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 Carolyn Dawn Johnson Tickets Deadwood, Alberta with two brothers, older brother Derwin, who died due to an undisclosed illness on Christmas Eve in 1998, and younger brother Greg.
Johnson was passionate about music from a young age and even asked her mother how anyone could Carolyn Dawn Johnson Tickets 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 Thiessan. 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 Carolyn Dawn Johnson Tickets 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 Carolyn Dawn Johnson Tickets lessons largely in part due to Thiessan sending books and encouraging letters to her. However, her high school teachers were not as encouraging and caused her to turn away from music for a while and turn to science, a period in her Carolyn Dawn Johnson Tickets life which she called "a stain in her heart".
After graduating high school, believing that she could not make a living as a musician, Johnson attended Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia Carolyn Dawn Johnson Tickets studying biology and a year later she was in Edmonton, Alberta studying education. During her college years, she frequently sat-in with local bands at night and encouragement Carolyn Dawn Johnson Tickets from them caused her to think that maybe she could have a career in the music industry. At the age of 20, she taught herself to play the guitar 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 Carolyn Dawn Johnson Tickets 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.
In 1994, Johnson called her mother and said, "I'm going big. I'm going for the big picture." Carolyn Dawn Johnson Tickets and she headed to Nashville.
In Nashville, Johnson attended songwriting workshops and writer's night events. In 1997, Johnson moved permanently to Nashville after obtaining a work visa and later Carolyn Dawn Johnson Tickets that year, she signed with Patrick Joseph Music as a songwriter.Her songwriting demos captured the attention of many record label executives and some of the songs she wrote were recorded by Patty Loveless, Mindy McCready, Jo Dee Messina and Chely Wright. Johnson's breakthrough as a songwriter came in 1999 when "Single White Female", a song she co-wrote with Shaye Smith and recorded by Wright, Carolyn Dawn Johnson Tickets went on to become a number one hit on country radio. This song became Johnson's first number one hit as a songwriter. Another one of her songs, "Downtime", recorded by Messina, also became a top five hit. In 2000, Johnson was named "Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year" by Music Row Magazine.
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