The life of an "incredible" singer who found fame with Primal Scream and New Order has been celebrated with a blue plaque outside her south Manchester home. The late Denise Johnson, who also recorded and performed with artists including Pet Shop Boys, Paul Weller and Ian Brown, was born and raised in Hulme before moving to live in the Whalley Range, in the south of the city, in the early 1980s. The 56-year-old was described as a "pioneer of the Manchester music scene" after .
Karen Gabay, who led the push for the plaque, said it had been "so moving to see so many people" coming to see it being installed in memory of an "incredible" woman. “The way that Manchester music is sold to the world is very much in the spirit of Oasis, the Smiths and New Order," Ms Gabay said. "But there’s so much more to that.
"We should know her name and we should know other people’s names, ad we just need to really correct the narrative around Manchester music history." The plaque comes after a campaign by Ms Gabay, a social historian and broadcaster, and the Nubian Jak Community Trust to shine a "much needed spotlight" on the contributions of the city's black musicians. A host of people from across Manchester's arts and music scene went to the unveiling of the plaque outside Johnson's childhood home on Strathmore Avenue.
The vocalist and songwriter was best known for her work with Primal Scream, recording backing vocals for their 1991 landmark Screamadelica album. She was set to release her debut album Where Does it Go before her sudden death in 2020, with the album described as an homage to Manchester. Singer Rowetta, known for her work with the Happy Mondays, was at the ceremony and said it was "really beautiful" to see her friend commemorated.
She sang with Johnson after moving to the area in 1987 and remembers the pair had a "funny sense of humour" and "sang really well together". "I wish while she was alive she would have known how much she was respected and loved. "She should have been signed by everybody.
" A spokesman for the Nubian Jak Community Trust said there was an "astonishingly low number of blue plaques" in the city commemorating the achievements of "black and global majority musicians". Plaques are also set to be unveiled to honour the legacies of Manchester vocalist and songwriter Diane Charlemagne and African American singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe, who performed in the city in 1964..
