Sylvester Johnson was born on 1 July 1936, in Holly Springs, Mississippi USA, the sixth child of a harmonica-playing farmer and his wife. He is best known as an American blues and soul singer, and as a record producer.
So just how rich is Syl Johnson as of mid-2017? Authoritative sources report that Johnson’s net worth is as high as $6 million, accumulated from his almost five decades career in the music industry. He still receives attribution, and gets paid royalties when his songs are played.
Syl Johnson Net Worth $6 million
Syl moved to Chicago with his family when he was a child. His neighbor was Magic Sam, a blues musician, and Syl spent a lot of time performing with him and blues artists such as Billy Boy Arnold and Junior Wells throughout the ‘50s. In 1959, he teamed up with Jimmy Reed and Vee-Jay, and in the same year, Johnson was signed to make an album for Federal Records, and was supported by Freddie King on guitar. Syl went on to work with Twinight Records in the late ‘60s, and the result of their collaboration was an album entitled ‘’Dresses Too Short’’, which was well received by the critics, and as of today has five out of five stars on Amazon Music. The first big hit from the album was ‘’ Come On Sock It to Me’’, and the song ‘’Different Strokes’’ followed in the same manner, and became widely successful taking a spot on the breakbeat compilation album ‘’Ultimate Breaks and Beats’’. His net worth was well established.
In 1970, he published another acknowledged album for Twinight, this time exploring the problems of African-American people with ‘’Is It Because I’m Black?’’, and which peaked at number 11 on the Billboard R&B charts. In 1971, Syl joined Hi Records and created three albums with the producer Willie Mitchell and Hi House Band. Johnson had notable hits such as “We Did It”, “Back for a Taste of Your Love” and “Take Me to the River”, the latter holding the score of four out of five stars on Discogs as of today, but all helped lift his net worth.
After his collaboration with Hi Records, he went on to establish Shama records and create ‘’Bring Out the Blues in Me’’, again receiving positive reviews and becoming very popular.
As of the ‘80s, Johnson retired from performing and opened his own fast food restaurant. However, finding out that some of his songs were covered by other artists, so Syl decided to continue with his music career, and recorded the album entitled ‘’Back In the Game’’ in 1995 for the Delmark music label, also featuring his youngest daughter Syleena Johnson. His hit song ‘’Different Strokes’’ continued to be one of the most covered songs.
With over 170 songs made in total, Syl remains one of the most influential musicians of the blues genre. He appeared in ‘’ R&B Divas: Atlanta’’, a reality television show where his daughter was competing. As of the most recent past, he released ‘’My Funky Funky Band’’, a 2017 album for Twinight.
In his personal life, Syl was married to Brenda Thompson and has three daughters, Syleecia, Syleette and Syleena from that marriage. He is the father of Chad Johnson, a former American football player.
