Martin Johnson (musician)

Martin Johnson
Johnson in 2019
Background information
Born	Martin Bennett Johnson (1985-09-09) September 9, 1985 Andover, Massachusetts, U.S.
Genres	Alternative rock pop-punk pop rock emo
Occupations	Musician singer songwriter record producer
Instruments	Vocals guitar piano
Years active	2005–present
Member of	Boys Like Girls The Night Game
Spouse	Naomi Cooke
Website	martinjohnsonmusic.com

Martin Bennett Johnson (born September 9, 1985) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the bands Boys Like Girls and the Night Game.

He has written and produced for various artists, including Avril Lavigne, Daughtry, Jason Derulo, Christina Perri, Gavin Degraw, and Hot Chelle Rae. Johnson is credited with having several RIAA-certified multi-platinum songs ("The Other Side", "Here's to Never Growing Up", "Two Is Better Than One" (with Taylor Swift), "Love Drunk", "The Great Escape," "You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home").

Martin Johnson was born in Andover, Massachusetts, on September 9, 1985, and raised in Amherst, Massachusetts. He is of English descent.^[1] Johnson attended Andover High School, where he began writing songs around that time.^[2] He also started playing guitar at the age of six and later played in a band called The Drive, as a drummer.^[3]

Johnson is the lead singer and plays guitar for the band Boys Like Girls. Johnson, along with drummer John Keefe and former bassist Bryan Donahue played together in various bands around Boston, before coming together to form Boys Like Girls in 2005. Keefe met guitarist Paul DiGiovanni while working on a demo for a mutual friend, and recruited him to the band to complete the line-up.^[4] Releasing their debut studio album Boys Like Girls in 2006, it was primarily written by Johnson, many of it is semi-autobiographical.^[5] Their second studio album Love Drunk was released in 2009.^[6] Johnson produced the band's third studio album Crazy World, released in 2012.^[7] The group then went on hiatus with Johnson saying the band hasn't broken up and may continue writing and recording.^[8] The band has since resumed recording and released their fourth studio album Sunday at Foxwoods in 2023.^[9]

Since releasing their debut album, the band has sold over a million albums and has accumulated over one hundred twenty million plays for their music on MySpace.^[10]

Johnson formed the new wave band The Night Game, the name is based on a Paul Simon song.^[11] The band released two singles in 2017, "The Outfield" and "Once In A Lifetime",^[12] and toured as an opening act with John Mayer.^[13] They also collaborated with Kygo on the song "Kids in Love".^[14] On February 1, 2018, The Night Game released a version of "Kids in Love" without Kygo and announced their American Nights tour.^[3][15]

With the Night Game, he released two studio albums, The Night Game (2018) and Dog Years (2021).^[16][17]

Johnson co-wrote, with Taylor Swift, the song "You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home" from the Hannah Montana Movie soundtrack.^[18] He also co-wrote Ariana Grande's debut single "Put Your Hearts Up", as well as providing backing vocals.^[19] Most recently, Johnson produced and co-wrote Avril Lavigne's "Here's to Never Growing Up", Jason Derulo's "The Other Side", Karmin's "Acapella", Mike Posner's "The Way It Used To Be", Gavin Degraw's "Best I Ever Had", and Christina Perri's "Human". In 2015 he collaborated with a cappella group, Pentatonix.

He is married to singer-songwriter Naomi Cooke, formerly of the American country music group Runaway June.^[20] They have two daughters together.^[21]

Johnson previously resided in West Hollywood, California,^[22] and has lived in Hollywood Hills.^[23]

Credits primarily adapted from AllMusic.^[24]

In addition to the above-listed, Johnson (co-)wrote every track on the following Boys Like Girls albums: Boys Like Girls (2006), Love Drunk (2009), and Crazy World (2012).

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