Troy Johnson

Troy Johnson's velvety delivery first registered with listeners through the 1986 slow-dance favorite “It’s You,” a quintessential new jack ballad. By 2005 the same title was once more ascending the charts, now carrying an explicitly spiritual message. A devoted admirer of Motown whose chief influences include Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, Johnson entered the spotlight in 1984 via a track on the Blame It on Rio soundtrack. Producer Leon Silvers, whose résumé already included work with Shalamar, the Whispers, and Gladys Knight, discovered him in the restroom at a celebrity basketball game. That encounter yielded the original “It’s You” single plus two secular albums before Johnson underwent a profound spiritual awakening. He spent the ensuing years traveling internationally to minister and share his faith. During this period he joined Epic’s gospel division Word, which issued the 1993 album Plain & Simple. A hiatus from recording in the late ’90s gave him space to envision greater independence; toward that end he co-founded SA Entertainment under the guiding slogan “Powerful Music, Positive Message.” The fledgling label introduced his 2005 return to secular music, the self-titled Troy Johnson, whose refined grooves and uplifting lyrics framed a fresh rendition of “It’s You.”