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■ 1 1 ■■■■ I I ■ *.■.*»*, V. *.*. v.'-V \* .V.V/.V. V/.V/-_y •’.‘.■.■.‘.'.‘.•.‘/.'.V.V/'BROTHERS ANli SISTERS — Mrs. Helen John- Her son Johnny Lee Johnson has been drummerson of Gulfport looks over the Allman Brothers with the band since It started.Band’s newest album ’Brothers and Sisters.’ (Sun photo by Sonny Pippin)Gulfport's Jai Johanny JohansonMother to an Allman BrotherBy LYNNE BERNABEISun Staff WriterWhen Mrs, Helen Johnson of Gulfport arrives to clean up the Plumbers and Steamfitters union hall on Pass Road In Gulfport in a Lincoln ContinentalMark IV, quite a few eyebrows are raised.Not many people outside of her family and close friends know that Mrs. Johnson's oldest son is Jai Johanny Johanson or (or Jaimoe), talented drummer with the Allman Brothers Band.Besides sending her a Lincoln Continental, Johnny Lee Johnson also senthis mother some plane tickets to New York and to the Allman Brothers Carnegie Hall concert in November of 1971.“When he was 14-years-old Johnny saw Arthur Rubenstein on televison.He told me, 'one of these days I'm going to play in Carnegie Hall.’ We called him Udreamer,’” Mrs.Johnson said.Mrs. Johnson said that all she answered in those days was “Baby, Mother would be proud if you doit.”She says she continues to do housework because she needs to keep working. I'm just proud of him, that he's made it, she added.Johnny Lee Johnson, 29, evidently did not have an easy rise to fame and fortune, according to his mother.“He always loved music all of his days, Mrs. Johnson said, although she said he didn’t get his own set of drums until the ninth grade.Johnson started regularly playing music in the school band at the 33rd Avenue High School underband director Willie Farmer, Mrs. Johnson said.He did everything to the stove, refrigerator, and tables, wearing them out before he got his own drums, she added.Mrs. Johnson claims a musical inclination dates back generations in her family.My mother’s sister belongs to the sanctified church and she beats the drums. I used to hear about my mother’s brother playing the harp.” she said.Her son played with George Woods in Biloxi, Ted Taylor in New Orleans, and later with Otis Redding and Joe Tex, Mrs. Johnson remembers.Finally, six or seven years ago, when he was “hanging around different studios in Macon, Georgia. he finally joined up with Dwayne and Greg All-man, Mrs. Johnson explained.Mrs. Johnson says she likes the blues in the All-man Brothers music and her son loves the jazz.She says she used to worry about her son when he was using the money he earned to live in these places - hotels, motels, and rooming houses.“Sometimes I didn't know where he was. I always worried about him getting in accidents.Mrs. Johnson’s husband was killed in 1953 in an automobile accident.*She said the musical group was saddened by the deaths of band member Berry Oakley in 1971 and Dwayne Allman recently. Both died in motorcycle accidents.On the first occasion they were all sad. They just started practicing. They hardly knew if they wanted to play in CarnegieHall, she said.Of the Allman Brothers Band, Mrs. Johnson says, They're all just down-to-earth earth people.They call her son Frown” and Mrs. Johnson Mama Frown,” she said.Johnny changed his name, she added, to make it sound more professional. She says when she calls him Johnny Lee at home, he answers, You could just leave the Lee where you will.Mrs. Johnson knows about all the platinum and golden records the Allman Brothers band has won and has hung posters of her son around her modest home at 495 Silver Ridge Avenue in Mississippi City-Of her three other children she says, I tried to make us all love the same. Besides Johnny, Raymond, 27, Hazel Louise, 24, and SamuelMlOliVHTSATURDAYthe CLASSICW- c. FIELDSMAE WESTMMT UTTLECHICKADEESURFSIDELeroy, 21, complete Mrs. Johnson’s family.Although she can’t drive, Mrs. Johnson keeps the Lincoln Continental because I wouldn’t get rid of anything he gave me.”Mrs. Johnson said she calls the gift the familycar.f •In Japan, more than 99 per cent of the people can read and write, giving Japan one of the top literacy rates. The U.S. is eighth.Glllf COAS1.'656A 1 fc, • iLNOW SHOWINGURIVERBOATMOMMA”PLUSTHE MAIDSARE COMINGaf*IN COLORADULTS ONLYSHOWhELD OVER! FOURTHFTRS: 2:00-4:30-7:00-9:30ADULT $2.50, CHILD $1.00 TUESDAY IS DOLLAR DAYWEEK!
Newspaper Details
South Mississippi Sun
Biloxi, Mississippi, US
Tue, Jun 04, 1974
Page 14
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
TX, USA 10 May 2020
Other Publications Near Biloxi, Mississippi
The Keesler Field News
Biloxi Sun Herald
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Biloxi Daily Herald
