Like so many African-American vocalists, Shirley Johnson started out singing in church and then went on to embrace secular music. The Chicago resident, whose influences range from Mahalia Jackson to Koko Taylor, Etta James, and Ruth Brown, is a gritty, big-voiced blues singer who can also handle soul and gospel. Born in Franklin, Virginia and raised in Norfolk, Johnson's family didn't think much of either the blues or R&B, but she developed a healthy appreciation of Brown, James, and Taylor, as well as male bluesmen like B.B. King, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Little Milton, and the late Z.Z. Hill, all of whom can be heard in her soulful voice. ~ Alex Henderson