Singer, Songwriter. Founding member of the R&B doo-wop group The Velvets. In spite of hindrance from segregation laws in Texas, Johnson was able to receive his degree in Education from Texas Tech and went on to teach English at a junior high school in Odessa. It was during this period, when he witnesses a few of his students harmonizing together, thus giving him the idea to form an ensemble with them. They were performing at a local engagement when Roy Orbison spotted them. He referred them to his producer Fred Foster who was proprietor of Monument Records and the result would be a contract with his company. Their name also changed to Virgil Johnson and The Velvets so there would not be any confusion with an earlier group of the same name. In 1960, they yielded the singles "That Lucky Old Sun," "Time And Again" and "Spring Fever," however it would be Johnson's penned hit "Tonight (Could Be The Night)" for which the group will perhaps be best remembered. The single reached a Top-30 placing on the charts in 1961. By the mid-1960s after the achievement of some international success in Japan, the group parted ways. Johnson went onto becoming a junior high school principal in Lubbock, Texas and additionally worked as a disc jockey in that area.
Singer, Songwriter. Founding member of the R&B doo-wop group The Velvets. In spite of hindrance from segregation laws in Texas, Johnson was able to receive his degree in Education from Texas Tech and went on to teach English at a junior high school in Odessa. It was during this period, when he witnesses a few of his students harmonizing together, thus giving him the idea to form an ensemble with them. They were performing at a local engagement when Roy Orbison spotted them. He referred them to his producer Fred Foster who was proprietor of Monument Records and the result would be a contract with his company. Their name also changed to Virgil Johnson and The Velvets so there would not be any confusion with an earlier group of the same name. In 1960, they yielded the singles "That Lucky Old Sun," "Time And Again" and "Spring Fever," however it would be Johnson's penned hit "Tonight (Could Be The Night)" for which the group will perhaps be best remembered. The single reached a Top-30 placing on the charts in 1961. By the mid-1960s after the achievement of some international success in Japan, the group parted ways. Johnson went onto becoming a junior high school principal in Lubbock, Texas and additionally worked as a disc jockey in that area.
Bio by: C.S.
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