Search - Shirley Johnson :: Looking For Love

Like so many African-American vocalists, Shirley Johnson started out singing in church and then went on to embrace secular music. Although Johnson has spent much of her adult life in Chicago, the Windy City is not her hometown; she was born in Franklin, VA and raised in Norfolk. When Johnson reached adulthood in the late '70s, she was free to pursue a career in secular music, so she made her presence felt in Norfolk's blues and R&B circles ultimately moving to Chicago to further her career where she became active on the city's blues circuit performing both blues and soul. The Chicago resident, whose influences range from Mahalia Jackson to Koko Taylor, Etta James, and Ruth Brown, is a gritty, big-voiced blues singer who can also handle soul and gospel. Most recently she has recorded for Delmark; this album was recorded in 1996.