Carolyn Johnson (1944 – May 7, 2007) – You Don't Know What You're Missing (Til It's Gone!) (1969)
The original member of The Exciters who had a top-five hit with "Tell Him" in 1962 sang on this superb jam, destined to become a Northern soul classic.
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Carolyn Johnson was an original member of the Exciters, the (mostly) girl group who hit big with “Tell Him” in 1963. After leaving the Exciters in the early seventies, she sang with Peaches, aka Jerry Butler’s backing vocalists, who released several of their own singles on Mercury Records.
See our earlier post on original Exciters member Lillian Walker-Moss for more on the group’s musical history.
Born in Queens, New York City, Carolyn (Carol) Johnson joined the Exciters while in high school during the early sixties. In a foreword to the 2023 book What a Difference a Day Makes: Women Who Conquered 1950s Music by Steve Bergsman, Lillian Walker-Moss recalled how Carolyn came onboard:
“On the first day of high school, I met Brenda Reid and she joined Sylvia and me in our group. She had a best friend named Carolyn Johnson, who would hang around with us at rehearsals. One day, we were listening to records and singing along when Carolyn joined in. She had a good voice, and I said, I didn’t know you knew how to sing. She answered, I can sing a little bit. That was enough. I asked her if she wanted to be in the group. Of course, she said yes—we were very cool girls.”
Originally called the Masterettes, they changed their name to The Exciters and had a massive top-five R&B and pop hit in 1962 with the Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller-produced song “Tell Him,” written by Bert Berns. They released more singles that Berns wrote on Shout, the soul subsidiary of his BANG Records label, before his death at an early age in 1967.
In 1969, the Exciters put out their third full-length album Caviar and Chitlins on RCA Victor. Its opening cut “Blowing Up My Mind!” was the LP’s lead single but only hit #49 R&B.
On the flip was the stellar upbeat jam “You Don't Know What You're Missing (Til It's Gone!).” Both sides were co-written by Larry Banks and Exciters member Herb Rooney, who co-produced the single with Paul Robinson and George “Teacho” Wiltshire. Original copies today sell for $175 and up on Discogs.
Johnson and Walker both left the Exciters in the early seventies, replaced by Ronnie Pace and Foster “Skip” McPhee. Johnson went on to become a backing vocalist for Chicago soul legend and Impressions co-founder Jerry Butler. She joined the singers known as Peaches, including Butler’s sister Mattie, and led by Brenda Lee Eager.
Besides backing up Butler, they released three singles of their own during 1971-72 on Mercury Records. The first was billed solely to Peaches, arranged by Gerald Sims, who co-produced it with Butler. “You Couldn't Have Been Thinking ‘bout Me” (1971) was co-written by Larry Wade and Terry Callier, b/w the gospel-flavored slow jam “In My Heart” written by the unknown songwriter C. Jackson.
Next came the superb “In My World” (1972) which was arranged by Jerry Peters and produced by James Blumenberg and Jerry’s brother Billy Butler.
Its B-side was the stellar, upbeat loneliness anthem “I’m A Lonely Woman” written by Mattie Butler and arranged and produced by Gerald Sims.
Their third and final single was issued later that same year on Mercury, the funky jam “I'm Lonely (I Can't Groove).” Co-written by Blumenberg and B. E. Comer, it was co-produced by Billy Butler and Blumenberg, and arranged by Jerry Peters.
Rest in Peace, Carolyn Johnson.
Further info:
“Spotlight: The Exciters,” PopBopRockTilUDrop, May 14, 2020.
What a Difference a Day Makes: Women Who Conquered 1950s Music, by Steve Bergsman and Lillian Walker-Moss, University Press of Mississippi, 2023.
#soul #funk #TheExciters #JerryButler #Peaches #CarolynJohnson
The Exciters still have a place in my jukebox.