ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 25, 1997 TAG: 9704250016
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LARRY McSHANE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Johnny Johnson, the longtime piano player for Chuck Berry, will join the Grateful Dead's Bob Weir on tour this summer, while Keith Richards, Eric Clapton and others lobby for his induction into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.
It was seven years ago when Johnny Johnson, one of rock's most influential (and least known) piano players, finally quit his day gig: driving a busload of senior citizens.
Lately, he's been running with a younger crowd.
Johnson has signed on for a summer tour with Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir's new band, Ratdog. And rock stars such as Keith Richards, Rod Stewart and Eric Clapton - all relatively new friends - are lobbying for Chuck Berry's favorite sideman to get some much-deserved recognition as a member of the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame's class of '98.
Johnson, at age 72, revels in the delayed notoriety.
``I got started in the rock 'n' roll field back in 1955, when Chuck and I played `Maybellene,''' Johnson related recently, his voice mellow. ``And I've never been mentioned.
``So this is a big change, for me to get some mention as to getting put into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. I feel honored.''
Johnson and Berry first joined forces in 1952, when the pianist hired the guitarist to join his band for a one-night gig at the Cosmopolitan Club in East St.Louis, Mo.
The ambitious Berry soon became the bandleader, Johnson slipped into the background and they recorded their first single three years later on the Chess label.
Berry's ``Maybellene'' became an instant classic, hitting No.5 on the pop charts in the summer of '55. Johnson became Berry's piano player for most of the next two decades, providing a distinctive sound for his duck-walking pal.
``Friends and musical collaborators'' was how Berry described their relationship in his own letter urging the pianist's induction into the Hall.
The songs, however, were all credited to Berry, and the pianist wasn't even mentioned in the liner notes. Johnson says he's not the least bit bitter that Berry became a star while he languished as a rock 'n' roll footnote.
``No, no. I didn't know any better. I was just starting out. In fact,'' he says with a laugh, ``I knew nothing about nothing.''
It was the Rolling Stones' Richards who first began trumpeting Johnson's accomplishments. He hired Johnson to play in the all-star band assembled for Berry's 60th birthday, a concert captured in the 1987 documentary ``Hail, Hail Rock and Roll.''
``Chuck plays in piano keys - Johnny Johnson's keys,'' Richards says in the film. ``Chuck adapted them to guitar, and without somebody to give him them riffs - voila! No song! Just a lot of words on paper.''
Johnson remembers it pretty much that way.
``I never did put anything on paper,'' Johnson recalls. ``But we'd jam together, and take some part of that jamming and put in some lyrics that he wrote and see how it works.''
The pair didn't socialize much during their years on the road, Johnson confides - Chuck's lifestyle was a little too wild. And when they weren't touring, Johnson always returned to ``a 9-to-5 to provide'' - a series of jobs in construction, in factories, ``everything but coal mining.''
Avoiding the mines wasn't easy in Johnson's native West Virginia, but the young man was known as a piano prodigy before hitting first grade. He was playing by ear at age 5, making his local radio debut by age 8, forming his own band at age 13.
In World War II, Johnson was a teen-age Marine who played piano behind Bob Hope and other traveling USO performers. He opted for a postwar musical career and headed west - first to the Chicago blues scene, then to St.Louis and his rendezvous with Berry.
``I had no idea it would come this far, this long,'' Johnson says of rock 'n' roll's endurance. ``A different kind of music comes in every so often, like rap or disco, and it dies out. But rock - it's almost like the blues.
``Blues been hanging around ever since there was music. And rock 'n' roll is still hanging around.''
Johnson is enjoying his recent renaissance, doing some dates with his own band and working on his third solo album since 1989. He's dead serious when he says the money's a lot better now than it was years ago. He's still friendly with Berry, although they don't play together much.
``As long as we don't have anything personal, on paper, we're fine,'' Johnson says of his old friend. ``'Cause he's set in his ways, and I'm set in mine.''
The retired bus driver is now a full-time musician. Asked about a possible second retirement, Johnson tells the story of an old St.Louis acquaintance named Henry.
``Henry's almost 90 years old, and he's still performing,'' Johnson says, a smile spreading across his broad face. ``He's got to play all slow stuff, but he's still out there playing.
``I just want to go just a little further than Henry.''
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS. At 72, piano player Johnny Johnson isby CNBlegendary in the world of rock 'n' roll but not very well known
elsewhere. color.