Denise Johnson, a Manchester music legend who was one of the vocalists on Primal Scream‘s ‘Screamadelica’, has died aged 53.
Johnson’s other credits include contributions to Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner’s supergroup Electronic, a number of collaborations with A Certain Ratio, and work on releases by New Order and I Am Kloot among many others.
Johnson was preparing to release her debut acoustic solo album ‘Where Does It Go’ on September 25. The album consists of covers of Manchester bands including The Smiths‘ ‘Well I Wonder’ and New Order’s ‘True Faith’ as well as a number of her own original tracks.
Johnson’s death prompted tributes from across the Manchester music scene and beyond, including the likes of Stone Roses singer Ian Brown.
Primal Scream’s Simone Marie Butler described it as “very sad news” and shared the band’s ‘Don’t Fight It Feel It’ in tribute to Johnson and the track’s producer Andrew Weatherall who died earlier this year.
Stephen Morris of Joy Division and New Order said he was “shocked and devastated” to hear of her death, while the Twitter account for 808 State said: “Her voice sews so many memories together in many contexts – but most of all she gave the best hugs.”
Erol Alkan sent his “most sincere condolences,” and also posted ‘Don’t Fight It Feel It’, while Doves‘ Jimi Goodwin said he was “just devastated by the news of the passing of such a beautiful lady.” Reverend & The Makers described her as “one of the real ones,” while The Chemical Brothers‘ Ed Simons called her “amazing.”
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