[1] Johnson was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and grew up as a neighbor of The Orioles' Sonny Til and The Swallows' Earl Hurley.
[2] Johnson is the duet lead heard, along with Paul Wilson, on "Lovers Never Say Goodbye", "Love Walked In", "Time Was" and "But Not For Me", all Billboard chart hits (except the latter).
The result was the Johnson-penned ballad "Let's Be Lovers" (b/w "Walk Away Softly", written by Skyliners' manager and "Since I Don't Have You" co-author Joe Rock).
Johnson re-recorded "Let's Be Lovers" in 2005, with artists Jeff Calloway and TeeTee for his own Hot Fun Record label.
The current lineup is Johnson, Starling Newsome, Stan Prinston and musical director Theresa Trigg.
In 1969, Johnson released the solo 45's "My Springtime" and "Whatcha Gonna Do", both b/w "Suzie" on Gordy Records (a Motown subsidiary.)
When Smokey moved to California in 1974, Johnson remained in Detroit and later had a short-lived stint as Harold Melvin & The Blue-Notes’ musical conductor.