John Robert Waughman, better known as Johnny Warman, is an English singer-songwriter, best known for his 1981 album, Walking Into Mirrors and the hit single "Screaming Jets".
Early life
Warman was born in Bethnal Green, London, England, and he moved to Hackney at the age of seven. In Warman's home there was always music as his mother and father both sang. Inspired by the Beatles at the age of 11, when he heard their song "Love Me Do" playing on a Dansette record player, he joined the school choir and in 1964 was picked to sing at the Royal Opera House performing in Tosca and Pagliachi with Maria Callas and Tito Gobbi. After this royal command performance he knew he wanted to be a performer and began to learn guitar, He soon began to play gigs. Warman joined a band called Sounds Like Six when at school. As a keen fan of The Rolling Stones and The Who he frequented many live music venues of the time. Warman followed other bands such as The Iveys and Pink Floyd and became a keen reader of Melody Maker. After hearing Jimi Hendrix's song "Hey Joe" in 1966, he was inspired to become a Rock musician.
Beginning of career and Bearded Lady
In the early 1970s, Warman joined the group Bearded Lady (originally named Elmo's Fire) as a vocalist and rhythm guitarist. The band also included guitarist Freddy Sheriff an old school friend. Eventually managed by John Hunt and Barry Sullivan's Hunsul Enterprises, they performed U.K venues such as The Hope And Anchor in London, other venues across U.K and as support act for Humphrey Lyttelton in Fishguard. The group then focused their efforts on their live act and built up a following and they were brought to the attention of Mickie Most.
Bearded Lady entered the National Folk And Rock Contest in 1974 and were voted into second place in the final to Curly who had Paul Young as their vocalist. They signed a record deal with Youngblood records which saw the release of a single "Rock Star" in 1975 and featured the song "Country Lady" on the B-side. The band toured West Germany appearing at Zoom in Frankfurt and the P.N. Club in Munich, promoting the German release of the single released on the Bellaphon inprint. Warman worked a day job to support his wife and young family and still insisted the band commit to at least four nights of rehearsals a week. The band members other than Warman decided to sell all their equipment and their van without telling him and the band played their final gig at the Marquee Club in London supported by The Jam. Warman then pursued a solo career and began to spell his surname "Warman" rather than "Waughman".
Solo success, Ring O' Records and Hour Glass
Warman took demo tapes of "Head On Collision", "London's Burning" and "Mind Games" to Arista Records, who asked for the songs to be re-recorded at Decibel Studios. They decided against signing him but allowed him to retain the re-recorded tracks. Warman was then contacted by Barry Anthony from Ringo Starr's Ring O'Records. Warman signed to the label with a retainer for the year and compensation for the rights of the three songs he brought to Ring O'Records. He was also given two cases of beer and a Christmas tree to take home for his family.
With Starr's record company he recorded an album at Startling Studios at Tittenhurst Park and chose Vic Coppersmith-Heaven as producer, because of Coppersmith-Heaven's work with The Jam. They immediately re-mixed the three demos at Morgan Studios which were released as a three track single by Ring O'Records in January 1978. Warman then recorded the album Hour Glass at Startling Studios which was remixed at Roundhouse Studios in 1978. Ring O' Records did not release the planned album and the recordings were shelved. In June 1979 the album was launched at Hamburg Planetarium by an RCA inprint and received encouraging reviews but failed to make any chart impact. A single to promote the album entitled "Golden Lions" was released to accompany the Hourglass album in West Germany. This single was recorded at Townhouse studios with the song "Tomorrow's Babies" from the album as a B-side. During his period Warman also featured in the music video for Dirk & Stig's "Ging Gang Goolie" promotional music video