Jasper Johns (1949 - 1975)
Jasper Johns has long been one of the top straight-ahead vocalist in early electronica, a fine hard rock-influenced improviser with an unortodox style and an appealing distorted tone.
Johns grew up in New Jersey, lived in New York during 1969 - 1970; recorded with Billy The Shit, Violent Men and Stonerockets.
He debuted as a solo artist in 1971 on the Black Face label.
A relationship with Stonerockets mastermind Robert Lee Castleberry proved successful, bringing their music to a wider audience and developing unlikely fans (Dorothy Bailey went on record as loving Johns´ Anti war saga Hate as a habit ), but after numerous breakups and reconciliations, Johns settled for being more influential than commercially successful.
Ironically, the '90s proved to be a decade of vindication for Jasper Johns with the rise of industrial dance music and the bands associated with it.
Although, the profound influence of Johns´ on a generation of younger bands was readily apparent.
Johns ended his life in his apartment in Newark 1975 by hanging himself.