Johnny G

Few tracks encapsulated the punk spirit quite as sharply as "Hippy's Graveyard" when 1977 slid into 1978. The second single by Johnny G, the strikingly eccentric singer/songwriter born John Gotting, achieved this feat with particular flair. He surfaced in a vein close to that of Patrik Fitzgerald and Johnny Rubbish, yet carried an even warmer, more engaging quality. His earliest notable group, Johnny G & the Claimants, formed in the early 1970s, though Gotting had already turned solo by the time he issued his debut single on his own label in 1972. Beggars Banquet signed him near the close of 1977, making him the first non-Lurkers act to appear on the imprint when the pointedly un-PC "Call Me Bwana!" arrived that December. "Hippy's Graveyard" came next, paired with the strong album Sharp & Natural. G-Beat surfaced in 1979. Fresh material has surfaced only sporadically since, each time proving worth the wait, as with the 1981 release Water into Wine and the 1984 set Sand Dance Ska. His full trajectory received comprehensive treatment on the self-financed, limited-edition double-CD A Month of Sundays in 1994, which joined a recent concert recording to a 21-track career overview.