Blues and soul singer, guitarist, harmonica player, and songwriter Syl Johnson
was born Sylvester Thompson in Holy Springs, Mississippi on July 1, 1936. While
he didn’t reach the commercial heights that he deserved, he is best remembered
for his recordings for the Hi Records label and his early recordings for
Twinight Records, which were later sampled by hip hop artists in the 1990s. When
he was in his teens, his family – including his brother, blues guitarist Jimmy
Johnson - moved from Mississippi to Chicago, Illinois. Syl Johnson began
performing with his neighbor Magic Sam as ...