Zoë Johnston
c. 1976
Nottinghamshire, England, United Kingdom
Singer, songwriter
Vocals, acoustic guitar
1999–present
Early work[edit]
Zoë wrote with Nottingham-based house duo Simon White and Cal Gibson, firstly on the single "Cherry Trees" (1999) and then on a number of tracks which were released on their debut album A View From the Heights, released on both vinyl and CD by Glasgow Underground in 1999. In all work with Neon Heights, Zoë is credited under the moniker "Zed J". Numerous remixes of the album tracks followed. Johnston received praise in early write-ups with one reviewer finding her vocals to be "so distinctive, almost unearthly".[1] She also wrote with Hubtone ("Wayback" in 1998 and "Red Balloon" in 1999), Weekender ("Sunday Session" in 2000), and created an unreleased solo EP entitled Balloon Woods (1999).
Bent[edit]
After reuniting as old school friends, Zoë began exchanging demos with Simon Mills (one half of the UK electronica duo Bent along with Nail Tolliday). The band were in the process of putting together their debut album having just been signed to Ministry of Sound. At home, Johnston was using a 4 track to record guitars and vocals and had just completed an acoustic version of her song "Private Road". Simon immediately loved it and asked her to re-record it with Bent for inclusion on their debut album, Programmed to Love (2000). Zoë played guitars and sang on the album version of the track. Shortly afterwards, she wrote her vocal parts for the song "Swollen", which was described by the British actor Michael Caine during his BBC Radio 4 broadcast of Desert Island Discs as "one of the most romantic songs in chill music I've ever heard".[3] In keeping with the format of the show, he included "Swollen" in a list of only eight songs he would take with him were he cast away on a desert island with limited resources. He also included the track on a self-compiled chill-out album entitled Cained.[4]
Faithless[edit]
Upon the release of "Swollen", Faithless member Rollo Armstrong was one of a few people tasked with re-mixing the song. He was immediately drawn to Zoë's voice but assumed she had been sampled from a 1930s-era record as Mills and Tolliday were at this time frequently building their songs around vocals lifted from old vinyl.[5] When he received the audio parts, he realized otherwise and contacted Zoë asking her to write with Faithless. He sent her a cassette tape of an instrumental track which would eventually become the song "Evergreen". Zoë worked using the 4 track at home and wrote the vocal parts, before re-recording them at the Faithless studio in London with the approval of Rollo and Sister Bliss.
Following this, Johnston returned to the studio to record "Crazy English Summer". Rollo and Sister Bliss had written an instrumental to which Zoë added the lyrics and melody from the first verse and bridge of an acoustic song she been writing at home, called "Crazy English Summers". Johnston also sang with Maxi Jazz on the song "Liontamer".
All three songs were included on the platinum-selling album Outrospective (2001). It became Faithless's biggest selling album in the United Kingdom. Despite some critical press reviews of the album as a whole, Zoë was repeatedly picked out by online commentators and media sources as a stand out highlight, with the BBC writing that "it is Maxi Jazz's soulful testament to his childhood hero "Muhammad Ali" and Zoë Johnston's sublime "Crazy English Summer" that will give this album a shelf life"[6] and reviewers praising her "obvious musical talent" and "original voice, style and sound [which] are so rare in today's music world."[7]
In support of the album, Zoë accompanied the band on an 18-month world tour, performing in multiple countries throughout Europe, as well as in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Malaysia. She sang live with Faithless on the main stage in front of nearly 90,000 at the Werchter festival in Belgium (headlining in front of Coldplay) and on the pyramid stage at Glastonbury Festival in the United Kingdom in 2002. This Glastonbury gig was included by The Daily Telegraph in its 2015 article, "The 100 best Glastonbury performances ever"[8] and was listed at number 21 ahead of many other notable artists.
Delerium[edit]
Whilst on tour with Faithless, Johnston wrote the first of three songs for Delerium, entitled "Love" (2002). She received the track on a CD and recorded all of her vocal parts at her own studio before posting the finalized piece to Delerium's label management in the USA. The same set-up yielded the tracks "The Way You Want It to Be" (2003) and "You & I" (2004).
Grammy nomination[edit]
In February 2016, Johnston attended the 58th Annual Grammy Awards is Los Angeles as a Grammy nominee with the song "We’re All We Need" (co-written with Above & Beyond). The song was entered into the Best Dance Recording category. Other nominees included Skrillex, the Chemical Brothers, Galantis, Diplo, Kendrick Lamar, Flying Lotus and Justin Bieber. The award went to Skrillex and Diplo (as Jack Ü) with Justin Bieber for the song "Where Are Ü Now".[36]
Other projects[edit]
Johnston wrote and self-recorded vocal parts for the tracks "Leche" (2004) and "Inside Out" (2005) with renowned Faithless, Dido and Spice Girls linked percussionist Sudha. They were released on Sudha's solo album Anti-Freeze in 2009. She also wrote her vocals for instrumentals with house act Weekender ("Sunday Session" in 2000) and with Sleepthief on "A Kind of Magic" (2009), "Reason Why" with Coury Palermo (2009) and "Alice's Door" (2018).
Zoë Johnston has a First Class Honours degree in Journalism, Film and Broadcasting and is a keen writer. She creates both impasto and photo-realist paintings and has undertaken a number of private commissions throughout the years. Her main focus is on figure painting and portraiture, but she has also been commissioned to paint creatures including celebrated racehorses.[39]