John Myers is first and for most an extraordinary entertainer. Beyond that, it’s a little hard to pin him down. He’s certainly a talented singer with a lot of soul. But despite his stint with Motown in the early 1970s, he’s not just a soul singer. His repertoire does contain some soul songs (even a few from his Motown days), but he can just as easily pull out a song by Hank Williams, croon a number by Louie Armstrong or belt out an old-time banjo tune.
His current band shows his musical flexibility. No longer working with the horn and keyboard sounds of Motown’s Funk Brothers, he’s mixing it up by performing with some of Knoxville’s best Americana musicians. His current band is made up of Sean McCollough on guitar, banjo and mandolin, Chris Durman on guitar, Maria Williams on upright bass and Steve Corrigan on drums with others sitting in from time to time.
His professional career began when he, his twin brother and his younger brother formed a group with Benny Washington, Charles Holloway and Clifford Curry called the Five Pennies. They released several songs on Savoy Records including "Mr. Moon†by Clifford Curry who had joined the band.
The then changed their name to the Four Pennies and recorded three of John’s songs with Brunswick Records: "Tis the Season," "You Have No Time To Lose" and "You're Gas With Your Trash."
In 1970 they changed their name to the Hearts of Stone and recorded an album called Stop The World, We Wanna Get On on the Motown Label. The band included John, Floyd Lawson, Carl Cutler and Lindsey Griffin. They wrote the songs "If I Could Give You The World," "It's a Lonesome Road," "You Gotta Sacrifice, We Gotta Sacrifice," "Would You Take A Dime From A Poor Man?" and "One Day." This album was re-released on CD in 2002/2004. Floyd Lawson recently released a new album called Coming Out.
John currently collaborates with his wife Pamela who is a prolific songwriter. He plans to record an album of original material soon.
You can read more about John's history by clicking on the articles below:
Metro Pulse Article .
Knoxville News Sentinel Article .
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