Here's What Holly Johnson Is Doing Now!
By Mark Nobes, chief editor
Anyone who lived through the 1980s, will certainly remember the Liverpudlian musician Holly Johnson, who is best remembered as the lead singer of the controversial 80s pop band Frankie Goes To Hollywood, but what is he doing now?
During the mid to late eighties, the openly gay singer/songwriter appeared quite regularly on our TV screens performing his latest hits, not only with his band, but also as a solo artist. After leaving Frankie in 1987, he achieved chart success with the No.1 album Blast and the singles "Love Train", "Americanos" and "Atomic City" during 1989. His final single from that album, "Heaven's Here", failed to make the Top 40.
Johnson released his second solo album Dreams That Money Can't Buy in 1991 and several singles, which were all a commercial failure, sadly. It would be another 8 years before he released his Soulstream album in 1999, which included a re-recording of Frankie's power ballad "The Power of Love", but, once again, failed to break into the Top 40.
In 2014, Johnson made a comeback with his well-received Europa Album, which reached No.63 in the UK album charts. However, despite receiving airplay on Radio 2, the three singles from the album all failed to chart.
In the same year, he release his first live album Unleashed From The Pleasuredome, which included 19 tracks recorded live at Koko in London, during his Dancing With No Fear Tour on 28th October 2014.
During July 2015, Johnson appeared on the ITV weekday morning show Lorraine (with Lorraine Kelly), in which he talked about the possibility of a Frankie Goes To Hollywood Reunion.
In 2016, Johnson co-wrote the single "Ascension" with Gary Barlow for the Eddie The Eagle movie soundtrack album, Fly. However, it failed to chart, despite featuring on BBC Radio 2. Nonetheless, it was a fantastic production with an exceptional vocal performance by Holly.
Johnson appeared in the final episode of the British sitcom Benidorm in 2018, and performed his hits "Relax", "Americanos" and "The Power of Love", the latter featured in the closing credits.
On 1st October 2021, a photo of Holly in his Fulham garden featured in a Daily Mail article entitled My haven, Holly Johnson: The Lead Singer of Frankie Goes To Hollywood, 61, in the Garden of his Home in Fulham.
Also in 2021, Johnson provided vocals on the song "This Was Me" alongside Richard E. Grant, which featured in the coming-of-age comedy drama movie Everybody's Talking about Jamie.
The singer appeared on the panel of the music quiz show Never Mind The Buzzcocks, on the Christmas Special which aired in December 2021, and gave a wonderful live performance of "The Power Of Love" at the end of the show.
In 2022, Holly hosted Pride Not Prejudice on Greatest Hits radio.
Johnson was the headline act alongside Marti Pellow and OMD at the Forever Young Festival, which took place on 15th-17th July 2022 at Palmerstown House Estate, Johnston, Naas, KIldare in Ireland.
Johnson's Unleashed From The Pleasuredome album was finally made available on a number of streaming sites during 2022, including Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and iTunes.
Is Holly Johnson Still Performing?
Yes, the musician performed at several events during 2022 and 2023.
In November 2022, Holly performed live for the Baloise Session in Basel, Switzerland.
On January 14th 2023, Holly Johnson performed live at Die 80er LIve in Dusseldorf, Germany, which took place at the Merkur Spiel-Arena.
How Old is Holly Johnson?
In 2023, Holly Johnson reached the age of 63. He was born on February 9th, 1960, in Wavertree, Liverpool, England. He is currently living in Fulham, Greater London, with his partner Wolfgang Kuhle.
