WIRRAL LIFE TALK TO HOLLY JOHNSON BY MARIE FITZSIMMONS
W L INTERVIEW
WIRRAL LIFE TALK TO HOLLY JOHNSON BY MARIE FITZSIMMONS
William Holly Johnson is an English artist , musician , and writer , best known as the lead vocalist of Frankie Goes to Hollywood , who achieved huge commercial success in the mid- 1980s . Prior to that , in the late 1970s he was a bassist for the band Big in Japan . In 1989 , Johnson ' s debut solo album , Blast , reached number one in the UK albums chart . Two singles from the album – " Love Train " and " Americanos " – reached the top 5 of the UK Singles Chart . In the 1990s , he also embarked on writing , painting , and printmaking careers . Wirral Life were delighted to catch up with him prior to his performance in Liverpool and Irlam .
You ’ re headlining Irlam Live on Saturday 1st June and Mathew Street Festival on Friday 23rd August amongst other live performances across the UK ; what can fans expect from you ?
I will be singing all the Frankie Goes to Hollywood hits , including the Holly Johnson ones ; Americanos and Love Train , because I think you have to give people what they want when you perform , so I will play all the hits ! It ’ s a privilege , I am so lucky to have these songs , I feel they protect me in some way . They are sure fire hits and crowd pleasers , so I love doing them .
Frankie Goes to Hollywood opened Eurovision in 2023 . What was it like playing together after such a long time apart and in your hometown ?
I think it had been 20 years since we had all been together in one room and I thought why not , after all this time it ’ s time to put aside our differences and it was a real pleasure . I had forgotten how much I actually liked those people and why I liked them . It was great , it couldn ’ t have been a better outcome .
As soon as we walked on stage , we could hear the buzz from the crowd , it was amazing and we seemed to have the same chemistry that we had back in the day , the dynamic was the same , the energy was the same . Obviously , we have all changed but it was just great , a perfect pop moment .
It ’ s been 40 years since Relax , although it was highly controversial , it still stands today as one of the best-selling singles ever . The initial reaction to the song wasn ’ t a friendly one , was it ?
The BBC ban ! People say they did us a favour because it made us cool , edgy and rebellious , with a knock-on effect in Europe and other places that we visited , but I wanted to sing our number one debut single on Top of The Pops and that moment was denied to us . It was very disappointing because I had watched TOTP my whole life and it was my dream to be on it .
The song had all these overt sexual references , and the band was fronted by two openly gay men gyrating away in leather ! Of course , once the tabloids got hold of it , we became a target . Yes , there were gay pop stars before us , but I think we were the first band that didn ’ t apologise for who we were .
Frankie Goes to Hollywood was a moment in history for music ; you were and still are today iconic . You were the first of a kind to make statements that still resonates today .
We didn ’ t care what people thought about us coming from Liverpool , this is the way we were , so , tough ! That was very much our attitude towards our alternate sexualities ; some of the band were straight and we got on with them fine . It needed to happen , just as in the same way Bronski Beat needed to happen a few months after us and they were much more politically inclined , whereas we didn ’ t care !
Frankie Goes to Hollywood soared the UK singles chart with hits ; Power of Love , Two Tribes and Relax reaching number 1 in 1984 , what a year for the band !
Because of these songs we dominated 1984 and it meant we were the first act to achieve consecutive No 1 ’ s with our first three releases since Gerry and The Pacemakers in 1963 . It was a ridiculous year for Frankie .
How was life after Frankie ?
My years with Frankie ended up in court and it all got messy . I ’ d been through the mill ; I was dealing with illness and I sort of stepped back . I went to art college and travelled , but my love of music never went away .
Following your successful solo music career , you left the music scene for a while to concentrate on art ?
Even though Liverpool has a fantastic art scene - John Lennon and Stuart Sutcliffe both went to the Liverpool College of Art - I was never really encouraged to paint at school . Art was seen as being less worthy than maths or physics or English . Isn ’ t that awful ? Look at the work of artists like Peter Blake or David Hockney . Life for most kids in 1960s and 1970s was rigidly defined and ordered , but Blake ’ s pictures brought a splash of Hollywood and celebrity to my Liverpool suburb . Maybe the parents and the teachers didn ’ t get
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