George Washington Johnson (May 1850 – most likely January 23, 1914) was a singer and pioneer sound recording artist, the first African-American star of the phonograph. ^[1] This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For the game, see: 1850 (board game) 1850 (MDCCCL) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday [1] of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... is the 23rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... A singer is a musician who uses their voice to produce music. ... Methods and media for sound recording are varied and have undergone significant changes between the first time sound was actually recorded for later playback until now. ... Languages Predominantly American English Religions Protestantism (chiefly Baptist and Methodist); Roman Catholicism; Islam Related ethnic groups Sub-Saharan Africans and other African groups, some with Native American groups. ... Edison cylinder phonograph ca. ...

George W. Johnson

Johnson was born in slavery on a plantation in Virginia and around 1885 he married Annie. About 1889 Johnson was whistling on the Staten Island Ferry in New York City when he was heard by someone connected with the infant recording industry (one story says that it was Thomas A. Edison himself). Johnson was invited to record his loud raggy whistling on wax phonograph cylinders for a fee of twenty cents per 2 minute performance. The recording went well, and in 1890 Johnson began recording regularly for various companies in the New York and New Jersey area. George W. Johnson, engraving from record catalogue, c. ... Slave redirects here. ... // This article is about crop plantations. ... Official language(s) English Capital Richmond Largest city Virginia Beach Area  Ranked 35th  - Total 42,774 sq mi (110,785 km²)  - Width 200 miles (320 km)  - Length 430 miles (690 km)  - % water 7. ... Year 1889 (MDCCCLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Staten Island Ferry, with the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in the background The Staten Island Ferry is a passenger ferry operated by the New York City Department of Transportation between Whitehall Street at the southernmost tip of Manhattan near Battery Park (South Ferry) and St. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... The record industry (or recording industry) is the industry that manufactures and distributes mechanical recordings of music. ... Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 - October 18, 1931) was an inventor and businessman who developed many important devices. ... Look up ragtime in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The earliest method of recording and reproducing sound was on phonograph cylinders. ... ISO 4217 Code USD User(s) the United States, the British Indian Ocean Territory,[1] the British Virgin Islands, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Panama, Caicos Islands, and the insular areas of the United States Inflation 2. ... 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar). ... Official language(s) English de facto Capital Trenton Largest city Newark Area  Ranked 47th  - Total 8,729 sq mi (22,608 km²)  - Width 70 miles (110 km)  - Length 150 miles (240 km)  - % water 14. ...

Johnson sang as well as whistled, and also was able to give a boisterous laugh in musical pitch. From this he developed the two performances that made him famous, "The Whistling Coon" and "The Laughing Coon". While on occasion he recorded other material, including whistling the song "Listen to the Mockingbird" and some short minstrel show performances done with other performers, it was these two songs that Johnson would perform and record over and over for years. Coon can refer to: an abbreviation for raccoon the Maine Coon, a breed of domestic cat an ethnic slur used in American, British and Australian English for people of African or aboriginal Australian descent a brand of cheese in Australia Coon Carnival, a yearly minstrel festival in Cape Town, South... Detail from cover of The Celebrated Negro Melodies, as Sung by the Virginia Minstrels, 1843 The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the American Civil War, African Americans in blackface. ...

In the earliest days of the recording industry, every record was a "master". A strong voiced singer could make a maximum of 5 records at once, as 5 machines with their recording horns pointed towards the singer's mouth were started at the same time. By 1894, Johnson was reported to have sold over 25,000 records recorded this way. He would sometimes sing the same song over and over again in the recording studio fifty or more times a day. 1894 (MDCCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... A recording studio is a facility for sound recording. ...

Johnson also made appearances on Vaudeville. His repertory on stage was pretty much limited to his two famous songs, but this was sufficient to get him bookings on bills. This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Johnson was hired as a valet by Len Spencer, a Vaudeville star of the era. Spencer and Johnson made a few recordings together. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Len Spencer (February 12, 1867 – December 15, 1914) was an early American recording artist. ...

Johnson made his first disc records in 1895 for Berliner Gramophone. In addition to Berliner, Edison Records, and Columbia, and somewhat later the Victor Talking Machine Company, Johnson recorded for numerous other small cylinder and disc companies through the 1890s and up to about 1910. It has been suggested that Childrens gramophone records be merged into this article or section. ... Year 1895 (MDCCCXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... 1897 Berliner Gramophone Record by George W. Johnson A more detailed description of this record Berliner Gramophone was an early record label, the first company to produce disc gramophone records (as opposed to the earlier phonograph cylinder records). ... Edison Records was the first record label, pioneering recorded sound and an important player in the early record industry. ... Victor logo with the famous Nipper dog. ...

Rumors have alleged that the first Black recording star died either in a racism motivated lynching, or alternatively that he was hanged after he committed murder. Neither story is true. George W. Johnson died apparently of natural causes, while in the employ of Len Spencer as doorman for the Lyceum Theater in Manhattan. Racism is a belief or concept that inherent differences between people, in particular those upon which the concept of race is based, determine cultural or individual achievement, and may involve the idea that ones self-identified race is superior. ... Lynching is a form of violence, usually murder, conceived of by its perpetrators as extrajudicial punishment for offenders or as a terrorist method of enforcing social domination. ... Manhattan is a borough of New York City, New York, USA, coterminous with New York County. ...

References

is the 23rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... 1900 US Census The Twelfth United States Census, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States to be 76,212,168, an increase of 21. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 605 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (2880 × 2853 pixel, file size: 794 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) George Washington Johnson in the 1900 US Census in Manhattan. ...

External links

• George W. Johnson on the Ragtime Ephemerist 2 page article with illustrations and RealAudio file of one of Johnson's records
• George W. Johnson: African-American Recording Pioneer
• George W. Johnson cylinder recordings, from the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library.
• Archive.org Collection of George W. Johnson's music four different (1898-1902) recordings of The Laughing Song and one each of The Laughing Coon and The Whistling Song