Pat Johnston

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Born Patricia Ann Brown, January 22, 1944, in Seattle, Washington, Pat, as she is most often called, was raised in a 9-bedroom farmhouse in Kent, Washington. Originally one of as many as 114 foster children living in a multi-cultural environment, she and 3 others were adopted by Harold and Nora Johnston, swelling the core family to 8.

Pat, a painfully shy, quiet child, was always listening to music. Learning the songs and singing along, she would often go down by the creek that ran through her parent’s 14-acre farm and sing to her reflection in the water; or sing to mirrors in the bathroom or bedroom -- “pretending” to be a singer!

As she got older, she began singing in talent shows in grade school and other school events. But in the 4^th grade, her favorite teacher asked her to sing at her wedding. The moment came, Pat was petrified, everyone was looking and listening and waiting – she climbed upon a box and when she opened her mouth to sing, a rough, uncontrollable “squawwwk” came out! She started again, the second time worse than the first. She climbed down off the box in tears and that’s when her fear of singing in public transformed her into a closet performer.

As a teenager, she was influenced by what she heard on the radio and began singing everything that passed her ear. Then in the early 60’s she met a man several years older who introduced her to Jazz!! -- vocalists like Billie Holiday, Carmen McCrae, Anita O’Day, Joe Williams, Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald, Johnny Hartman, Sarah Vaughn, Margaret Whiting – the list goes on!

Pat was absolutely hooked. She couldn’t get enough of this new sound that was consuming her every “listening” moment. Several years later she met another man who was a jazz musician. This long-term relationship introduced her to the instrumental side of jazz; listening to artists like “Trane”, “Monk,” “Miles,” “Byrd,” Chet Baker, Ray Brown, Maynard Ferguson, and so on. During this time, she also had fallen in love with a new and upcoming song stylist, Nancy Wilson! Nancy became the epitome of everything Pat would like to be if she were ever to become a singer – creative talent, beauty, elegance, and that “certain something,” a profound sensuality in both her voice and presence that she found in no other singer.

Thirty-five years later, and as time and luck would have it, through a friend she met Andrienne Wilson, an exceptionally talented and motivated, nationally known jazz artist who lived and taught jazz vocalizing at a local community college in Seattle, Washington. Working with Andrienne as her vocal coach, Pat has challenged her fear of singing in public and has appeared often at Tula’s, a well-known jazz club and other private venues, with rave reviews.

Now, at 64, she says it is the best thing she ever did for herself. She firmly believes there is nothing more freeing than “self-expression.”