Born one of four boys to Minister John Gill, Sr. and his wife Annie, young Johnny sang in the family act Wings of Faith from the time he was a child.  When his friend Stacy Lattisaw hit the charts as a young teen singer with "Let Me Be Your Angel," she helped Gill submit a demo to her record label, Cotillion.  The demo resulted in the signing of then-fifteen year old Gill and his pairing with producer Freddie Perren (known for his work with teen singers the Jackson 5 and the Sylvers) for Gill's eponymous 1983 debut.  The combination worked well, and Perren delivered the minor upbeat hit "Super Love" as well as a number of solid ballads to the teen singer.  And Gill wowed with his incredibly deep, passionate voice, deftly handling love ballads like "Show Her Love" and growling like a soul veteran on his cover of Sam and Dave's "When Something Is Wrong With My Baby."

Gill and Lattisaw teamed the next year for the duet album Perfect Combination, a nice collection of teen-oriented songs that helped introduce Gill to his first crossover audience.  Unfortunately he followed it up with Chemistry, a mediocre disc that included a single highlight, the melodic ballad "Half Crazy."  Gill then began working on an album with Jeffrey Osborne producing, but it never saw the light of day. Instead, the departure of Bobby Brown from the group New Edition created an opening, and Gill joined the group for its 1988 album Heartbreak.  The disc was a hit, and Gill's performance on "Can You Stop the Rain" gave New Edition a legitimate strong male lead vocalist as the group transitioned to a more adult sound.

In 1990, while still a member of New Edition, Gill broke out with his Motown solo debut (his second self-titled album).  The disc was highly anticipated as the first to include the work of the two top production teams in R&B music, Babyface/L.A. Reid and Jimmy Jam/Terry Lewis.  Musically the album was irresistible and it yielded four hits, the biggest of which was the suggestive midtempo "My My My."  However, lyrically the disc was a first of a series of shallow, almost meaningless Gill solo album releases, devoid of any message other than fairly trite declarations that he liked sex and good-looking women.  This trend continued for the remainder of his solo recordings, including his major hits "Rub You The Right Way" and "Wrap My Body Tight."  He continued to sound great, but established nearly zero personality in his work, barely distinguishable from dozens of other soul lovermen.  One of few exceptions was on his stunning cover of the Gospel cut "I Know Where I Stand," from his 1993 disc Provocative, perhaps his finest moment as a singer and the highlight of both that album and the Grammy-Winning compilation Motown Comes Home in 1994. 

Gill scored his final solo hit album in 1996 with Let's Get the Mood Right and joined Keith Sweat and Gerald Levert for two popular but artistically weak albums under the monikor LSG.  He also reunited several times during the late 90s and early 00s with New Edition, both on record and on several tours.

In the end, Johnny Gill has proven himself to be a marvelous-voiced singer - the caliber of a Peabo Bryson or a Jeffrey Osborne - but has not yet shown the musical vision or personality to establish himself as a great soul artist.  He remains a talented vocalist with only occasional career high moments.

By Chris Rizik