Brian Johnson

I have just finished reading this book and I have really enjoyed it.  I knew that Brian was a local lad and was in AC/DC but beyond that I did not know much more about him.

It turns out that we were both born in Dunston, a village about 4 miles outside of Newcastle although he is about 6 years older than me and was born just after the war.  At one time there were 17 members of his family living in the same house until his family obtained a council house and moved out.

Some of his stories are familiar - he said that he went to the local park on the day of the the Queens coronation.  An ox was being roasted and it was pouring with rain and he remembered getting soaking wet.  My sister has told me the exact same story as she was there with my dad.  Also, he mentions the name of a local doctor and I have definitely heard my mam mention him.

He went on to be a typical North East lad of the 1960's and early 1970's apart from the fact that he had quite a voice on him and joined a group named Geordie.  The group had a couple of hits and appeared on Top of The Pops but then faded into obscurity.  He'd given up his steady job as a draughtsman to join Geordie so when the group failed he had to reinvent himself.  He started his own business fitting cars with vinyl roofs and started another group called Geordie II.  They became very popular playing the Working Men's Clubs of the North East.

He was making a decent living and was happy with his lot until he was approached by someone representing AC/DC.  They were looking for a new singer as sadly their previous singer, Bon Scott, had died.  To cut a long story short Brian replaced Bon and the first album he recorded with them (Back In Black) became the second best selling album in music history after Michael Jackson's Thriller.  Brian is still lead singer today.  Not bad for a lad from Dunston.