Don Johnson

Known for his role in the series Miami Vice, but also for his musical successes, Don Johnson is an American actor and singer born in Flat Creek, Missouri, on December 15, 1949. Full name Don Wayne Johnson, son of a farmer and a beautician, he grew up in Wichita, Kansas, in a dysfunctional family. After his parents' divorce, he lived with his mother and ran into trouble with the law, before continuing his studies, discovering theater and playing several roles in high-school shows. After summer school, he auditioned for the American Conservatory Theater and won his first role in the play Fortune and Men's Eyes (1969). His career continued in television and film throughout the 1970s, culminating in the role of Detective Sonny Crockett in the series Miami Vice (1984-1989), which brought him worldwide fame. In 1986, at the height of his television fame, Don Johnson released his first studio album, Heartbeat, on Epic Records. The album met with moderate but significant commercial success, propelled by the single of the same name, which reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100 in the USA and remains his biggest hit. The video, which received extensive airplay on MTV, benefited from her sex-symbol image and Hollywood production. The Heartbeat album also includes collaborations with renowned musicians such as Stevie Ray Vaughan and Dweezil Zappa. The album reaches number 17 on the Billboard 200 and is certified gold. Following the FM pop-rock musical style of the time, tinged with blue-eyed soul, Don Johnson records Let It Roll (1989). Less well received than the previous album, it briefly charted without achieving the success of the first. The single "Tell It Like It Is", a cover of the Aaron Neville classic, was a European success only (#2 in Germany, #6 in France). Prior to this, he collaborated with Barbra Streisand, notably on "Till I Loved You" (1988), a duet that reached #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #16 in the UK charts. After his musical career, Don Johnson remained very active as an actor, producer and public figure, consolidating his place in Hollywood. He played the lead role in the police series Nash Bridges (1996-2001), for which he was executive producer, then made a remarkable return to film, in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained (2012). He then appeared in the Knives Out and Watchmen series in 2019, followed by Kenan (2021-2022).