MY first introduction to Garry Johnson, was when he sent me a CD consisting of poetry he’d written.

A renowned Swedish musician – Sören “Sulo” Karlsson who was in the Diamond Dogs and the power pop English band the Crunch – had, unbeknown to Garry, always been a fan of his, and asked him if he could sing and put music to the poetry.

The CD was produced by Kevin Poree, the man who did Paul Young’s Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home).

Garry asked if I wanted to review it, but other than that, didn’t really say much else about himself.

It took a little while longer for me to uncover some more stories about this man and his colourful life, via a few emails and phone calls, where bit by bit he revealed more about himself.

Around the same time – perhaps due to the attention the CD and books were getting – other people in the publishing, radio and TV industry were doing the same, including Sandie West, who wants to write a film about him, off of the back of reading the book.

“Fate has seemed to show up in several ways really” said Garry, who was born and bred in Hackney but now lives in Pitsea.

“One thing has led to another.

I was trying for years to make something happen, writing punk poetry, being a stand up, because I had something to say but couldn’t sing, trying to do things, but it’s all only just happening to me now.

“At the time back when I was writing my poetry years ago, I didn’t realise it was becoming popular on the underground – I had no idea.

“We didn’t have social media back then and stuff like that.

So all these years later, when Sulo suggested the album, I was surprised he even knew of me, but of course said yes!

“I wrote all 14 songs, although I’m not singing them, thank God.

I can’t sing. But I do perform five of my poems at the end of the album.”

Garry’s story started in the early Eighties.

“I was in a punk band called the Buzz Kids. To be honest, we were rubbish” he said.

“One night this music journalist came to watch us. He told us, in a pretty blunt way, that I couldn’t sing, but said he did like the lyrics and asked who wrote them.

“I told him it was me and he said to take his advice and put my efforts into writing.”

That journalist was famous tabloid columnist and critic Garry Bushell, who at the time was just about to leave his job at the legendary Sounds magazine.

“He was being poached by Fleet Street” explained Garry (Johnson) “so I went up to the magazine, and told them I’d had a recommendation from him, and would they let me write for them.

I became their token Cockney.

“As luck would have it, when I’d been there for about a year, I got sent a tape through the post from a band called the Stone Roses.

“I really liked what they were doing and spoke to Ian Brown and went up to Manchester.

“We got on so well, so I stayed up there for a bit, partying and going to gigs, and then they came down to stay with me and I started getting them gigs at places like Dingwalls and the Marquee.

“We were friends with the same taste in music – they all kipped in my mum’s front room one night, when she moved up to Cheshire.

As we got closer, I became their manager.

“It was only for about a year or 14 months, and it was before they were famous.

“Then their needs got greater than I could provide for, so they went with another manager who could fund their lifestyle a bit better.

“We are still friends, there was never any bad feeling about them moving on, I just couldn’t do any more for them. It was a good time.

“John Robb in his book The Stone Roses writes all about my involvement and includes a picture of me with them.”

All the time, Garry was still trying his luck at making a name for himself, and was writing books.

One of these was Boys of the Empire, which had a degree of success, including a good review in the Guardian.

He was having a great time, interviewing celebs, hanging out and partying with them.

“One time I went to interview Ozzy Osbourne” said Garry.

“Sharon was there, although she looked nothing like she does now. Ozzy was out of it and he was supposed to be doing a show, but they had to cancel it.

“I was wearing these Brothel Creepers and Ozzy was running around with them on. He was as nutty as a fruitcake.”

Another celebrity meeting which Garry highlights, is when he met his ultimate idol, David Bowie.

He recalled: “I didn’t ever interview him, but I did review his gigs and met him at a Tina Turner showbiz party.

“I stood in the corner and looked at him, and went and said hello and shook his hand.

“It was unbelievable – talk about buzzing.

“I’ve met loads of celebrities but there was something about him – his skin just shone white.

“There was a joke that went out in Sounds, saying ‘Garry Johnson had still not washed his hand’. It went on for months.

“I spoke out recently in a tribute for him made by Sky Arts.

It was a dream come true, being able to talk about him – I watched everything he did.”

After Garry finished on Sounds magazine, he continued to keep his hand in with writing, working for the tabloids and for TV magazine.

Then he met a girl and fell in love.

“She was the love of my life...”

said Garry.

“She saved me, and for the first time I became a normal nine-tofive member of society. We had three children.”

Unfortunately the marriage didn’t last and Garry became a single parent.

“I never stopped writing” Garry said, “but kept the poetry to myself.

“I then had a heart attack.

The first operation went wrong.

I then had a triple heart bypass operation with a valve inserted to make my heart work. After 29 days in a coma, I started the long road to recovery.”

It was three months after Garry was out of rehab he was contacted by Sulo. Since then things have took off” said Garry.

“I’ve been interviewed three times on Sky Arts, radio, all sorts of things.

“In some respects I’ve found it hard to take things in.

“How about this – I have heard that my book Punk Rock Stories And Tabloid Tales will be available at five UK universities, and in October a professor who grew up loving Paul Weller and the Jam will be using my poems as part of a course.

“Not bad for a Cockney boy who blagged my way into working as a journalist!”

* Garry Johnson will be appearing at the Roundhouse, Camden, on Saturday, July 9, as part of the Punk Weekender.

Punk Rock Stories and Tabloid Tales and The Cockney Bard – From Bow Bells to Bittersweet, are published by New Haven Publishing.