Layton and Johnstone Biography

It was in 1922 that J. Turner Layton formed a double act with Clarence ("Tandy") Johnstone even though both were already well established as solo entertainers. The first encounter between them happened in New York. Layton was playing the piano and singing in a private function room of a hotel. During a break, he went into the corridor to smoke a cigarette, and there he encountered Clarence Johnstone, who, having been engaged as a singer for another room, was doing the same thing. After that first casual encounter, Layton agreed to meet Johnstone in the office of the composer and agent W.C. Handy, who encouraged them to join forces. Within days they were offered a string of engagements.

Soon Layton and Johnstone were invited to go to London to appear in a revue, Elsie Janis At Home. Their appearance and their musical skills were a winning combination. Within a few days they were booked for late night cabaret at the famous Café de Paris.

During Layton and Johnstone’s first season at the Café de Paris, they received a visit from Raymond Langley, artiste and repertoire manager of Columbia records. Hearing that they were due to audition for HMV the next day, he made an immediate offer and, with nothing to write on, drafted a contract out on the back of a menu. This included £100 down and a royalty payment which, over the next 24 years, earned Turner Layton over £250,000. During that time he made over 350 records as a solo entertainer and hundreds more with Clarence Johnstone. During the eleven years of their partnership they were reported to have recorded 1,008 numbers.

Layton and Johnstone invariably appeared on stage in superbly tailored evening clothes. They had always very enthusiastic audiences. As the curtain opened, Turner would be playing an introduction. Then the applause died down, and they went into their act, which was simplicity itself. They were seen in front of plain black curtains and performed with a minimum of movement, Layton seated at the keyboard and Johnstone standing erect in the crook of the grand piano. The only hint of flamboyance came from a silk handkerchief which Johnstone always clutched in one hand. But what the audience regarded indulgently as a mild affectation was, in reality, a device to disguise a hand crushed in a boyhood accident.

Turner was a gentle personality, playing a beautiful accompaniment. Johnstone, was showy, playing the fool and capturing the audience with his snowy white hair and the way he rolled his eyes all over the theatre.

Layton and Johnson's enormous popularity brought rich rewards and soon they were able to afford all the trappings of success - luxury cars such as a cream Rolls Royce, big houses, lavish parties, and the most elegant clothes that Saville Row could provide.

Edwina Mountbatten, Lady Louis, was very keen on the theatre, and when she went to see them and she thought that they were a sensation. She gave a private party, and they were the guests of honour. As Layton and Johnstone became the darlings of London society, they were invited to appear before Edward, Prince of Wales. On more than one occasion they performed at private parties at St. James's Palace and after one such occasion, Turner Layton received the gift of a pair of gold cufflinks from His Royal Highness, in grateful thanks for teaching him how to Charleston.

The two men worked tirelessly in the recording studio. They would set aside several days each month, and put down a dozen or more numbers a day. Easy and adaptable to work with, they would take a new song from sheet music neither had seen before and try it over and over again until it was exactly right. All Alone and You Forgot To Remember sold 750,000 copies each. Their biggest seller, the Layton and Johnson version of Sonny Boy, sold a million.

If Layton and Johnson worked together upon the stage in perfect harmony, outside the profession they went their separate ways. A life long family friend of Turner Layton knew their contrasting characters. "They were a great team of the stage, but they were not personal friends off. If they gave parties, they went to each other's parties but they didn't spend any of their spare time together in all the years that I knew them. But Turner was a very introspective chap. He liked to be alone and then liked to play golf, and of course Johnson with his withered arm didn't play, at least if he did, I didn't know - they just had different interests. Johnson was much more voluble and gregarious than Turner ever was. You see, he had this very extrovert personality with his white hair which was very attractive and this exuberant personality, whereas Turner was very quiet and retiring. They both had charisma but of course Johnstone was the kind of chap who, when he came into the room, just made an impression and lit the whole thing up. He certainly had something."

A BBC Radio play about their lives, After You've Gone, written by Annie Caulfield and starring Lenny Henry and Clarke Peters, was awarded the Race in the Media Award from the Commission for Racial Equality in 1993. 'It was a painful story, but the business of marrying a white woman struck a real chord,' says Henry, who was married to comedian Dawn French. `They went from being the nation's favourites to ruffians whom everyone felt should be kicked out of the country.'