Talk:Syl Johnson

Death? Life!
I included reference to his death (reportedly on 17 January) yesterday, but have been reverted. His death has been widely reported on blog sites - http://blacklikemoi.com/2012/01/black-news-2/chad-ochocinco-rb-singer-syleena-johnsons-father-dies-bout-cancer/ is one example - and on Chad Ochocinco's Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/OchoCinco?ref=ts - and on the Dead Rock Stars site which is usually reliable - http://www.thedeadrockstarsclub.com/2012.html. While they are not the highest standard sources (no newspaper obituaries, for instance), it would be very unlikely that they are all wrong. Ghmyrtle (talk) 19:53, 27 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Apologies to everyone - he is clearly alive, as discussed on this thread - http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/southernsoul/messages/70533?threaded=1&m=e&var=1&tidx=1.  As the person who added his "death" to the article, I picked it up from the Dead Rock Stars site, which is in my experience usually very reliable, but not in this case - though I see they have now removed it as well.  They seem to have picked it up from blogs, and the confusion arose because it is Chad Ochocinco's birth father who has died, not Mr. Johnson.  So, again, apologies, but it was not done with any malicious intent.  (By the way, if anyone from the Yahoo group reads this, I did attempt to post a message there, but it appears to be impossibly complicated for a new user to use that forum, so I gave up trying.) Ghmyrtle (talk) 08:51, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

Sorry to report - ten years later.. https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2022/02/06/chicago-blues-soul-legend-syl-johnson-dies-at-85/  Ghmyrtle (talk) 22:56, 6 February 2022 (UTC)

Albums section layout
1. Should each album be in its own sub-section? 2. Should the tracks be hidden in a drop-down? Thanks. Martinevans123 (talk) 11:35, 7 February 2022 (UTC)
 * Ideally, someone needs to set up a Syl Johnson discography page - but, if not, suggestion 2 would be better than the current arrangement. Ghmyrtle (talk) 11:41, 7 February 2022 (UTC)
 * I agree, that would be best, although discography articles do not usually include album track listings. Perhaps it would be better to remove all the tracks to start with? Is this article a possible contender for WP:ITN/RD? Martinevans123 (talk) 13:34, 7 February 2022 (UTC)
 * No-one's suggested that yet, but of course they could. The album track listings could be stripped out, and then someone could get round to creating an article on each of them.  Ghmyrtle (talk) 15:37, 7 February 2022 (UTC)
 * So I suggest this article is nominated for WP:ITN/RD, lol. The sentence "Mitchell also chose to use mainly in-house compositions rather than Johnson's original songs" is difficult to source as e.g. AllMusic, while it has all the Hi Records albums, doesn't seem to give composer credits for the tracks? There's not much that isn't now sourced. Martinevans123 (talk) 22:30, 7 February 2022 (UTC)
 * AllMusic in fact lists 18 complilation albums. Not sure which are the most notable. Martinevans123 (talk) 20:46, 8 February 2022 (UTC) p.s. just nominated him at WP:ITN/RD
 * Other contributing editors may wish to offer support at ITN/RD, otherwise it may just go stale and never appear. Thanks. Martinevans123 (talk) 17:56, 9 February 2022 (UTC)

Robert Johnson
This article mentions that, at the time of Syl's birth: "The neighbors are buzzing with rumors that the boy's father, Samuel, isn't really his father—that Erlie Thompson had a fling with some itinerant womanizing guitar player who died down in Greenwood, six weeks after Syl was born. Name of Robert Johnson." I haven't seen that suggested elsewhere, but it could be a factor behind the (otherwise quite curious) decision to use the name Johnson rather than Thompson, from around 1960 - a time when Robert Johnson's reputation was re-emerging. No reliable sources to justify its inclusion, I think - but interesting. Ghmyrtle (talk) 23:24, 8 February 2022 (UTC)
 * His elder (by 8 years) brother Jimmy also changed his name to Johnson, also in 1959, although "Vee-Jay label owner Syd Nathan" isn't mentioned over there. Perhaps he wanted to cash in too. Martinevans123 (talk) 17:59, 9 February 2022 (UTC)
 * This article says: "Jimmy finally changed his surname to Johnson to keep in line with Syl" - in the mid / late 60s. Ghmyrtle (talk) 18:53, 9 February 2022 (UTC)
 * Ah, ok. Martinevans123 (talk) 19:21, 9 February 2022 (UTC)
 * An answer of sorts - here: "Not even the brothers themselves have been clear about the hows and whys of their change of professional surname to “Johnson,” and one claim that Syl used to make—that his biological father had been early blues musician Robert Johnson—isn’t backed by any documentation. Then again, as they built their lives in Chicago, a certain amount of reinvention was surely in order...."  Ghmyrtle (talk) 22:20, 11 February 2022 (UTC)