Musician/producer Johnny Gonzalves, 56, succumbed to pancreatic cancer last Friday morning in Miami. The affable Gonzalves was diagnosed with the disease last year and was very active in the campaign to bring comfort to cancer patients. Among the artistes mourning his death is Joey Ng Wai, Gonzalves’ long time friend and colleague.
Ng Wai recalls, “The friendship between Johnny and myself started when we met in 1984. I joined his band Frantic in 1985 and we ran with that until 1988. The band had musicians like Glenda Thomas, Anthony Durham, Jimmy Jaggessar, Michael ‘Zoom’ Salloum.
“By the end of ‘88, the players migrated to different parts and, in February 1989, Johnny and I decided to form a new band which we call Second Imij. We launched Imij in November 1989 and we played together until 1994.”
Ng Wai adds: “Johnny was always someone who was a perfectionist; always had to do it right; nothing slap dab. It was never in his vision to do anything half way, so when we started Imij we were probably the first people to have state-of-the-art equipment; nothing but the best. We had the first set of AKAI MPC 60s, the big brother to the Linn drum machine. We stepped up everything. We were completely a digital band. Johnny wouldn’t have it any other way. There was simply no band like ours in T&T.”
Second Imij quickly became the toast of the town and no ‘big fete’ was complete without the band playing. “From the Carnival of 1990 we ruled the music and party roost,” says Ng Wai. “We were the most toured band at the time; doing the most international shows, and opening for top-shelf acts like C and C Music Factory, The Boyz, Aswad, Kris Kross, Reo Speedwagon, Foreigner and Maxi Priest.”
Gonzalves exited Second Imij in 1994 and went on to pursue his production career. He opened JoGo Productions from which he produced a Christmas album (Christmas on the Hill ) first off. Quite popular, that CD included artistes like David Rudder, Denyse Plummer, H2O Phlo and Glenda Thomas, to name a few. Gonzalves also produced acts like Ghetto Flex, and released a dancehall single called The All Star Show featuring Bunji Garlin, KMC, Ataklan and Ghetto Flex. He also produced Tricia Lee Kelshall.
For seven years, Johnny was a judge of the annual Digicel Rising Stars competition; his last year being 2013.
Says Ng Wai: “Johnny subsequently founded the online cancer support group on Facebook called Friends for Life. Johnny was also a very competent graphic artist and worked for some prestigious companies in that field.”
Veteran musician and leader of defunct Fire Flight, Carl “Beaver” Henderson said Gonzalves was an asset to the local music industry, and added: “Sadly, another soldier has fallen. We in the music industry are just soldiers, marching on, trying to better this crazy country. Johnny was one of the many unrecognised soldiers in the arts.
“We in the music industry are at the bottom of the food chain. Johnny was an allrounder in the entertainment field and, being a believer, invested heavily in the industry. He still never got the true recognition that he deserved and that is so sad, but true of many of our musicians.”
A saddened Jason “Fridge” Seecheran said: “Without Johnny, H2O Phlo would not become what we eventually became. Johnny was always a giving a guy, always supporting the artiste. He would actually dip into his own pocket to ensure that the artiste was successful. He was a special kind of guy and always supported us in anything we did.”
He continued: “The first time I ever met Johnny was when we (H2O Phlo) did background vocals on his Christmas album. He featured us on the Kiss Me for Christmas track with Zoom Salloum. After that we started working under Johnny at his JoGo Productions which was actually run by Johnny and Richard “Char Su” Ahong. H2o Phlo did its first album with JoGo.”
A memorial service will be held for Gonzalves in Trinidad but he will be buried in Florida where he last lived.