Lonnie Johnson was born in New Orleans on February 28, 1889.
In addition to being a pioneer blues guitarist Lonnie was also one of the best jazz guitar players the world had ever heard! Thankfully, due to the re-release of lots of his recordings from the 1920s and 1930s, specifically his duets with Eddie Lang, guitar and jazz enthusiasts can today experience Johnson's genius.
His impact on guitar performers from the 1920's to the present, through his special swinging blues jazz guitar solo style, is undisputed.
Johnson was also an authentic vocalist in the blues tradition and made lots of outstanding vocal recordings throughout his long professional career.
As a youngster Lonnie Johnson, who was one of 13 kids, studied the guitar and the violin.
He began his musical career around 1902 playing in New Orleans cafes and theaters with his brother James who was a pianist.
He continued his profession playing with riverboat bands.
In 1917 he cruised to Europe and worked for a while in theater orchestras in London.
He returned to New Orleans in 1921 only to find that a flu epidemic (1918 - 1919) had actually wiped out nearly all of his family.
In 1922 Lonnie moved to St.
Louis where he worked with Charlie Creath, Fate Marable, and Nat Robinson.
When he won a blues contest held in St.
Louis, he acquired countrywide prominence in 1925.
Part of the contest prize was a recording contract with the "OKeh" record label.
Over the next couple of years Johnson made many records both in New York City and Chicago.
His most outstanding tracks at that point in his career were most likely those that he made in a guitar duo with Eddie Lang who at the time was using the stage name of Blind Willie Dunn.
Lonnie Johnson was likewise featured with Duke Ellington's Orchestra, Louis Armstrong's Hot Five, and numerous other popular jazz and blues artists of the day.
In 1932 Johnson transferred to Cleveland and played with The Putney Dandridge Orchestra.
He was featured periodically on regional radio shows.
For a time he also worked in a tire factory and afterwards a steel mill.
In 1937 he relocated to Chicago.
From 1937 - 1940 he worked frequently with numerous jazz artists consisting of Jimmy Noone and Johnny Dodds.
His outstanding guitar talent was not completely exposed when he played and tape-recorded with these musicians.
From the mid 1940s on Johnson started to play an electric guitar, but his guitar approach was not as convincing on the amplified instrument.
Tragically, Lonnie's career as a guitarist declined from this point although he did continue to play routinely until 1952.
In 1958 he was forced to make his living for a while working as a chef in a Philadelphia hotel.
Luckily Johnson was re-discovered in 1960 by some jazz and blues enthusiasts and he was once again able to earn a living singing and playing the guitar.
In early 1963 he appeared with The Duke Ellington Orchestra in New York and in the fall of that year he toured Europe and Great Britain as part of a blues package called "The American Folk Blues Festival".
In the mid 1960s Lonnie Johnson finally decided to settle in Toronto, Canada where he ended up being popular with local blues and jazz guitar fans.
When he was struck by an automobile, his career ended abruptly in 1969.
It was in Toronto that he passed away in 1970 of cardiac arrest which was the final outcome of his serious mishap the year before.
Lonnie was 71 years old when he died.