Hillery Johnson

In 1966, as a young man, Johnson and Archie Russell along with Leo Austell, a veteran in the record scene co-founded Brainstorm Records. This came about as a result of the label Austell was with, Vee Jay records collapsing. Another label creation that Johnson responsible for was Twin Stacks. It was the subsidiary of Brainstorm. Both labels lasted for four years and were successful mainly in their geographical region. They did however have some real solid success. As a production company they did extremely well with Betty Everett scoring several national hits including "There'll Come A Time".^[5]

He founded the Palm Springs based label Valley Vue Records^[6][7] Another label he started was one he co-founded along with Tom Takayoshi, was Hilltak Records. Takayoshi was the former president of Playboy Records.^[8] The Hilltak label was a subsidiary of Atlantic Records.^{[9] [10]}

Johnson and Willie Henderson put together the disco group, Broadway.^[11] The group had four female singers, with the lead singer was Patti Williams. They were signed to the Hilltak label.^[12][13]

Johnson introduced the Temptations to a party crowd of 500 that included Bette Midler and Teddy Pendergrass at Studio 54 in Manhattan in May 1977. The party was to announce the Temptations leaving Motown for Atlantic.^[14] Some of the acts Johnson has managed include Rene & Angela and Lalah Hathaway.^[15]