Kris Johnson
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| Kris Johnson | |
|---|---|
 Kris in 1985 | |
| Born | September 23, 1950 Decatur, IL, U.S. |
| 💼 Occupation |
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| 📆 Years active | 1970–2006 |
| Twitter= | |
Kris Johnson (born September 23, 1950) is an American actor and singer. He became known for portraying King Herod in the original authorized concert of the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar (1970)[1] and fronted Wheeze aka The Wheeze Show[2] in the early 1970s. He was also in the cast of the Broadway musical Hair, Your Own Thing, Zombies on Broadway and has since appeared in Joni Mitchell: Painting with Words and Music (1998).
Early life[edit]
Kris was born in Decatur, IL, the son of Edie and Delmer Johnson. Delmer was a B-52 tracker for the United States Air Force, which required the move to Oklahoma with his brothers Dale and Chris. Delmer continued on to lead projects with NASA for the Space Shuttle program. Kris Johnson started in show business at 15 when he started square dancing on a local TV show in Oklahoma City unbeknownst to his family until other people told his parents they saw him on TV. When he was 18, his agent selected his middle name, Kris, as his stage name.
Career[edit]
Kris was also a regular singer on The Ida B Show at KOCO-TV thru out his high school years. Kris began his career at local Oklahoma City theaters, specifically the Jewel Box Theater, Lyric Theater, and Mummers Theater, performing in shows such as Carousel, Bye Bye Birdie as Conrad Birdie, Oklahoma! as Will Parker, West Side Story as Bernardo, Sweet Charity as Big Daddy, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum as Marcus Lycus, and others including Show Boat, Carnival!, and My Fair Lady. Kris then moved to Dallas, Texas and started working with Dallas Summer Musicals and a few national few tours such as Mame with Juliet Prowse , Little Me with Dorothy Malone and Harvey Korman, Camelot with John Davidson, Man of La Mancha with Ed Ames, and The Unsinkable Molly Brown with Barbara Eden[3] .
In the early 70's, Kris moved to New York City was cast as John in the Off-Broadway and original tour of Your Own Thing. A year later he was cast as King Herod in the Original Authorized Concert version of Jesus Christ Superstar and also in the Broadway Universal version in Los Angeles.
When Jesus Christ Superstar closed in Los Angeles, the rock band from the production formed a rock band called Wheeze. Wheeze became a club staple in LA clubs throughout the 70's. In fact, a very early Van Halen opened for Wheeze on a California tour. They also wrote, performed and produced the soundtrack to the film The Centerfold Girls.
From 1980 to 1992, Kris became the face and voice for 7UP in 68 countries "Only 7UP Tastes Like 7UP" and "America is Turning 7UP" 1980.
Kris returned to the stage with Zombies On Broadway playing 7 roles including Boris, Norman Bates, Dr. Jeckel, and Frankenstein. In 1980-1987, Kris started singing and dancing in the Mac Davis Show, which also led to singing backup for country star Dottie West and other Mac Davis TV Specials and appearances.
In 1990, Kris became the starring character in A.M. A Blast From the Past starting at Magic Mountain in Los Angeles and then moved full time to the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas. In 1998, Kris sang background on Joni Mitchell's critically acclaimed film and album Painting With Words and Music and continued work with Joni on her album Travelogue.
Personal life[edit]
After a lifetime of suspicion regarding the identity of his biological father, Kris submitted DNA to Ancestry.com and discovered his doubts were correct; the father that raised Kris did not share his DNA. His biological father was determined to be James M. Ross of Decatur, IL, a local sign painter, artist, and piano musician. As a result of this genealogical discovery, Kris discovered additional half-siblings: Doc, Randy, Pat, Jenny, Mike, Rick, Shannon, Shawn, and Jimmy. Although not unusual to his biological father’s family, Kris’s (known at birth as Johnny) exceptional musical and artistic talent was unique to his family growing up, which they dubbed “Johnny’s World”. "Johnny's World" was examined further through the lens of Life Course Theory[4]. Today, Kris resides in Studio City with his lifelong partner Shell and his dog Bodhi.
References[edit]
- ↑ Merkel, Earl (1972-03-20). "'Superstar' Provides Experience in Feeling". Decatur Herald. Decatur, IL. Retrieved 2022-06-10.
- ↑ "The Wheeze Show". 1 October 2019.
- ↑ Denton, Jon (1972-04-15). "Former Sooner Will Play Herod Role in 'Superstar'". The Oklahoman. Oklahoma City, OK. Retrieved 2022-06-30.
- ↑ "Life Course Theory - Johnny's World". 30 October 2020.
External links[edit]
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