JOHNNY "GUITAR" WASTON

John Watson, Jr. was born in Houston, TX, on February 3, 1935. His father, a pianist, taught him how to play. However, the lad was more attracted to the electric-guitar stylings of bluesmen like T-Bone Walker and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown. Watson’s grandfather was a preacher who sang and played guitar in church. He offered to buy his grandson a guitar, but only if the boy eschewed playing “the devil’s music.”

When Watson was fifteen, his parents separated. He and his mother moved to Los Angeles, where Watson began to enter talent shows. While still in his teens, he got jobs with jump-blues acts like Amos Milburn and Chuck Higgins. Watson made a name for himself and waxed his first recordings for the Federal label, as Young John Watson, in 1952. Two years later, he got his new stage name from the Joan Crawford film, Johnny Guitar.

On stage, Watson wore flashy clothes, engaged in wild showmanship, and affected a swaggering but humorous personality. His “full front assault” style of playing, without a guitar pick, often necessitated his having to change strings during a show (usually more than once). His 1954 instrumental, “Space Guitar,” was the first of his recordings to feature Watson’s offbeat playing style. That sound would prove influential to future guitarists like Frank Zappa, Steve Miller, and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

In 1955, Watson enjoyed his first charted R&B single with the ballad, “Those Lonely, Lonely Nights.” Two years later, on Keen Records, he cut “Gangster of Love.” Though it did not chart, Watson re-cut the song in 1978, whereupon it became a hit. “Gangster of Love” also became his theme song.

Watson did not return to the charts until 1962, hitting #6 R&B with “Cuttin’ In.” In 1967, he made the pop charts for the first time (albeit briefly) with “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy,” a duet with ‘50s rock ‘n’ roll veteran Larry Williams (“Short Fat Fannie,” “Bony Moronie”). The song had begun life as a jazz instrumental by Cannonball Adderley; it also became a pop hit for the Buckinghams. Other Williams-Watson duets worth checking out are “Two for the Price of One” and “Substitute for Love.”

Watson toured with West Coast R&B acts like Johnny Otis, Little Richard, the Olympics, and Don & Dewey. In the mid-1970s, he toured with jazz innovator David Axelrod. Watson was also a guest performer on three Frank Zappa albums: One Size Fits All (1975), Them or Us (1984), and Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention (1985). For good measure, in a 1979 interview, Zappa named Watson’s 1956 recording of “Three Hours Past Midnight” his favorite record. Zappa stated that it made him want to become a guitarist.

As the blues declined in popularity and gave way to soul music, Johnny “Guitar” Watson changed both his sound and his persona. He went from being a southern bluesman with a pompadour to an urban funkateer with gold teeth, wide-brimmed hats, garish suits, oversized sunglasses, and flamboyant jewelry. He retooled his music into blues-funk and enjoyed his biggest commercial success to date. The albums Ain’t That a Bitch? (1976), A Real Mother for Ya (1977), and Love Jones (1980) were critically acclaimed and sold well to boot.

When his old friend, Larry Williams, was shot to death in 1980, Watson temporarily left the spotlight. The New York Times quoted him thus: “I got caught up with the wrong people doing the wrong things.”

Watson’s 1994 album, Bow Wow, received a Grammy nomination. In 1995, he received the Rhythm & Blues Foundation’s prestigious Pioneer Award. Watson also sang and played the vocoder on Bo Diddley’s 1996 album, A Man Amongst Men.

Johnny “Guitar” Watson, 61, died of a heart attack while performing on stage in Yokohama, Japan, on May 17, 1996.

Rock critic Dave Marsh included “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy” in his 1989 book, The Heart of Rock and Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made.

Charted singles:

“Those Lonely, Lonely Nights” (1955) R&B #10
“Cuttin’ In” (1962) R&B #6
“Mercy, Mercy, Mercy” (duet with Larry Williams, 1967) R&B #23, Pop #96
“Nobody” (duet with Larry Williams, 1968) R&B #40
“Like I’m Not Your Man” (1974) R&B #67
“I Don’t Want to Be a Lone Ranger” (1975) R&B #28, Pop #99
“It’s Too Late” (1975) R&B #76
“I Need It” (1976) R&B #40, Pop #101
“Superman Lover” (1976) R&B #19, Pop #101
“A Real Mother for Ya” (1977) R&B #5, Pop #41
“Lover Jones” (1977) R&B #34
“Love That Will Not Die” (1978) R&B #59
“Gangster of Love” (1978) R&B #32
“What the Hell Is This?”(1979) R&B #83
“Love Jones” (1980) R&B #28
“Telephone Bill” (1980) R&B #45
“The Planet Funk” (1982) R&B #62
“Strike on Computers” (1984) R&B #77
“Bow Wow” (1994) R&B #89
“Hook Me Up” (1995) R&B #48