Biography

Early life and music

Carolyn Dawn Johnson was born in Grande Prairie, Alberta to John Johnson, a farmer and operator of a seed-cleaning business, and Loretta Johnson, a supervisor of a home for senior citizens. Johnson was raised on a farm in Deadwood, Alberta with two brothers, late older brother Derwin, who died due to an undisclosed illness on Christmas Eve in 1998, and brother Greg.

Johnson was passionate about music from a young age and even asked her mother how anyone could live without it. She sang at a church and started playing the piano at the age of five, learning from her pastor's wife, Evangeline Thiessen. Her parents played country music records by Jim Reeves and Don Williams at home and as she got older, her musical interests diversified as she listened to artists like ABBA, Charley Pride, Fleetwood Mac and Marty Stuart among others. The family later moved to Westlock, Alberta and Johnson attended RF Staples High School there. During her high school years, she learned to play the clarinet, flute and saxophone. She kept up her piano lessons largely in part due to Thiessan sending books and encouraging letters to her. Her high school teachers were not as encouraging and caused her to turn away from music for a while and turn to science, a period in her life which she called "a stain in her heart".

After graduating high school, believing that she could not make a living as a musician, Johnson attended Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia studying biology and a year later she was in Edmonton, Alberta studying education. During her college years, she frequently sat-in with local bands at night and encouragement from them caused her to think that maybe she could have a career in the music industry. At the age of 20, she taught herself to play the guitar and realizing that her true calling was in music, she went to Vancouver, British Columbia and there she attended Columbia Academy and learned the technical aspects of the music industry. Johnson focussed on songwriting in her spare time and ordered a video featuring songwriters from Nashville to learn more about songwriting and through this video, she joined the Nashville Songwriters Association International. In 1994, Johnson headed to Nashville after calling her mother and saying, "I'm going big. I'm going for the big picture."

Songwriting career

In Nashville, Johnson attended songwriting workshops and writer's night events. In 1997, Johnson moved permanently to Nashville after obtaining a work visa and later that year, she signed with Patrick Joseph Music as a songwriter. Her songwriting demos captured the attention of many record label executives and some of the songs she wrote were recorded by Patty Loveless, Suzy Bogguss, Kathy Mattea, Mindy McCready, Jo Dee Messina, Linda Davis and Chely Wright. Johnson's breakthrough as a songwriter came in 1999 when "Single White Female", a song she co-wrote with Shaye Smith and recorded by Wright, became a number one hit on country radio. This song became Johnson's first number one hit as a songwriter. Another one of her songs, "Downtime", recorded by Messina, also became a top five hit. In 2000, Johnson was named "Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year" by MusicRow Magazine.

Singing and recording career

In 1999, Johnson started her career as a solo artist. Her success as a songwriter led her to a record deal with the Arista Nashville record label. Paul Worley, a producer with whom Johnson was working, was also working with Martina McBride at that time and asked Johnson to sing background vocals on McBride's songs. McBride subsequently invited Johnson to go on tour with her as a backup singer and guitarist. Johnson toured with McBride for over a year and during this time she was also hard at work writing songs for her debut album.

Room with a View

In 2001, Johnson went on the Girls Night Out Tour opening for high-profile stars Sara Evans, Martina McBride, Reba McEntire and Jamie O'Neal. Later that year, Johnson released her debut album Room with a View in Canada. She co-wrote all 13 songs and co-produced the album. An American release of the album followed a few months later, though only containing the first 11 songs due to differences in the contracts. The album was well-received as it sold a little less than 18,000 copies in its first week and debuted at No. 8 on the US country sales chart. It became Arista Nashville's highest debuting album by a new artist since SoundScan was used to track record sales. The album went on to be certified gold in Canada in a few months.

The first two singles from the album, "Georgia" and "Complicated", were both hits in the United States, with the latter reaching No. 5 on the country charts. The year ended with Johnson receiving a record-breaking 10 nominations from the Canadian Country Music Association, with "Georgia" and "Complicated" competing against each other for "Single of the Year", "Song of the Year" and "Video of the Year". Johnson went on to win five awards, including her first "Female Artist of the Year" award.

Johnson went on tour with Alan Jackson and Kenny Chesney in 2002. Her next single, "I Don't Want You to Go", was a top 10 hit in both Canada and the US. Subsequent singles did well on the Canadian charts but not on the American charts. Johnson was nominated for five CCMA awards that year and won three, including her second consecutive "Female Artist of the Year". She also won a Juno award for "Best Country Artist" and an Academy of Country Music award for "Top New Female Artist" that year.

In 2003, Johnson went on her first co-headlining tour with Keith Urban. While on tour, she was once again writing songs, this time for her second album. Urban provided his voice for a song on that album.

Dress Rehearsal

In 2004, Johnson released her second album, Dress Rehearsal, in which she co-produced and wrote 11 of the 12 songs. The album debuted at number nine on Billboard's top country albums charts. The first single from the album, "Simple Life", did well on both the Canadian and the American country charts. This was the only song on the album that she did not write. The second single, "Die of a Broken Heart", also did well on the Canadian country charts but not on the American charts. Later that year, she received seven CCMA award nominations and won five awards.

Johnson left Arista Nashville in 2005 because "what they wanted her to do wasn't her."

Love & Negotiation

Love & Negotiation, Johnson's 3rd album, was released in Canada under the Angeline Entertainment label in 2006. As with her first album, she wrote all 12 songs, but this time she produced the entire album by herself. The album was originally scheduled to be released in the United States in mid-2007 by Equity Music Group but was delayed and Johnson exited Equity in 2008. In September 2007, Johnson was named Female Vocalist of the Year at the 2007 CCMA Awards. Love & Negotiation was eventually released in the United States digitally through Dancing Lily Music on October 13, 2009 with different artwork.

Love Rules

In 2010, Johnson released the first single from her upcoming studio album. The single, "Let Me Introduce Myself", is included on her fourth studio album, Love Rules, which was released digitally in the United States on July 21, 2010 and in Canada on August 10, 2010 via Dancing Lily Music. The album is produced by Johnson and Frank Rogers and features 12 new songs. 'Love Rules' was nominated for Country Album of the Year at the 2011 Juno Awards

Personal

Johnson has been married to Matt Fisher since 2003. The couple welcomed a daughter, Abigail Grace Fisher, on September 16, 2008. The couple's second child, son Bennett Derwin Fisher, was born February 3, 2010.

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Details	Peak chart positions		Certifications
		US Country	US
Room with a View	Release date: August 7, 2001 Label: Arista Nashville Formats: CD, cassette	8	87	CAN: Gold
Dress Rehearsal	Release date: May 4, 2004 Label: Arista Nashville Formats: CD, music download	9	65
Love & Negotiation	Release date: June 6, 2006 Label: Angeline/Equity Music Group Formats: CD, music download	—	—
Love Rules	Release date: August 10, 2010 Label: Dancing Lily Music Formats: CD, music download	—	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Singles

2000s

Year	Single	Peak chart positions				Album
		US Country	US	US AC	US Adult
2000	"Georgia"	25	98	—	—	Room with a View
2001	"Complicated"	5	59	15	39
	"I Don't Want You to Go"	7	54	—	—
2002	"You Are"	—	—	—	—
	"One Day Closer to You"	24	—	—	—
2003	"Just Another Girl"	—	—	—	—
	"Simple Life"	13	73	—	—	Dress Rehearsal
2004	"Die of a Broken Heart"	52	—	—	—
	"Head Over High Heels"	—	—	—	—
2005	"Dress Rehearsal"	—	—	—	—
2006	"Crybaby"	—	—	—	—	Love & Negotiation
	"Love & Negotiation"	—	—	—	—
	"Taking Back My Brave"	—	—	—	—
2007	"Got a Good Day"	—	—	—	—
	"Into You"	—	—	—	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

2010s

Year	Single	Peak positions	Album
		CAN
2010	"Let Me Introduce Myself"	98	Love Rules
	"The Whole Thing"	—
2011	"Stop for Me"	—
	"I'd Still Have You"	—
2012	"Reach You"	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Featured singles

Year	Single	Artist	Peak positions	Album
			US Country
2001	"America the Beautiful"	Various	58	Non-album song

Music videos

Year	Video	Director
2000	"Georgia"	Brent Hedgecock
2001	"America the Beautiful"	Marc Ball
	"Complicated"	Lisa Mann
2002	"I Don't Want You to Go"
	"You Are"
2004	"Simple Life"	Steven Goldmann
2005	"Dress Rehearsal"	Margaret Malandruccolo
2006	"Crybaby"
2007	"Into You"
	"I Wouldn't Want Christmas (Any Other Way)"
2010	"The Whole Thing"
2011	"Stop for Me"	Steve J Murphy
2012	"Baby I Know It"

Singles written by Johnson

Year	Title	Artist(s)
1999	"I'm Yours"	Linda Davis
	"Single White Female"	Chely Wright
	"After a Kiss"	Pam Tillis
	"Squeezin' the Love Outta You"	Redmon and Vale
2001	"Downtime"	Jo Dee Messina

Awards and nominations

Year	Organization	Category	Result
2001	Juno Award	Best Country Female Artist	Nominated
	Canadian Country Music Association	TELUS Mobility Fans' Choice Award	Nominated
		Female Artist of the Year	Won
		SOCAN Song of the Year ("Complicated")	Won
		SOCAN Song of the Year ("Georgia")	Nominated
		Single of the Year ("Complicated")	Won
		Single of the Year ("Georgia")	Nominated
		Album of the Year (Room with a View)	Won
		Video of the Year ("Complicated")	Nominated
		Video of the Year ("Georgia")	Nominated
		Chevy Trucks Rising Star Award	Won
2002	Academy of Country Music	Top New Female Vocalist	Won
	Juno Award	Best Country Artist/Group	Won
	Canadian Country Music Association	Fans' Choice Award	Nominated
		Female Artist of the Year	Won
		SOCAN Song of the Year ("I Don't Want You to Go")	Nominated
		Single of the Year ("I Don't Want You to Go")	Won
		CMT Video of the Year ("I Don't Want You to Go")	Won
2003		Kraft Cheez Whiz Fans' Choice Award	Nominated
		Female Artist of the Year	Nominated
2004		Kraft Cheez Whiz Fans' Choice Award	Nominated
		Female Artist of the Year	Nominated
		SOCAN Song of the Year ("Die of a Broken Heart")	Won
		Single of the Year ("Simple Life")	Won
		Album of the Year (Dress Rehearsal)	Won
		CMT Video of the Year ("Simple Life")	Won
2005	Juno Award	Country Recording of the Year (Dress Rehearsal)	Nominated
	Canadian Country Music Association	Kraft Cheez Whiz Fans' Choice Award	Nominated
		Female Artist of the Year	Nominated
		SOCAN Song of the Year ("Dress Rehearsal")	Nominated
		Single of the Year ("Die of a Broken Heart")	Nominated
2006		Female Artist of the Year	Won
		SOCAN Song of the Year ("Crybaby")	Nominated
2007	Juno Award	Country Recording of the Year (Love & Negotiation)	Nominated
	Canadian Country Music Association	Kraft Cheez Whiz Fans' Choice Award	Nominated
		Female Artist of the Year	Won
		SOCAN Songwriter of the Year ("Taking Back My Brave")	Nominated
		Album of the Year (Love & Negotiation)	Nominated
2008		Female Artist of the Year	Nominated
2010		Female Artist of the Year	Nominated
2011		Female Artist of the Year	Nominated
		Album of the Year (Love Rules)	Nominated
2012		Female Artist of the Year	Won
2013		Female Artist of the Year	Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]