Matt Johnson (born 3 February 1969) is a British keyboardist who plays for the funk and jazz band Jamiroquai.
Biography
Johnson was aged one and a half when he started playing the piano at his family home. "My dad was a musician, so there was always music playing in the house; but I remember being taught by a scary old piano teacher, who must have been over 90 years old". His influences range from Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis through to Squarepusher.[1]
Before playing in Jamiroquai, Johnson was a writer and performer for bands Sunray—with whom Kym Mazelle recorded a cover of "Perhaps"—and Nu Hope. He has also written and produced songs for artists such as Alexia, who had a minor hit with "Ring".
His route into Jamiroquai was via an audition in 2002. He was recommended by Simon Katz, a previous Jamiroquai guitarist, and Derrick gave him the call. The audition was a success, and Matt became a songwriter and member of Jamiroquai.
He joined Jamiroquai on 2 May 2002, replacing the founding member Toby Smith as keyboardist.
Johnson has also had a stint as the chief songwriting partner and producer—along with a Jamiroquai bandmate, guitarist Rob Harris—for singer-songwriter Julian Perretta, helping him create his debut album, Stitch Me Up, which was released in 2010.[2]
Johnson produced and co-wrote songs for the group's 2017 album, Automaton, with bandmate Jay Kay.[3] He also produced Jon Regen's 2019 album Higher Ground.[4] In July 2020, he released three singles—"With The Music", “ZOOM”, and “Sunshine”—to promote his new album, With the Music, which was released on 18 July 2020 in Japan, followed by a worldwide release two days later.[5]
Sound on Sound magazine website described Johnson as "one of the most talented and prolific keyboard players of the last 20 years" in April 2022.[6]
