Augie Johnson (August 2, 1948 – October 11, 2014) – Checkin' It Out (1975)

For their self-titled second album, the Side Effect leader co-wrote this funk anthem, co-produced by Wayne Henderson of the Crusaders.

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Augie Johnson was a multi-talented singer/songwriter, musician and producer who led the Los Angeles-based soul/funk/R&B group Side Effect.

August William Johnson was born in New Orleans and moved with his family to Los Angeles when he was six years old. His father taught him to play the clarinet and he began singing in the late fifties after he was recruited off the streets of Compton to join the Bob Mitchell Boys Choir, whose performances were included on the soundtracks to over 100 Hollywood films. He was one of the children in the choir who sang on Frank Sinatra’s 1959 hit recording of “High Hopes.”

After learning to play the saxophone as a teenager, he formed his first group, called the Jazztronauts. He attended Los Angeles City College, then served in the military during the sixties before putting together the Cultures, a soul-jazz group. In May, 1972 Johnson reformed them with a new lineup and name, Side Effect.

The other original members included Lometta Johnson (no relation), Gregory Matta, Louis Patton, and Jim Gilstrap, who would go on to become a prolific backing vocalist for other artists. Gilstrap produced their 1973 debut album Effective, released on the Canadian label G.A.S. Records, which did not chart. He wrote most of its songs including the stellar closing cut “Do You Believe,” featuring Johnson on lead vocals.

Soon afterwards, lead female vocalist Lometta Johnson was replaced by Sylvia Nabors, and Side Effect teamed up with producer Wayne Henderson of the Crusaders. The group joined his At-Home Productions roster and signed with Fantasy Records. Henderson immediately took their sound to another level.

Johnson and Henderson co-produced their self-titled second album, released in 1975. Its masterpiece was arguably the superb funk anthem “Checkin’ It Out,” which Johnson co-wrote with Reg Wilson and Steve Beckmeier. The track featured top session musicians including a pre-Brothers Johnson appearance by the legendary bassist Louis Johnson (no relation), Spider Webb on drums, Oscar Brashear on trumpet, George Bohanon on trombone, and Jerry Peters on keyboards.

When our own DJ Dyn-O-Mite discovered their fourth album, Goin’ Bananas (1977), he reviewed it in 2011 with the fervor of a convert.

“I picked up this beauty last month. But put off listening to it, because...the cover just looked silly. I figured it would be some commercial-sounding, disco rip-off bullshit, maybe the West Coast, Fantasy Records, all-Black version of the Village People.

Turns out I was totally wrong. Goin' Bananas by Side Effect is a soul/funk masterpiece. On yellow vinyl! “Produced by Wayne Henderson for At-Home Productions (All good music starts At-Home!)” will forever after be recognized by me as a sign of quality, as any fan of the Crusaders can testify (except for heads who feel they let down the planet by moving away from their hard bop origins as the Jazz Crusaders).

“Keep On Keepin' On” is my fave, but it was hard to choose, ‘cuz there's lots of goodies, including “Open Up Your Heart,” “It’s All In Your Mind” (which they performed live on Soul Train), and Mr. Monday. The last one in particular, I listened to about 10 times in a row since it’s so smooth and delectable, and after all today is Monday, dammit!

I’m not gonna wax poetic for too long about “Keep On Keepin' On,” just let me say that it features scat singing! And zodiac shout-outs! And a super positive message laid down over a mellow, funky groove. Did I mention that the record is yellow, like a banana?”

Side Effect’s fifth album overall, and fourth and final LP on Fantasy was Rainbow Visions, released in 1978. It was co-produced by Johnson and Henderson, and featured the stellar closing cut “I’m A Winner.” Johnson co-wrote this positivity anthem with fellow members Gregory Matta and Louis Patton, and the scat singing during its break was especially fierce.

Its message was one we should all take to heart - “A winner never quits...a quitter never wins!  Even if you lose, bounce right back again!”

Johnson himself followed its advice after lackluster sales for Goin’ Bananas (#86 Pop / #53 R&B) and Rainbow Visions (#135 Pop / #57 R&B) led the group to leave Fantasy Records. They eventually were picked up by Elektra, but in the interim, like his former bandmate Jim Gilstrap, Johnson sought work as a backing vocalist. He signed onto a Quincy Jones project, which turned out to be Michael Jackson’s breakthrough solo album Off The Wall (1979).

His backing vocals were featured on “Get on the Floor,” which Jackson co-wrote with Louis Johnson, and the album’s international mega-hit “Don’t Stop 'Til You Get Enough,” which topped both the R&B charts and Billboard Hot 100 and also hit #1 in nine other countries.

In 2014, Johnson sat for a wide-ranging interview about his life and times, after he made headlines by admitting that he was the father of former Side Effect lead singer Miki Howard’s son Brandon, who had been rumored to be one of Michael Jackson’s children. Before the year was out, Johnson was dead. He died in his sleep, gone too soon at age 66.

Further info:

“Side Effect Augie Johnson Life Interview,” conducted by Greg Glass, The James And Greg Show, 2014.

“Augie Johnson was Here,” by Steven Ivory, Michigan Chronicle, October 14, 2014.

#soul #funk #disco #SideEffect #AugieJohnson