Johnny “Guitar” Watson was a master of reinvention. In the 1950s, Watson was an accomplished blues guitarist – one of the best on the West Coast. When those skills stopped paying the bills, he reinvented himself as a funk hipster with successful singles in the ’70s.
As a fifteen-year-old, he began playing piano in L.A., recording his first single a year later as Young John Watson. Within a year, he moved from piano to guitar and recorded a series of R&B singles in the ’50s and early singles that found their way onto the charts. Shifting once again to piano, he recorded a jazz album in 1964.
Another series of blues infused singles followed in the late ’60s that were popular in the UK before Watson disappeared for a few years.
Johnny “Guitar” Watson returned to the public eye in the mid ’70s with a totally different look and sound. R&B and the blues were fading, so Watson reinvented himself as a funk performer. Decked out in ’70s pimp-style outfits complete with bell-bottom suits, platform shoes, gold teeth, oversized fedoras, and Elton John-like shades, his Texas blues melded into bass heavy funk.
Watson’s funk era peaked in 1977 with A Real Mother For Ya, his highest charting single on both the R&B and pop charts. In 1980, he stepped away from music to deal with the shooting death of longtime collaborator Larry Williams, but he returned with a Grammy nominated album in 1984.
In 1995, Watson received a Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation, a recognition of the artist’s influence on a following generation of musicians. Watson was in the midst of another comeback when he was struck down and died from a heart attack onstage in Japan.
