About Soul Stringer
Respectfully known as "The Soul Stringer"...JoAnna Johnson, one of the hottest violinist in the area, is a dynamic violinist that generates energy and excitement everywhere she performs. ...
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About
JoAnna, was born and raised in Detroit Michigan to proud parents, Joe and Marian Johnson in the fall of 1972. The only daughter of seven children, JoAnna began her musical career in the Detroit Public School System. Before playing the violin, JoAnna began her musical journey playing the song flute (recorder) where students developed basic music rhythms, and technique. Her natural ability was realized early on and her love for music was born.
JoAnna asked to play the violin from the time anyone can remember her talking. No one knows why she chose that instrument. She began playing the violin at the age of 8 and quickly became a star pupil. Although things started off pretty rocky, from the first day she brought the violin home, she was hooked. She did not put it down all day and was asked repeatedly by her parents to give their ears a rest, put it away, and try it again the next day. By the next day, either her skills had improved, or her parents had grown more tolerant of the noise. Whatever the case, her determination to achieve worked and she continued to shine. Pretty soon her parents were begging her NOT to stop playing.
It was suggested to her parents that they seek outside studies for her to grow in her technique and skill. She blossomed as a student of the Detroit Community Music School where she furthered her training using the Suzuki Method.
Known from a very early age as the girl who heard everything, JoAnna loved to listen to music and try to imitate what she heard. She used her ability to play by ear to help write and compose the 80's hit Sweet November for both the band and orchestra to perform at her 8th grade graduation. During this time she also competed in many MSBOA (Michigan State Band and Orchestra Association) competitions where she received numerous 1st place ribbons. She auditioned for the Detroit Symphony Civic Orchestra in 1984 where she continued to play through both Junior High and all of High School. Upon graduation she received a number of school offers including a full scholarship to Jackson State University. Although she did not attend this university, JoAnna continued to submerge herself into music and became a member of the Detroit Metropolitan Orchestra.
Being painfully shy and afraid of the limelight, JoAnna relied on the crutch of playing with a number of members on the stage as in a symphony setting. But deep down JoAnna carried a secret desire to play music on her own. Not playing classical music, but doing what she had heard many others do before her such as Noel Pointer who has always been her favorite, Jon Luc Ponty, Karen Briggs and fellow Detroiters, Regina Carter and Jerald Daemyon. She longed to be the one playing every genre she heard and loved. Always known as the girl with the big ears, not because of their physical characteristics, but because of her ability to hear everything and repeat it. JoAnna continued to secretly train her ears, playing whatever she heard on the radio.
JoAnna's life has not been free of tragedy and struggle. After a few other life journeys, including motherhood, JoAnna relocated to the Atlanta area to escape the cold weather that was exacerbating all of her now existing health condition which included Lupus SLE, Sjogren's Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, and a rare Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. Wondering what her next move should be and wanting so much to re-invent herself, JoAnna felt that her life was missing something and that desire for music was still very much so boiling in her heart. However, struggling with a number of health problems where pain is a daily occurrence, JoAnna thought being a violinist was only a childhood memory; something that she would have to tell people that she USED to do.
Then she met a local jazz violinist Ken Ford. This energy charged violinist gave her a taste of life on the stage as a jazz violinist. This unlocked all the hopes and dreams that had been tucked away for a number of years and thus was the beginning of life for the Cinderella of strings. Ken lit a fire in her that has remained ignited by the loving support of family, friends, and other seasoned musicians and mentors such as great jazz violinists Jerald Daemyon, Michael Saxon; and saxophonist Yancyy. Now ignited, this flame will forever burn in her soul with the love of music. No longer a slave to her fears of being in the limelight, she is now the Belle of the ball. Sacrificing her own fears for the encouragement and enjoyment of others.
JoAnna has always felt like music heals people and can touch the very depths of one’s soul. Finding healing in music for herself, JoAnna's goal is to touch the souls of many and allow music to speak and heal. JoAnna brings a sensuous, sultry, elegant, sassy yet classy vibe to the art of strings. Her very presence and her sincerity is felt long before you see her or even hear her first note. She has already done many studio recordings for various artists and a number of live performances throughout the area. Look out for her as she continues on her journey to fill many hearts with the joys of music.
Stay tuned for various performances and her solo project coming soon.
www.pluckastring.com
Members
- The Soul Stringer - Electric Violinist
Press
Strings of Hope:
HOW ONE WOMAN IS USING HER MUSICAL PASSION TO RISE ABOVE PAIN
by Ursula Metz
S&W Magazine Editor
There are times in life when an event can change the course of one’s destiny. For some, it could be picking up a musical instrument for the first time and falling in love with the sound of it which leads them down the road to a thriving career. For someone else, a destiny-altering turn could be a diagnosis of a life threatening illness. For JoAnna Johnson, it was both.
Although she was born in the early 70s, JoAnna Johnson has lived through enough challenges in her life and in her body to rival an 80-year -old woman. She has Lupus. She has Fibromyalgia. She has Sjogren’s Syndrome and Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. And she’s got talent. She’s a violinist that plays with passion, earning her the name “The Soul Stringer, by her many fans. When she talks, the calm tone of her voice shows her maturity and wisdom well beyond her years. She’s shy, she says, but when she plays the violin, her coyness disappears. Though the tales of her health challenges spanning the last 10 years could easily make the average person throw in the towel, her troubles helped to shape her into more than a survivor with a story.
She’s now a musical force to be reckoned with and a passionate advocate dedicating her life to making life better for others.
Pigtails and Passion
She was born in a loving home with six brothers which forced her to take on a Tom Boy stance to fit in. She went from playing football with them to working on cars with her Dad. She loved to do anything with her hands like sewing and crocheting and eventually took ballet and tap classes. “ My Dad said I was a jack of all trades and master of none,” she laughed. Her brothers called her “another one bites the dust,” since they say she scared the boys away because they were intimidated by all the men in her house.
“They still call me that,” she said. As a little girl, she went from one activity to another, and then one thing happened to change the course of her life and captured the center of her attention. It all started with a music class in elementary school. She was given a recorder or a “song flute,” to play and knew that once she mastered it, she could earn the privilege of picking her own instrument to learn. “It didn’t take me long to get the next level and once I got the chance to get a new instrument. I picked the violin,” Johnson said. It was an instrument she had always been attracted to. When she took the violin home, she couldn’t put it down.
“When I played the violin as a little girl, I felt like I was Superwoman with a secret weapon,” she said. “I feel like I’m on top of the world when I play. I don’t hear, see, or think about anything else. I zone out.”
Her parents were moved by her gift when she was only 8 years old. “We were amazed. I always thought she was good at playing the violin,” said Marian Johnson, JoAnna’s mother. “ Mrs. Johnson initially tried talking JoAnna out of playing the violin and urged her to play the clarinet, she said since the violin was certainly not the easiest instrument to master. JoAnna was hooked and she never needed a special reason to pick up her violin. “No matter what I hear, I hear music,” she said. She picks up her violin when she’s on the phone, when she’s watching a commercial to mimic the song and even keeps her violin next to her in bed. JoAnna’s talent opened many doors for her including playing in her school and local community orchestra. For her, it’s more than playing an instrument.
It provides comfort and a means of expression; things she would later need to help her survive some of the most tragic times in her life.
A Sudden Turn
She felt like she was coming down with the flu one day while at work. That one day of flu symptoms lasted for two years. She was in and out of the doctor’s office so much that she spent more time in clinics than at her job. “I thought I was losing my mind,” she said. “I was always healthy, then all of a sudden, I was sick all the time and no one knew what was wrong.” After many years of extremely horrific pain in her body including an arm pain that was so bad she wanted to “cut it off,” she said, JoAnna got a diagnosis of the autoimmune disease, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), commonly known as lupus.
It took years of unexplained physical problems, tests and trips in and out of Emergency Rooms and doctor’s offices to get a diagnosis. She was also eventually told she had Fibromyalgia and Sjogren’s Syndrome. JoAnna learned she had an extensive family history of various autoimmune diseases, but no one had lupus.” “I had never heard of it before JoAnna was diagnosed,” Mrs. Johnson said of the disease that has caused a lot of physical problems for her daughter. JoAnna says her mother has been very supportive of her during some of her hardest battles with illness.
Getting the news wasn’t easy, but JoAnna was glad she had a name for what she was going through. “It took years of hearing doctor’s say “yes” to one diagnosis and “no” to others. I felt like I was in a twilight zone,” JoAnna said. The mother of two lost the life that she knew to be normal. She eventually lost her job and went from being a healthy, vibrant mother to having days when she couldn’t stand or walk. “At one point, I counted 22 medicine bottles I had in a bag.” She was later told she had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and was eventually diagnosed with Non Hodgkins Lymphoma in the “patch and plaque” stage, the early phase of the disease.
She draws her strength from God, her passion for music and her two children. “They give me the strength to do what I do,” she said. “ I want to show them no matter what’s going on, still live your dreams. Your life doesn’t end until it ends.”
Playing beyond pain
After suffering debilitating pain in her joints for years, JoAnna still picks up her violin. She often plays in pain. Sometimes she’s been given a stool to sit on stage. There were times she has been too sick to perform and she did it anyway. “I was in a cancer treatment center and the doctor told me that I would have to put down my violin. I said to myself, “I’ll show you,” she said. And she did. She continued to stand on stage after stage playing for eager audiences.
Her passion shows through while performing and her listeners can feel it. “I love her (another violinist), but I “feel” you,” one fan told her after a performance. She prefers performing in groups as opposed to being alone on stage to mask her shyness. ‘I still find joy in playing, even when I’m in pain.” She’s earned the name “The Souls Stringer,” and recently appeared on stage as a violinist in a mock orchestra pit at the 2012 B.E.T. Hip Hop Awards which aired October 9th.
She was one of the violinists playing for Mike Epps during his comedy skit. “ It was pretty exciting,” she said. Today she’s traveling from city to city working to garner support as a violinist to produce an album and perform in concerts all for the purpose of helping suffering people.
For the sake of others
In recent years, JoAnna has become more vocal about what’s she going through and for years, suffered in silence. “We become masters of disguise, yet we’re struggling,” she said of people battling illnesses that seem “invisible” like lupus. Many people who are challenged with autoimmune diseases suffer silently due to being misunderstood since many illnesses, like Lupus, may not show visible signs of their ravaging impacts. “ I told myself that I have to do what I have to do to be more vocal about bringing awareness to lupus and helping others,” she said. She has formed “Jazzin’ 4 Lupus,” a non-profit initiative to raise money for lupus survivors and to help The Lupus Foundation of America raise funds to find a cure of the disease that impacts 1.5 million Americans and 5.5 million people worldwide.
She plans to produce an album of her music and give concerts around the world to donate much of the proceeds to lupus awareness initiatives. Many are proud of her efforts and admire her attitude. “As a person, and despite all that she is overcoming health-wise, she has proved to be kind and extremely self-less,” said Sharon Harris, founder of Lupus Detroit and Pretty Disabled Clothing. Sharon met JoAnna when she came into the office of the Lupus Alliance of America in Michigan seeking support for her “Jazzin’ 4 Lupus” initiative. “She is an excellent violinist and she works hard at her craft. As far as an outstanding lupus advocate, they don't come any better than JoAnna Johnson.
"No matter how she feels, she gets up and does her lupus duty. She is the most passionate person that I have ever met and she’s electric. Don't let her beauty fool you. JoAnna is about her lupus advocacy business!"
Her mother is proud of her, too. “ I think what she’s doing is good and it can help many people,” Mrs. Johnson said. “She could be sitting around feeling sorry for herself but she’s not. She’s doing something with her life and using her talent to help someone else.”
Although garnering support for her initiative has been slow at times, she’s still optimistic about her goals and works tirelessly to fulfill them. “It’s tough at times to be encouraging when facing so many road blocks, but it’s so important to stay focused," JoAnna said. “As long as I can breathe, I’m going to keep going.”
More Press
Press
The Soul Stringer on a Mission
(external link)
Strings of Hope:
HOW ONE WOMAN IS USING HER MUSICAL PASSION TO RISE ABOVE PAIN
by Ursula Metz
S&W Magazine Editor
There are times in life when an event can change the course of one’s destiny. For some, it could be picking up a musical instrument for the first time and falling in love with the sound of it which leads them down the road to a thriving career. For someone else, a destiny-altering turn could be a diagnosis of a life threatening illness. For JoAnna Johnson, it was both.
Although she was born in the early 70s, JoAnna Johnson has lived through enough challenges in her life and in her body to rival an 80-year -old woman. She has Lupus. She has Fibromyalgia. She has Sjogren’s Syndrome and Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. And she’s got talent. She’s a violinist that plays with passion, earning her the name “The Soul Stringer, by her many fans. When she talks, the calm tone of her voice shows her maturity and wisdom well beyond her years. She’s shy, she says, but when she plays the violin, her coyness disappears. Though the tales of her health challenges spanning the last 10 years could easily make the average person throw in the towel, her troubles helped to shape her into more than a survivor with a story.
She’s now a musical force to be reckoned with and a passionate advocate dedicating her life to making life better for others.
Pigtails and Passion
She was born in a loving home with six brothers which forced her to take on a Tom Boy stance to fit in. She went from playing football with them to working on cars with her Dad. She loved to do anything with her hands like sewing and crocheting and eventually took ballet and tap classes. “ My Dad said I was a jack of all trades and master of none,” she laughed. Her brothers called her “another one bites the dust,” since they say she scared the boys away because they were intimidated by all the men in her house.
“They still call me that,” she said. As a little girl, she went from one activity to another, and then one thing happened to change the course of her life and captured the center of her attention. It all started with a music class in elementary school. She was given a recorder or a “song flute,” to play and knew that once she mastered it, she could earn the privilege of picking her own instrument to learn. “It didn’t take me long to get the next level and once I got the chance to get a new instrument. I picked the violin,” Johnson said. It was an instrument she had always been attracted to. When she took the violin home, she couldn’t put it down.
“When I played the violin as a little girl, I felt like I was Superwoman with a secret weapon,” she said. “I feel like I’m on top of the world when I play. I don’t hear, see, or think about anything else. I zone out.”
Her parents were moved by her gift when she was only 8 years old. “We were amazed. I always thought she was good at playing the violin,” said Marian Johnson, JoAnna’s mother. “ Mrs. Johnson initially tried talking JoAnna out of playing the violin and urged her to play the clarinet, she said since the violin was certainly not the easiest instrument to master. JoAnna was hooked and she never needed a special reason to pick up her violin. “No matter what I hear, I hear music,” she said. She picks up her violin when she’s on the phone, when she’s watching a commercial to mimic the song and even keeps her violin next to her in bed. JoAnna’s talent opened many doors for her including playing in her school and local community orchestra. For her, it’s more than playing an instrument.
It provides comfort and a means of expression; things she would later need to help her survive some of the most tragic times in her life.
A Sudden Turn
She felt like she was coming down with the flu one day while at work. That one day of flu symptoms lasted for two years. She was in and out of the doctor’s office so much that she spent more time in clinics than at her job. “I thought I was losing my mind,” she said. “I was always healthy, then all of a sudden, I was sick all the time and no one knew what was wrong.” After many years of extremely horrific pain in her body including an arm pain that was so bad she wanted to “cut it off,” she said, JoAnna got a diagnosis of the autoimmune disease, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), commonly known as lupus.
It took years of unexplained physical problems, tests and trips in and out of Emergency Rooms and doctor’s offices to get a diagnosis. She was also eventually told she had Fibromyalgia and Sjogren’s Syndrome. JoAnna learned she had an extensive family history of various autoimmune diseases, but no one had lupus.” “I had never heard of it before JoAnna was diagnosed,” Mrs. Johnson said of the disease that has caused a lot of physical problems for her daughter. JoAnna says her mother has been very supportive of her during some of her hardest battles with illness.
Getting the news wasn’t easy, but JoAnna was glad she had a name for what she was going through. “It took years of hearing doctor’s say “yes” to one diagnosis and “no” to others. I felt like I was in a twilight zone,” JoAnna said. The mother of two lost the life that she knew to be normal. She eventually lost her job and went from being a healthy, vibrant mother to having days when she couldn’t stand or walk. “At one point, I counted 22 medicine bottles I had in a bag.” She was later told she had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and was eventually diagnosed with Non Hodgkins Lymphoma in the “patch and plaque” stage, the early phase of the disease.
She draws her strength from God, her passion for music and her two children. “They give me the strength to do what I do,” she said. “ I want to show them no matter what’s going on, still live your dreams. Your life doesn’t end until it ends.”
Playing beyond pain
After suffering debilitating pain in her joints for years, JoAnna still picks up her violin. She often plays in pain. Sometimes she’s been given a stool to sit on stage. There were times she has been too sick to perform and she did it anyway. “I was in a cancer treatment center and the doctor told me that I would have to put down my violin. I said to myself, “I’ll show you,” she said. And she did. She continued to stand on stage after stage playing for eager audiences.
Her passion shows through while performing and her listeners can feel it. “I love her (another violinist), but I “feel” you,” one fan told her after a performance. She prefers performing in groups as opposed to being alone on stage to mask her shyness. ‘I still find joy in playing, even when I’m in pain.” She’s earned the name “The Souls Stringer,” and recently appeared on stage as a violinist in a mock orchestra pit at the 2012 B.E.T. Hip Hop Awards which aired October 9th.
She was one of the violinists playing for Mike Epps during his comedy skit. “ It was pretty exciting,” she said. Today she’s traveling from city to city working to garner support as a violinist to produce an album and perform in concerts all for the purpose of helping suffering people.
For the sake of others
In recent years, JoAnna has become more vocal about what’s she going through and for years, suffered in silence. “We become masters of disguise, yet we’re struggling,” she said of people battling illnesses that seem “invisible” like lupus. Many people who are challenged with autoimmune diseases suffer silently due to being misunderstood since many illnesses, like Lupus, may not show visible signs of their ravaging impacts. “ I told myself that I have to do what I have to do to be more vocal about bringing awareness to lupus and helping others,” she said. She has formed “Jazzin’ 4 Lupus,” a non-profit initiative to raise money for lupus survivors and to help The Lupus Foundation of America raise funds to find a cure of the disease that impacts 1.5 million Americans and 5.5 million people worldwide.
She plans to produce an album of her music and give concerts around the world to donate much of the proceeds to lupus awareness initiatives. Many are proud of her efforts and admire her attitude. “As a person, and despite all that she is overcoming health-wise, she has proved to be kind and extremely self-less,” said Sharon Harris, founder of Lupus Detroit and Pretty Disabled Clothing. Sharon met JoAnna when she came into the office of the Lupus Alliance of America in Michigan seeking support for her “Jazzin’ 4 Lupus” initiative. “She is an excellent violinist and she works hard at her craft. As far as an outstanding lupus advocate, they don't come any better than JoAnna Johnson.
"No matter how she feels, she gets up and does her lupus duty. She is the most passionate person that I have ever met and she’s electric. Don't let her beauty fool you. JoAnna is about her lupus advocacy business!"
Her mother is proud of her, too. “ I think what she’s doing is good and it can help many people,” Mrs. Johnson said. “She could be sitting around feeling sorry for herself but she’s not. She’s doing something with her life and using her talent to help someone else.”
Although garnering support for her initiative has been slow at times, she’s still optimistic about her goals and works tirelessly to fulfill them. “It’s tough at times to be encouraging when facing so many road blocks, but it’s so important to stay focused," JoAnna said. “As long as I can breathe, I’m going to keep going.”
Influences
Music without words...