It’s a Cinderella story. Only Johnson, was a Cinderella at least three times, never giving up on his dream of singing in a rock‘n’roll band.
A pre-fame Brian Johnson received some invaluable advice from Roger Daltrey when the two crossed paths in 1973. He also marveled at the Who frontman's equestrian prowess.
Their chance meeting was backstage at the British music television program Top of the Pops. Johnson was there with his pre-AC/DC band Geordie to promote their new song "All Because of You," while Daltrey sang his debut solo single "Giving It All Away."
They say that good things come to those who wait. And now, the wait to read AC/DC‘s frontman, Brian Johnson’s tell-all account of his rock ‘n’ roll life is nearly over. Johnson’s autobiography, titled The Lives of Brian.
He attended one of Jimi Hendrix’s first shows in Britain, saw Sting perform when the future singer of The Police was 15 and made friends with members of Slade and Thin Lizzy. He would meet Chuck Berry but it didn’t go well. “Never meet your heroes,” he writes.
Still, part of Johnson was unfulfilled. It was a meeting with singer Roger Daltrey that proved pivotal. The Who’s frontman invited Johnson — then living with his band in an apartment with just four mattresses on the floor — over for a meal at his manor house.
On the day, Johnson recalls Daltrey riding toward him bare-chested and barefoot with no saddle, holding on to the mane of his galloping white horse (“If this isn’t a rock star, I thought to myself, I don’t know what is,” he writes.)
“He said, ‘I’m going to give you one piece of advice, Brian. Never give up. Do you understand me? Never, ever give up’. And I really took that to heart,” Johnson recalls. “He’s probably forgotten that he said that, but I didn’t.”
The singer returned to the long-running band as lead vocalist for their November album ‘Power Up’, which was their first LP since 2014’s ‘Rock Or Bust’.
The legendary Rock & Roll Hall of Famers reign on the strength of their new LP Power Up, which debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with 117,000 equivalent album units earned, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data.
AC/DC earns their third No. 1 album, following 1981's For Those About to Rock (We Salute You) and 2008's Black Ice.
The rock ‘n’ roll legends have been teasing their comeback all week, previously confirming a reunion of their surviving classic members, and strongly suggesting that the album will be titled PWR/UP.
“Shot in the Dark” is unmistakably an AC/DC song, as it reunites guitarist Angus Young with returning classic members Brian Johnson (vocals), Phil Rudd (drums), and Cliff Williams (bass). Stevie Young (rhythm guitar), who replaced the late Malcolm Young, rounds out the lineup.
“I’ve had some long nights and some great nights, bad days and a lot of good ones,” Johnson said in a statement. “I’ve gone from choirboy to rock’n’roll singer, and now I’ve gone and written a bloody book about it.”
Billed as “one of the most cheering and entertaining stories in rock‘n’roll history”, The Lives of Brian will cover Johnson’s childhood growing up in Dunston where he went from “choirboy and cub scout to singer” after watching Little Richard perform on TV.
