Ken Johnson
b. Kenrick Reginald Hymans Johnson, 10 September 1914, Georgetown, British Guiana (now known as Guyana), d. 8 March 1941. Son of a Guyanese doctor and Surinamese mother, Johnson played piano and violin as a child. On completing his schooling in England, he began dancing, making an early appearance in the provinces on the variety circuit. Studying with the African-American choreographer Clarence Buddy Bradley, he gained professional confidence and contacts in the USA. These brought him film work in New York and cabaret in Hollywood, and the chance to observe black American practitioners of jazz and dance at firsthand. On the same trip he made a series of Caribbean appearances; these inspired a host of imitators with the belief that a West Indian could become part of the British showbusiness establishment and were responsible for launching several noteworthy careers. In London he persuaded Jamaican trumpeter Leslie Thompson to form a band for him to front; this, later known as the West Indian Dance Orchestra, was the first regular black band of any size in Britain. It included musicians from the Caribbean, such as clarinettist Carl Barriteau, as well as local instrumentalists of African descent, among them Welsh-born guitar-playing brothers Joe and Frank Deniz, and the latter's wife, pianist Clare Deniz. By the start of the war the West Indians were broadcasting regularly and featured artists such as Barbadian trumpeter/vocalist Dave Wilkinsand Welsh-born vocalist Don Johnson, whose father came from Barbuda, became household names. To many listeners, the Johnson band was the first local unit to ‘swing’ in the American manner, but the prominence of local black musicians ended when the leader was killed in an air-raid while on stage at London's exclusive Café de Paris in 1941.