helped by his decision to gain legal rights to exclusive use of the band's name, without consultation with other members.

The UK Intellectual Property Office ruled against Johnson, however.

During a reunion on the TV show Bands Reunited many years later, when the five members of Frankie Goes to Hollywood were invited to play together using equipment that had been set up for them, he (and guitarist Brian Nash) declined to take part, but he did not rule out the possibility in the future.

In his own words; "If it happens, we do it properly. We have a reputation. I'm not a wedding singer!"

In 1989, Johnson's debut solo album, Blast, reached number one in the UK albums chart.

Two singles from the album – "Love Train" and "Americanos" – reached the top 5 of the UK Singles Chart.

In the 1990s, he also embarked on writing, painting, and printmaking careers.