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Destiny is not a matter of chance.
It is a matter of choice.
It is not a thing to be waited for.
It is thing to be achieved
Bio
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Bio |
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Representation Acting Curtis Brown Jacquie Drewe
Voice-Over Just Voices Agency Leigh Matty 0207-881-2567 Download Johnnie Fiori CV.pdf MySpace at www.myspace.com/johnniefiori |
Johnnie Fiori grew up in a small, rural town in the United Sates. It was a mining community that provided a multicultural environment which surrounded her with a close knit family and loving friends. In this idyllic setting everybody far and wide knew Johnnie as “Little Ms. Personality”. She started her singing career at age of 3 when Johnnie’s Great-Grandfather would take her to roadside revivals and tell her, “Just sing for the people little Johnnie”. It was devastating news when Johnnie’s mom announced she was moving the family to Detroit, Michigan to pursue a nursing degree far away from her roots and extended family. Detroit was a huge transition for little Johnnie. Her childhood consisted of rolling hills, lots of countryside and amazing woods. The type of place a child could get lost in their imagination. Everything was different in The Motor City, but she could still get lost in imagination by immersing herself in books. As soon as she received her allowance she was off to the Salvation Army where you could buy 5 books for 25 cents. Books became her sanctuary, especially the stories of King Arthur, Merlin and Morgan Le Fey. Johnnie’s mother enrolled her in a gifted arts program for drawing, painting and violin. She studied for 5 years but it wasn’t until a high school talent show that she entered with her cousins that a passion for singing and performing was reborn. Johnnie would eat, drink, sleep and breathe the likes of Labelle and Chaka Khan, but the definitive sound was Mother’s Finest. When she heard their sound of incredible soulful vocals and rock music blended together, it became her mantra. Seeing Mother’s Finest in concert cemented once and for all what Johnnie was going to do, sing for the people. Out of this grew her passion for British music which continues to influence her to this day. Many a day was spent sequestered in her room with Paul Weller, the Stones, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Paul Rogers. This music eventually led Johnnie back to the back bone of American music, the Blues. She had no idea that all those bands and vocalists that she came to love were all well rooted in Blues. B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Bobby Blue Bland, and the legendary John Lee Hooker were her mother’s favorites, but had never been hers. When you are a little kid this is the last type of music you want to listen to but as we live and learn the Blues will help you get out of the bed in the morning. Johnnie’s mother had a plan for her which didn’t remotely include a musical career. She was not raising singers, she was raising academics and college was where Johnnie was going to go. This was delivered in a not so subtle message, “You will go to college or you will leave this house!” Wanting to appease her family and keep a roof over head, Johnnie started college classes, but her heart wasn’t in it. It was around this time that a friend saw an advertisement “Band looking for lead MALE vocalist.” So the friend called and arranged for an audition for himself and his friend Johnnie whom the band assumed was another guy. The band humored her by playing a couple Stevie Wonder songs and by the time she asked the guys to play Zeppelin, she was hired. Johnnie stayed with them for 5 years gigging 6 nights a week and it was an amazing introduction to performing and touring. The time with band was not without its’ perils. Some people could not stomach a black girl fronting a rock band. There was one memorable night on the east side of Detroit when Johnnie walked on stage and was booed and pelted. She blanked the set list and shouted to the keyboard player “Lord of the Thighs by Aerosmith” - that song and her delivery left little doubt to that crowd that she was a real Rock’n’Roller. Johnnie’s Mom was livid when she found out how her daughter was spending her evenings. The rest of the family decided it was time to intervene and they came from all over the US to hear little Johnnie and this band she was in. Her mother as well as the rest of the family could not believe their ears or eyes and that was the defining moment of acceptance of her chosen career. It was Johnnie’s mother that suggested she move from Detroit to Los Angeles saying if you are going to do this you should do it right and I don’t see you being a big fish in a small pond. The move was made. Los Angeles was a huge wake up call, but it prepared her for the rest of the world by equipping her with the writing and performing tools she would need. She worked with and met a variety of people such as Nina Simone, Bruce Willis, Stevie Wonder, Randy Jackson, Sam Sims, Gary Cambra, Quincy Jones and Rod Stewart. Johnnie had been approached by several labels which all wanted her to play it safe meaning black girls don’t get record deals singing rock-n-roll, but she decided to tackle a life long dream of hers to move to Europe and she bought a one way ticket to London. Johnnie started her European career with an appearance on VH1 Europe’s acoustic program “Take It To The Bridge” and she continues to go from strength to strength. Johnnie has starred in West End musicals, appeared at The Royal Opera House, written and performed house music, appeared in television programs, done voice-overs for commercials, films & electronic games and has performed in dramas such as The Exonerated. Her recent theatre work has included playing the blues icon Ma Rainey in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and she is now appearing in the West End debut of the musical Hairspray as Motormouth Maybelle. |
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