Michael Johnson ~ Bluer Than Blue 1978 Extended Purrfection Version

Michael Jay Johnson was born August 8, 1944 in Alamosa, Colorado but grew up in Denver. Interested in music from a young age, he took up the guitar at 13. While attending college, he won an international talent contest in 1965 which got him a deal with Epic Records. The first thing he did was to attend the Liceu Conservatory in Barcelona, Spain to learn from eminent classical guitarists. After completing his studies there, he moved back to the US and met Randy Sparks who founder of The New Christy Minstrels a popular 60’s folk group. The band broke up in 1967 so Johnson joined The Chad Mitchell Trio collaborating with a young John Denver who was writing songs for the trio. He played in an off Broadway production of “Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris“ and then was signed to Atco Records in 1971 and releasing his first album in 1973. He was gaining an audience with each successive album. He recorded two demos “Bluer Than Blue“ and a song from “Brigadoon“ “Almost Like Being In Love“. “Bluer“ was the first released and it peaked at #12 on the Hot100 with “Almost“ following reaching #32. His last charting pop hit was 1979’s “This Night Won’t Last Forever“. He switched to country music and had five top 10 country hits on RCA Records then went to Atlantic in 1991.