{"id":113528,"date":"2015-03-14T15:13:00","date_gmt":"2015-03-14T20:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kingston12.net\/?p=113528"},"modified":"2022-11-21T18:05:57","modified_gmt":"2022-11-21T23:05:57","slug":"giants-behind-the-music-vere-johns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kingston12.net\/2020\/2015\/03\/14\/giants-behind-the-music-vere-johns\/","title":{"rendered":"Giants Behind the Music: Vere Johns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vere Johns<\/strong> (Joseph Vere Everette Johns) was born in Mandeville, a city located in the parish of Manchester in central Jamaica on November 28, 1893 and died on September 10, 1966. He was a journalist\/actor and one of the island\u2019s earliest radio personalities. He was producer and host of the Vere Johns talent hour on radio, a program that contributed to the launching of the careers of many of the country\u2019s musical giants. Vare Johns served in the South Lancaster (England) Regiment in World War 1. After the war he moved to the United States where he found work as a newspaper columnist and as host of talent contests.
\nHe returned to Jamaica in 1939 and later joined the Jamaica Star newspaper \u2013 where he wrote the weekly column \u201cVere Johns Says\u201d. Shortly thereafter, he began hosting a weekly talent show on RJR, one of the island\u2019s two radio stations, called \u201cVere Johns Opportunity Knock\u201d. This show is said to have launched the careers of several artists \u2013 among them : Lloyd Charmers, Hortense Ellis, John Holt, Bob Andy, Desmond Dekker, The Wailers, Alton Ellis, Jackie Edwards, Dobby Dobson, Boris Gardiner, Laurel Aitken, and Millie Small. These talent contests were held and recorded live in venues such as The Majestic, Ward, Palace<\/strong> and Ambassador Theaters<\/strong>.
\nIn addition to showcasing talent, these shows also served as scouting venues for producers such as as Clement “Coxsone” Dodd, Prince Buster and Arthur “Duke” Reid \u2013 the primary record producers and Sound System operators of the period. Singers were recruited and taken to the Stanly Motta studio (the only recording studio in Jamaica at the time) to record cover versions of US hits for their sound systems.
\nIn addition to his contribution to the music industry, Vare Johns was one Jamaica\u2019s earliest Shakespearean actors and acting teacher.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vere Johns (Joseph Vere Everette Johns) was born in Mandeville, a city located in the parish of Manchester in central Jamaica on November 28, 1893 and died on September 10, 1966. He was a journalist\/actor and one of the island\u2019s earliest radio personalities. He was producer and host of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":113568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[57,58,172,70,77,84,86,120,128,143],"tags":[252,420,459,488,496,573,588],"class_list":["post-113528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-artist-feature","category-calypso","category-culture","category-entertainment","category-gbtm","category-gbm","category-posts","category-reggae","category-ska","tag-ambassador-theaters","tag-kingston12","tag-music-giants","tag-palace","tag-posts","tag-the-majestic","tag-ward"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kingston12.net\/2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/gigbtm-verejohns-574-1.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":113508,"url":"https:\/\/kingston12.net\/2020\/2015\/03\/14\/giants-behind-the-music-chris-blackwell\/","url_meta":{"origin":113528,"position":0},"title":"Giants Behind the Music: Chris Blackwell","author":"Sydney","date":"March 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Chris Blackwell (born Christopher Percy Gordon Blackwell) was born in Westminster, London. 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Chris came from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Caribbean Music"","block_context":{"text":"Caribbean Music","link":"https:\/\/kingston12.net\/2020\/category\/music\/caribbean-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kingston12.net\/2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Chris-Blackwell-574-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kingston12.net\/2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Chris-Blackwell-574-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kingston12.net\/2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Chris-Blackwell-574-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":113655,"url":"https:\/\/kingston12.net\/2020\/2015\/05\/22\/the-butler-does-it-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":113528,"position":1},"title":"The Butler Does it Again","author":"Sydney","date":"May 22, 2015","format":"audio","excerpt":"Jamaica multi-talented keyboard player Leslie Butler\u2019s new album will have its official I-Tunes release on June 9. \u00a0The album titled: \u00a0We\u2019ve Only Just Begun features classic standards like Witchita Lineman, Love Story, Shaft and the title track. \u00a0Butler is one of Jamaica\u2019s least known musical giants. \u00a0His classic dub album\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Artists"","block_context":{"text":"Artists","link":"https:\/\/kingston12.net\/2020\/category\/artists\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Leslie Butler Plus Three, We've Only Just Begun","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kingston12.net\/2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/leslie-butler_weve-only-just-begun-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":113765,"url":"https:\/\/kingston12.net\/2020\/2016\/12\/03\/dubtonic-kru-the-dub-project-that-became-a-journey\/","url_meta":{"origin":113528,"position":2},"title":"DUBTONIC KRU: The Dub Project that Became a Journey","author":"Sydney","date":"December 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"When DUBTONIC KRU was awarded the BEST NEW BAND IN THE WORLD title for 2010-2011 ahead of several hundred of their contemporaries who entered the Global Battle of the Bands competition in Malaysia in February 2011, very few people outside Jamaica and Europe new the name \u2013 irrespective of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Artists"","block_context":{"text":"Artists","link":"https:\/\/kingston12.net\/2020\/category\/artists\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"dubtonis-kru-2","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kingston12.net\/2020\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Dubtonis-Kru-2-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":114240,"url":"https:\/\/kingston12.net\/2020\/2016\/12\/06\/gone-too-soon-reggae-music-fraternity-losses-in-2016-part-ii\/","url_meta":{"origin":113528,"position":3},"title":"Gone Too Soon: Reggae Music Fraternity Losses in 2016 Part II","author":"Sydney","date":"December 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Vandelin \u201cVonnie\u201d Mcgowan (Arscott), PhD, OD \u00a0 Vonnie McGown, died in Miramar, Florida on August 18, 2016. 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