Brian Johnson was born on October 5, 1947 in Newcastle Upon Tyne
(Northumberland), England. As a kid Brian performed Gang Shows with the
Scouts, appeared in a TV play and even joined the local church choir.
But he was quickly bitten by the rock'n'roll demon. In February 1972 he
joined the Newcastle band USA, also featuring guitarist Vic Malcolm,
bassist Tom Hill and drummer Brian Gibson.
They changed their name to the far more appropriate Geordie a few months
later. The band's first single, 'Don't Do That', was issued towards the
end of the year through EMI, peaking at No. 32 in the British charts.
This was rapidly followed a few months later by their biggest hit in the
form of
'All Because Of You', which reached
No. 6 in the charts, and another Top 20 hit with 'Can You Do
It'.
As the glam era thrived so did Geordie, although after 'Electric
Lady' slid out of the charts, only reaching No. 32 in August
1973, the band began to go out of fashion. Geordie continued to
play the club circuit and released three albums during the
Seventies as well as one compilation album, 'Master Of Rock' in
1974.
Sadly, none of their albums managed to persuade anyone to take
the band seriously in the long-term. Shortly after the release
of 'Save The World' in 1976, Geordie called it quits.
Brian actually gave up all hopes of making it in the music
business at this point. But by the beginning of 1980, he started
to think about having another crack at the entertainment world.
He persuaded his former colleagues to reform Geordie. When AC/DC
approached Brian, Geordie had just signed a deal with Red Bus
Records in London, initially for a single. Geordie elected to
carry on when Brian left, recruiting one Terry Schlesher as his
replacement
