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Johnny Griffith (musician)

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Cydebot (talk | contribs) at 18:18, 9 October 2016 (Robot - Moving category Musicians from Detroit, Michigan to Category:Musicians from Detroit per CFD at Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2016 September 6.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

For the American football player, see Johnny Griffith (coach).
Johnny Griffith
Background information
Birth nameJohn Ellis Griffith, Jr.
Born(1936-07-10)July 10, 1936
Detroit, Michigan
United States
DiedNovember 10, 2002(2002-11-10) (aged 66)
Detroit, Michigan
United States
OccupationSession musician
InstrumentKeyboards
LabelsMotown

John Ellis "Johnny" Griffith, Jr. (July 10, 1936 – November 10, 2002) was an African-American musician.

Biography

Born in Detroit, Griffith played piano and keyboards for Motown Records' in-house Funk Brothers studio band. Among the hundreds of Motown recordings Griffith played on are "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" by Marvin Gaye, "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)" by Four Tops, and "Stop! In the Name of Love" by The Supremes.

Griffith played the Steinway grand piano, the Hammond B-3 organ, the Wurlitzer electric piano, the Fender Rhodes, and the celeste and harpsichord. His musical influences included Bud Powell, Glenn Gould, and Oscar Peterson.

Griffith died of a heart attack in a Detroit hospital on November 10, 2002. He was 66 years old.[1]

References

  1. ^ McLellan, Dennis (12 November 2002). "Johnny Griffith, 66; Played Keyboard for Motown Greats". Los Angeles Times.
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