Christina Johnson - Singer/Songwriter - Calgary, Alberta Canada
Recordlady was my first Website, used to document my media background and music info - I had been a radio dj for several decades in Canada and the US - and took this name from a song by Lyle Lovett who inspired me always. I even worked at a radio station on Lovett Blvd. at the time I started using it and when the song came out.
I am a Canadian living in Calgary, Alberta - originally from Lachine, Quebec, a suburb on the Island of Montreal.
I have played guitar since I was about 14, I was and am a rare breed, originally from the suburbs of Montreal but grew up loving Country Music. My first live exposure was when I was 13 and Glen Campbell performed with Ian and Sylvia opening at Place Des Art in Montreal - I had won tickets from CFOX radio, which had been a pop station during the 60's but switched to Country in the '70s, I won the tickets to go to the concert then, and I think that was when my passion really started to take off. I still listened to the top Pop and Rock with my friends but I'd be playing country on my piano and guitar in my basement.
I also decided about then I wanted to work in Radio --- over the years I always kept that dream and eventually at 25 I went to study radio at Humber College in Toronto. I had really been studying radio and music all my life up to that point in one way or another so really I was out working in the field within weeks of starting the course, it was more of an excuse to get my foot in the door of a radio station than for academic study it seemed.
I have been on the air in Calgary, Houston, Texas, Midland/Odessa, Texas, Lafayette, Louisiana, Bellevieu (Seattle), Washington, and some places in between.
I spent a lot of time working with local musicians and singer-songwriters and interviewing country greats along the way - and some rock and pop artists as well as those of other genres - but now that I have been out of that world for a while, being a homemaker, following my husband's career -- I have decided now is the time to finally work on the songs and music I have in me.
At this time I am just starting with some home equipment, I do have a few very beautiful guitars usually featuring my Larravee, and sometimes a fun and practical little Martin Backpacker that I love for travel -- most recently hubby bought me a Gibson ES 335 for my 20th Anniversary, how romantic is that? LOL sure is for someone who loves to play guitar :)
I have been fortunate to travel for leisure over the years, from the Galapagos Islands to Istanbul, Alaska to Egypt and expect places and experiences will have a lot to do with what I continue to write about, this is my first efforts in recording. I have taken the train across most of Canada .. just need to finish the route from Montreal Eastward and visit the Canadian North - other than once visiting the edge of the Yukon on the White Pass railway from Skagway on a daytrip, but I have done the east coast and across the Atlantic by ship. I have been through most of the US States once on an unlimited rail pass on Amtrak - missed a few but stopped in many and saw a lot of the countryside out the window. There has to be some train songs within me and in my future. I also lived in the Seattle, Houston, and Lafayette, Louisiana areas over a 15 year period. In Canada I have lived in my home town of Lachine, Quebec (West Island of Montreal) where I grew up, Toronto, Ontario where I studied Radio Broadcasting at Humber College and worked for the Canadian Home Shopping Network while I was in school there, answering calls to put them on the air and periodically modeling jewelry in the wee smalls of the night. Not the prettiest sight when you put rings on a guitarist who keeps them short and doesn't bother with nail polish!
I have written in one form or another since I was quite young, from cataloguing the conquests of the Montreal Canadiens, to writing poetry in French class instead of working on my verbs .. oh oh .. then later on mostly writing news stories and pieces for broadcast. My first songs were about the Rocky Mountains when I moved out West in my early 20's which was only a short time after I saw John Denver in concert -- I think he may have opened my eyes to both the passion of writing and how the beauty of the mountains can fill one's heart with music and passion.
I am a glass half full type person, and am drawn to people who are passionate about whatever it is that motivates them, I hope to share time with you in my music and maybe someday I can hear about your passions too, its what makes you great.
Christina Johnson
on Facebook: at https://www.facebook.com/272026936189308
Follow me on Twitter at Follow @AlbertaVista
To contact us email : info@magnetloft.ca