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Holly Johnson (Vocalist)

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Vocalist

The Resume

    (February 9, 1960- )
    Birth name is William Johnson
    Best known as the lead singer and lyricist for Frankie Goes to Hollywood (1980-87)
    With Frankie Goes to Hollywood, recorded the albums 'Welcome to the Pleasuredome' and 'Liverpool'
    As a solo artist, recorded 'Blast,' 'Dreams that Money Can't Buy,' and 'Soulstream'
    Recorded the singles 'Love Train,' 'Americanos,' 'Atomic City,' and 'The Power of Love'
    Published his autobiography, 'A Bone in My Flute' (1994)

Why he might be annoying:

    As an unemployed teenager in Liverpool, he and a female friend used to shoplift groceries and cigarettes.
    In the 1970s, he sang as part of a local New Wave duo called 'The Sausages from Mars.'
    He thought that his given name, Billy Johnson, was not sufficiently glamorous-sounding for a pop star, so he re-christened himself 'Holly,' after the Warhol Factory transvestite immortalized in Lou Reed's song, 'Walk on the Wild Side.'
    His name can easily be confused with that of the ice-skater-turned-actress, Lynn-Holly Johnson, who starred in the James Bond movie, 'For Your Eyes Only.'
    His early club performances with Frankie Goes to Hollywood featured a gay S&M theme: he and backup singer, Paul Rutherford, would prance around on stage in leather chaps with their buttocks exposed to the audience while simulating acts of fellatio on each other.
    He was collecting Social Security at the time Frankie Goes to Hollywood signed a major recording contract.
    He dropped out of the publicly funded art school program he had just been accepted into as soon as the band got a record deal.
    He did not get along with his bandmates or their record label.
    He left Frankie Goes to Hollywood acrimoniously because he was unhappy with the restrictive terms of the group's recording contract as well as the bombastic hard-rock sound of their second album.
    His autobiography, 'A Bone in My Flute,' contains many frank and graphic descriptions of his gay lifestyle and sexual fantasies (the title refers to a Liverpudlian euphemism for getting an erection).
    He named his dog, 'Funky,' so whenever it would climb on the furniture he could yell 'Get down Funky!'
    He looks like Pet Shop Boys singer Neil Tennant's debauched evil twin.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He is open and honest about his sexual orientation and makes no apologies for it.
    He had to put up with a lot of homophobic crap growing up gay in working-class Liverpool. The constant abuse from his peers caused him to drop out of school at 16.
    He was often picked on by his father and older brother for not being tough and masculine enough.
    He came up with the name 'Frankie Goes to Hollywood' when he saw a picture of an old newspaper with the headline advertising Frank Sinatra's first movie appearance.
    He successfully sued his former record company, ZTT, for 'restraint of trade,' and in doing so, won an unprecedented legal victory for all pop stars unfairly exploited by bigwig record labels.
    His solo debut, 'Blast,' went to number one on the UK album charts.
    He was falsely reported to have been killed in the plane that was blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1993.
    He publicly announced that he was HIV positive in 1993 and retired from recording music for several years. After his announcement, he became a public spokesman for AIDS awareness and safe sex.
    He is an accomplished painter who has had several exhibitions of his work shown at art galleries throughout Britain.
    His pop-star confessional, 'A Bone in My Flute,' was a bestseller in the UK and is considered one of the best and most revealing books ever written about the music industry.

Credit: Magnetic Stream


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 68 Votes: 69.12% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 7 Votes: 42.86% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 43 Votes: 55.81% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 19 Votes: 63.16% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 13 Votes: 69.23% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 27 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 18 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 52 Votes: 38.46% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 158 Votes: 72.15% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 84 Votes: 70.24% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 51 Votes: 49.02% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 43 Votes: 74.42% Annoying
    In 2007, Out of 115 Votes: 73.04% Annoying
    In 2006, Out of 158 Votes: 58.23% Annoying
    In 2005, Out of 881 Votes: 43.81% Annoying