Born 1953 in the Greenwich Town area of Kingston, Johnson was the eldest of ten children, his father a fisherman and his mother a fishmonger.
[2][3] His song "None Shall Escape the Judgement" was a hit for Johnny Clarke when recorded by the singer in 1974,[4] and proto punk garage band artist Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers had a UK #5 hit[5] with an instrumental[6] version of "None Shall Escape the Judgement" in 1977 titled "Egyptian Reggae".
Much of his Freedom Sounds label music was re-released in the mid-1990s on Steve Barrow and Mick Hucknall's Blood and Fire label on the album entitled King Tubby & Soul Syndicate – Freedom Sounds in Dub, thereby introducing his sounds to new generations of listeners, and his works are still consistently held in high regard and in demand with sound-systems worldwide.
[9] His latest album is Marketplace, to be released in Spring 2011 with producer Siahvash Dowlatshahi.
The album features members of the Roots Radics, The Greyboy Allstars, The Devastators and others.