Carolyn Dawn Johnson (born April 30, 1971) is a Canadian country music singer-songwriter. Johnson co-wrote Chely Wright's 1999 single, "Single White Female," which reached number one on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in September 1999. Johnson was signed, in 2000, to record label Arista Nashville.
In 2001, Johnson released her debut album Room with a View. The album's first single "Georgia" reached No. 4 on the RPM Canadian Country Singles Chart for the week of November 6, 2000. "Complicated" was a Top Five hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. Her next single ("I Don't Want You to Go") was a Top Ten hit in the U.S. .
Biography
Early life and music
Carolyn Dawn Johnson was born in Grande Prairie, Alberta to John Johnson, a farmer and operator of a seed-cleaning business, and Loretta Johnson, a supervisor of a home for senior citizens. Johnson was raised on a farm in Deadwood, Alberta with two brothers, late older brother Derwin, who died due to an undisclosed illness on Christmas Eve in 1998, and brother Greg.
Johnson was passionate about music from a young age and even asked her mother how anyone could live without it. She sang at a church and started playing the piano at the age of five, learning from her pastor's wife, Evangeline Thiessen. Her parents played country music records by Jim Reeves and Don Williams at home and as she got older, her musical interests diversified as she listened to artists like ABBA, Charley Pride, Fleetwood Mac and Marty Stuart among others. The family later moved to Westlock, Alberta and Johnson attended RF Staples High School there. During her high school years, she learned to play the clarinet, flute and saxophone. She kept up her piano lessons largely in part due to Thiessan sending books and encouraging letters to her.
After graduating high school, believing that she could not make a living as a musician, Johnson attended Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia studying biology and a year later she was in Edmonton, Alberta studying education. and realizing that her true calling was in music, she went to Vancouver, British Columbia and there she attended Columbia Academy and learned the technical aspects of the music industry. Johnson focussed on songwriting in her spare time and ordered a video featuring songwriters from Nashville to learn more about songwriting and through this video, she joined the Nashville Songwriters Association International. The album was well-received as it sold a little less than 18,000 copies in its first week and debuted at No. 8 on the US country sales chart. It became Arista Nashville's highest debuting album by a new artist since SoundScan was used to track record sales.
The first two singles from the album, "Georgia" and "Complicated", were both hits in the United States, with the latter reaching No. 5 on the country charts. The year ended with Johnson receiving a record-breaking 10 nominations from the Canadian Country Music Association, with "Georgia" and "Complicated" competing against each other for "Single of the Year", "Song of the Year" and "Video of the Year". Johnson went on to win five awards, including her first "Female Artist of the Year" award.
Johnson went on tour with Alan Jackson and Kenny Chesney in 2002. Her next single, "I Don't Want You to Go", was a top 10 hit in both Canada and the US. Subsequent singles did well on the Canadian charts but not on the American charts. Johnson was nominated for five CCMA awards that year and won three, including her second consecutive "Female Artist of the Year". She also won a Juno Award for "Best Country Artist" and an Academy of Country Music award for
"Top New Female Artist" that year.
In 2003, Johnson went on her first co-headlining tour with Keith Urban. While on tour, she was once again writing songs, this time for her second album. Urban provided his voice for a song on that album.
Dress Rehearsal
In 2004, Johnson released her second album, Dress Rehearsal, in which she co-produced and wrote 11 of the 12 songs. The album debuted at number nine on Billboard's top country albums charts. The first single from the album, "Simple Life", did well on both the Canadian and the American country charts. This was the only song on the album that she did not write. The second single, "Die of a Broken Heart", also did well on the Canadian country charts but not on the American charts. Later that year, she received seven CCMA award nominations and won five awards.
Johnson left Arista Nashville in 2005 because "what they wanted her to do wasn't her."
Love and Negotiation
Love & Negotiation, Johnson's 3rd album, was released in Canada under the Angeline Entertainment label in 2006. As with her first album, she wrote all 12 songs, but this time she produced the entire album by herself. The album was originally scheduled to be released in the United States in mid-2007 by Equity Music Group but was delayed and Johnson exited Equity in 2008. In September 2007, Johnson was named Female Vocalist of the Year at the 2007 CCMA Awards. Love & Negotiation was eventually released in the United States digitally through Dancing Lily Music on October 13, 2009, with different artwork.
Love Rules
In 2010, Johnson released the first single from her upcoming studio album. The single, "Let Me Introduce Myself", is included on her fourth studio album, Love Rules, which was released digitally in the United States on July 21, 2010, and in Canada on August 10, 2010, via Dancing Lily Music. The album is produced by Johnson and Frank Rogers and features 12 new songs. 'Love Rules' was nominated for Country Album of the Year at the 2011 Juno Awards
Personal life
Johnson married Matt Fisher in 2003: they divorced in 2019. They have two children, Abigail [2008] and Bennett [2010].
Discography
Studio albums
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2" style="width:12em;"| Title
! rowspan="2" style="width:18em;"| Details
! colspan="2"| Peak chart<br>positions
! rowspan="2" style="width:8em;"| Certifications<br>
|- style="font-size:smaller;"
! style="width:4em;"| US Country<br>
! style="width:4em;"| US<br>
|-
! scope="row"| Room with a View
|
- Release date: August 7, 2001
- Label: Arista Nashville
- Formats: CD, cassette
| 8
| 87
| style="text-align:left;"|
- MC: Gold
|-
! scope="row"| Dress Rehearsal
|
- Release date: May 4, 2004
- Label: Arista Nashville
- Formats: CD, music download
| 9
| 65
|
|-
! scope="row"| Love & Negotiation
|
- Release date: June 6, 2006
- Label: Angeline/Equity Music Group
- Formats: CD, music download
| —
| —
|
|-
! scope="row"| Love Rules
|
- Release date: August 10, 2010
- Label: Dancing Lily Music
- Formats: CD, music download
| —
| —
|
|-
| colspan="10" style="font-size:8pt"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart
|}
Singles
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2"| Year
! rowspan="2" style="width:18em;"| Single
! colspan="4"| Peak positions
! rowspan="2"| Album
|- style="font-size:smaller;"
! style="width:4em;"| CAN Country<br>
! style="width:4em;"| CAN<br>
! style="width:4em;"| US Country<br>
! style="width:4em;"| US<br>
|-
| 2000
! scope="row"| "Georgia"
| 4
| —
| 25
| 98
| style="text-align:left;" rowspan="4"| Room with a View
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2001
! scope="row"| "Complicated"
| *
| —
| 5
| 59
|-
! scope="row"| "I Don't Want You to Go"
| *
| —
| 7
| 54
|-
| 2002
! scope="row"| "One Day Closer to You"
| *
| —
| 24
| —
|-
| 2003
! scope="row"| "Simple Life"
| 14
| —
| 13
| 73
| align="left" rowspan="4"| Dress Rehearsal
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2004
! scope="row"| "Die of a Broken Heart"
| 4
| —
| 52
| —
|-
! scope="row"| "Head Over High Heels"
| 5
| —
| —
| —
|-
| 2005
! scope="row"| "Dress Rehearsal"
| 11
| —
| —
| —
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2006
! scope="row"| "Crybaby"
| 7
| —
| —
| —
| style="text-align:left;" rowspan="3"| Love & Negotiation
|-
! scope="row"| "Taking Back My Brave"
| 6
| —
| —
| —
|-
| 2007
! scope="row"| "Into You"
| 10
| 99
| —
| —
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2010
! scope="row"| "Let Me Introduce Myself"
| 8
| 98
| —
| —
| style="text-align:left;" rowspan="5"| Love Rules
|-
! scope="row"| "The Whole Thing"
| 15
| —
| —
| —
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2011
! scope="row"| "Stop for Me"
| 16
| —
| —
| —
|-
! scope="row"| "I'd Still Have You"
| 18
| —
| —
| —
|-
| 2012
! scope="row"| "Reach You"
| 20
| —
| —
| —
|-
| 2020
! scope="row"| "Light Changes Everything"
| —
| —
| —
| —
| rowspan=2
|-
| 2023
! scope="row"| "Road Blocks"
| —
| —
| —
| —
|-
| colspan="7" style="font-size:8pt"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart
|}
As featured artist
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2"| Year
! rowspan="2" style="width:18em;"| Single
! colspan="3"| Peak positions
! rowspan="2" style="width:8em;"| Certifications
! rowspan="2"| Album
|- style="font-size:smaller;"
! style="width:4em;"| CAN Country<br/>
! style="width:4em;"| CAN<br/>
! style="width:4em;"| US Country<br/>
|-
| 2001
! scope="row"| "America the Beautiful"