Johnnyswim

Johnnyswim is a folk, soul, blues, pop music duo consisting of singer-songwriters Amanda Sudano and Abner Ramirez.^[1] The duo formed in 2005 in Nashville, Tennessee.^[1]

Origin

Ramirez trained as a musician at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in his native Jacksonville, Florida.^[2] Sudano spent summers touring the world as a backing singer for her mother Donna Summer.^[3]

Ramirez and Sudano first met after Sunday service at a church in Nashville, Tennessee.^[1] Four years later Sudano attended a songwriting workshop held by Ramirez and became interested in writing songs with him.^[1]

The pair formed a songwriting partnership and called themselves Johnnyswim.^[1] The inspiration for the duet's name is an ongoing inside joke. Originally it was believed that the name came from the scene in the classic movie Jaws when a character named Johnny is attempting to flee from the shark as his friend shouts from the pier, "Swim, Johnny, swim!"^[1] An interview with Vogue revealed that the two planted the Jaws story on their Wikipedia entry. The article then states that the name Johnnyswim actually comes from the name of Amanda’s goldfish when she was a kid. The fish died and floated to the top of the bowl, and Amanda’s mom was trying to get rid of it before Amanda could find it. But Amanda walked in and started yelling “No wait—he’s alive! Johnny, swim!” It was such a cute story that the two decided it should be the name of their band—so Johnny can still live on. At the beginning of episode 65 of "Live from Daryl's House" broadcast in February 2014 Ramirez tells a different story of the origin of the name "Johnnyswim" in that it refers to him being attacked on his back porch by a neighbor's cat, Johnny, after which his dog, Sandwiches, chases Johnny into a nearby stream. The neighbor, Amanda Sudano, runs to help her cat and yells, "Swim, Johnny, swim!". Hence, the band's name. However, the story does not correlate with biographical data about how Ramirez and Sudano met.^[4]

Johnnyswim regularly perform new material for the New Music Mondays installment on their official YouTube Channel.^[5] The duo also cover songs by a range of artists like Edith Piaf and Britney Spears.

Sudano and Ramirez were married in 2009.^[6]

Career

Johnnyswim released their first self-titled EP on June 30, 2008.^[7]

In 2009, the duo collaborated with Bruce Sudano on the track Morning Song which appeared on his record Life and the Romantic.^[8]

2011 saw the release of the single Bonsoir.^[7] In September that year, the duo travelled to India with VisitingOrphans.org.^[9] Inspired by their experiences there, they wrote the track Hallelujah which was released in December 2011 with 100% of the profits going to the efforts of the charity.^[10]

April 24, 2012 saw the release of Home, Vol. 1 a new collection of songs as well as the release of the single Annie.^[11]

Johnnyswim were guests on the November 17, 2012 broadcast of the live radio variety show, A Prairie Home Companion.^[12] They also appeared on the The Tonight Show on July 15, 2013.^[13]

Johnnyswim performed "Don't Let It Get You Down" from their album Heart Beats on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on Friday, September 13, 2013.

In April 2014, Johnnyswim performed a Tiny Desk Concert at NPR's All Songs Considered. ^[14]

Personal

The duo is in fact married to one another. At a concert in Portland, Oregon, on November 5, 2014, the pair announced they are expecting their first child. Their son was born in February 2015.

Discography

LPs

• Diamonds (2014)
• A Johnnyswim Christmas (2014)

EPs

• Johnnyswim (2008)^[7]
• Home, Vol. 1 (2012)^[7]
• Heart Beats (2013)

Singles

• "You're Not Gonna Leave Me Here" (2008)
• "Letting Go" (2008)^[7]
• "Why'd You Do It" (2008)^[7]
• "Away I Go" (2008)^[7]
• "Good News" (2008)^[7]
• "Morning Song" (2009) with Bruce Sudano, Life and the Romantic.
• "Bonsoir" (2011)^[7]
• "Hallelujah" (featuring Tulsi) (2011)^[7]
• "Heart Beats" (2012)^[7]
• "Adelina" (2012)^[7]
• "Home" (2012)^[7]
• "Annie" (2012)^[7]

References

External links

Official

• Official site