Biography
Josh Johnston (1974 - ) is a pianist / singer / songwriter / composer based in Dublin, Ireland. Having completed a degree in Popular Music at Salford University (England), he returned to Dublin in 1998 and continued his musical pursuits there, developing his solo career as well as beginning a second career playing piano live and on record for many other artists, most notably Roesy and with violinist David MacKenzie as David MacKenzie & Josh Johnston but also others including SJ McArdle, Stewart Agnew, Kila, Ronan Swift andNoelie McDonnell to name a few.
Musically, his piano style is varied, melodic and atmospheric but never sugary - sometimes recalling shades of Keith Jarrett, other times a more folky sound. He has proven himself to be versatile on the many recordings he has appeared on and these diverse soundscapes are collected together on his own CDs.
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In 2000, Josh released his first CD Three Friends (currently out of print) with singer Jane Dalton and saxophonist Carole Nelson from Zrazy. Shortly after the release of this CD, Josh met up and started working with Irish singer/songwriter Roesy and violinist David MacKenzie. Both partnerships have been fruitful with Roesy and Josh performing live together for the next 5 1/2 years and appearing on 3 of his CDs.
David MacKenzie & Josh Johnston have worked together since 2002. Their summery jazz sound of piano and violin has been successful in Ireland and has resulted in the duo recording two CDs, A Minor Happiness (2004) and Notes Home (2008). Both albums were self-produced and Notes Home is made up entirely of original compositions.
In 2007, Josh went back to his own music, hand-picking a band to perform material he'd been developing since in the intervening six years since his first CD. After performing this music live, the band sat down and recorded the music. It was released as Asylum Harbour in October 2008.
Josh's third CD The Shape Of Things is a piano solo set and was released in September 2010.
Josh is also organist at the Unitarian Church in Dublin and director of the Dublin vocal ensemble the Iveagh Singers.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.