Ken "Snakehips" Johnson

Kenrick Reginald Hijmans Johnson[1] (10 September 1914 – 8 March 1941), known as Ken "Snakehips" Johnson, was a swing band leader and dancer. He was a leading figure in black British music of the 1930s.[2] He died at the Café de Paris in London, mid-performance, on 8 March 1941, during The Blitz.

Ken Johnson
Born
Kenrick Reginald Hijmans Johnson

(1914-09-10)10 September 1914
Georgetown, British Guiana[1]
Died8 March 1941(1941-03-08) (aged 26)
Piccadilly, London, United Kingdom
Other namesSnakehips
EducationSir William Borlase's Grammar School
OccupationMusician

Early life

Originally from British Guiana, Johnson at the age of 15 was sent by his parents to the United Kingdom, where he attended Sir William Borlase's Grammar School, Marlow, Buckinghamshire,[3] where he played the violin and cricket, and was a goalkeeper for the football team due to his height. [4] Johnson is rumoured to have attended The University of Edinburgh around 1931, though his matriculation records have never been found.[5]

Having gained an interest in dance, he sought lessons from American choreographer Buddy Bradley.[2] It was in dance work that Johnson earned his nickname, "Snakehips", from his "fluid and flexible style".[3]

After a visit to Harlem, New York in 1934, where he saw Cab Calloway and Fletcher Henderson performing, he abandoned thoughts of studying medicine and gained inspiration to form his own band, despite a limited musicianship.[4]

Career

In 1936, Johnson was invited to lead Leslie Thompson's band,[6] before going on to start his own, called "Ken Johnson and his Rhythm Swingers" (later renamed "The West Indian Orchestra"), which played jazz and swing music and was composed largely of musicians from the West Indies.[2]

After the beginning of World War II, the 12-piece secured a residency at the fashionable London nightclub Café de Paris, a byword for sophistication. The band were also able to record here for broadcast on BBC radio, gaining them a much larger audience; they also made an early television appearance.[2] Critics acknowledged them as the first British band really to ‘swing’ and Johnson declared his wish to emulate Americans such as Count Basie. “I determined to play swing at the Café or die!” he told a Melody Maker reporter in 1939.

Thompson described Johnson as "a tall, lean fellow, and he could dance. Ken didn't know any music but he could wiggle and waggle himself to the time of the music, and so keep the onlookers amused and interested. Somehow he got his name put out there on the posters [...] he was such a nice boy, but he wanted money, and he got led off without being aware of the consequences."[4]

Personal life

In 1940, despite his reputation for being a nice man with a kind word for everyone, Johnson became the lover of Gerald Hamilton, "the wickedest man in Europe", who was 20 years his senior. They moved together at 91 Kinnerton Street in Belgravia and later bought a cottage called "Little Basing" in Vicarage Road, Bray, Berkshire, where Johnson could go sailing, which was one of his hobbies.[4]

Hamilton was at that cottage, when he received a phone call on 9 March 1941, informing him of Johnson's death and asking him to come identify the body. He later recalled: "Again that awful feeling of nausea which I had felt when France fell, and again that sensation of the ground slipping from beneath my feet." From then on, Hamilton kept a picture of Johnson in a white tuxedo with white satin facings at all time with him, calling him "my husband."[7]

Death

Johnson was killed at Café de Paris on 8 March 1941, during The Blitz, when a 50 kg high-explosive bomb came through the roof straight onto the dance floor soon after the start of a performance.[8] Time magazine reported that the orchestra was playing its signature tune Oh, Johnny, Oh Johnny, How You Can Love! when the club was hit.[9][10] The club had falsely been thought to be safe because of its location underground.

Around eighty people were injured and at least 34 killed,[10] including 26-year-old Johnson, who was decapitated.[11] His saxophonist, Dave "Baba" Williams, was also killed, cut in half by the blast.[12] Johnson's body, however, was found intact, a red carnation still at his buttonhole.[4]

After Johnson's cremation at Golders Green Crematorium,[13] his ashes were placed at his old school, Sir William Borlase's Grammar School, where they reside in the school chapel, together with a panel dedicated to him.[14] Johnson's ashes were interred on 8 March 1942, a year after Johnson's death.[4]

Legacy

In 2019, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a documentary in which guitarist Joe Deniz described how he survived the air strike at the Cafe de Paris.[15] Professor Catherine Tackley, head of music at the University of Liverpool, also noted that the Johnson musicians who survived were soon absorbed into London's white dance bands, creating a remarkable number of racially integrated bands, unlike the prewar years.

DNB notes that Johnson's significance in maintaining the first established black British band was social as much as musical. “His musicians had an important influence on British jazz that continued beyond his death, [while] Johnson’s achievements provided a template for other black musicians to follow.”[1]

References
  1. Wilmer, Val (2006-05-25). "Johnson, Kenrick Reginald Hijmans". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 2019-04-03.
  2. Swinging into the Blitz: A Culture Show Special, BBC Two, 16 February 2013.
  3. The Ken SnakeHips Johnson Story at www.swingtime.co.uk
  4. Bourne, Stephen (2017). Fighting Proud: The Untold Story of the Gay Men Who Served in Two World Wars. Bloomsbury. ISBN 9781786732156.
  5. "Ken 'Snakehips' Johnson – UncoverED". Retrieved 2021-01-29.
  6. John Cowley, "London is the Place: Caribbean Music in the Context of Empire 1900-60", in Paul Oliver (ed.), Black Music In Britain: Essays on the Afro Asian Contribution to Popular Music, Milton Keynes, Open University Press, 1990, pp. 57-76.
  7. Cullen, Tom (2014). The Man who was Norris: The Life of Gerald Hamilton. Dedalus. ISBN 9781909232433.
  8. Andrew Janes, "The bombing of the Café de Paris", Records and research, 8 March 2013, The National Archives.
  9. "The Cafe de Paris, the Trial of Elvira Barney and the death of Snakehips Johnson", Another Nickel In The Machine.
  10. Ken "Snakehips" Johnson at West End at War. Retrieved 11 January 2010.
  11. CWGC Casualty Record.
  12. Richards, Elizabeth (2019-01-25). "Black History Month - Black British Swing: Caribbean Contribution to British Jazz in the 1930s and 1940s". blackhistorymonth. Retrieved 2019-04-03.
  13. Ken Snakehips Johnson, Find-a-grave entry.
  14. "Ken 'Snakehips' Johnson Dance band leader was a pupil here 1929-1931", Open Plaque.
  15. "Black Music in Europe: A Hidden History". BBC Radio4. 2019-04-03. Retrieved 2019-04-03.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.