Cynthia Johnson

Cynthia Johnson (born April 22, 1956) is an American singer, songwriter, saxophonist, producer and actress, best known to many as the lead singer for the late 70s and early 80s band Lipps, Inc. with the smash-hit Funkytown. Her unmistakable vocal talent has brought her widespread recognition and has been featured in many successful movies and advertising campaigns of large multinational companies. Prior to appearing under the name Lipps Inc. in 1979, Johnson had already become well-known locally for winning the 1976 Miss Black Minnesota, USA pageant, and for being the lead vocalist of the well-known Minneapolis band Flyte Tyme for seven years. Being also an accomplished saxophone player, Johnson utilized her saxophone talents in Flyte Tyme, and was also the songwriter of many of their songs. Johnson also co-wrote some songs with band members Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, today a multi-Grammy award winning songwriting and producing team. As the lead singer of the popular Minneapolis-based band Lipps, Inc., she hit #1 in 28 countries around the world with the song Funkytown, which sold more than 35 million copies worldwide and earned a place in the "One-Hit Wonders" section of the Rock & Roll Museum in Cleveland, Ohio. But even till today Funkytown continues to influence popular culture from the movie screen (e.g. Shrek 2) and TV screen (e.g. Friends) to the Olympics (2010 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy). Other singles include "Designer Music" and "Rock It", but the group never matched the success of "Funkytown". Lipps, Inc. received several awards, among them three Billboard Music Awards and "Soul Record of the Year" by the AMOA association. Johnson discontinued to appear under the name Lipps, Inc. after their third album "Designer Music" to follow new pathes in her musical career. Johnson remained active as a member of the Grammy award winning choir Sounds of Blackness (1974-today), as a musician on albums by Maceo Parker and Prince, on labels such as Motown, and on projects of Grammy-winning producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, or as the host of the first TV episode of the FunkyTown TV series, produced by Minneapolis-based production company Megabien Entertainment. Johnson also has sung on TV commercials for international corporations like 3M, Volkswagen, Nissan, Target, FedEx, Ford and McDonald's. Johnson has also performed for U.S. presidents. In 2015, Johnson released her first album "All That I Am" under her own name, which sums up a lifetime of vocal artistry, showing her talents as singer and songwriter but also as a producer. The album was released on December 15, 2013 on the Megabien Music record label. During her musical career Cynthia Johnson has worked with Flyte Tyme Productions, Terry Lewis, Jimmy Jam, Paisley Park Studio, Brown Mark of Motown Records, Chico Debarge, Prince, Alexander O' Neal, Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Gloria Gaynor, Maceo Parker, Stacy Lattisaw, Jellybean Johnson, Herb Alpert, amongst many others.