Biography
Loren Johnson is an award-winning singer-songwriter, producer and music entrepreneur. His intimate, memorable, and passionately crafted songs have helped to place him before live audiences estimated at more than 375,000 over the past seven years. This two-time Los Angeles Music Awards winner unites melodic breadth and lyrical depth in the passionate pursuit of the 'perfect love song'. His work has been likened to an array of singer-songwriters from Damien Rice, Cat Stevens, Neil Diamond to David Gray but his compositions and vocals have a unique and compelling imprint of their own.
Loren's latest release, Fractal, is very much a love story that explores the beauty of brokenness, purity and unity. The word fractal is derived from the Latin Fractus meaning fractured or broken. More specifically it refers to a geometric pattern that is self-similar yet infinitely complex. All seemingly random until seen from the proper perspective where they are revealed as a beautiful and purposeful work of art. Music can also be expressed as a fractal where varying patterns and time signatures and notes combine to creature beautiful pattern and a meaningful composition.
Fractal's order of tracks leads us into its story and invites the listener on a journey from believing into knowing. From the beginning of Fractal to its end, the dynamic spaciousness of its textured and layered sounds reflects an openness and elegant simplicity that transcends genre, cultural and religious barriers. It is an invitation to be undone and restored.
Born in the U.S. but raised in such diverse countries as Bahrain, Ecuador and Trinidad, until recently Loren called Los Angeles home. "We moved from the beach cities of Los Angeles to the beautiful countryside just outside of Nashville. On the drive we stopped in Amarillo to visit Kevin Prosch. Kevin is an internationally-renown artist, songwriter and worship leader. Kevin said that he would like the opportunity to produce my next project at his world-class Third Ear Studios. It was an offer I could not refuse. So this became the year that I moved from Los Angeles to Nashville and made a record in Amarillo, Texas."
The making of this record is itself a unity of diversity. People of different ethnicities, nationalities and styles came together from around the world in a gathering of classical, jazz, southern rock, gospel, folk, pop and world music backgrounds. From England: Martin Neil on drums (Kevin Prosch, Black Peppercorns, Martin Smith, Matt Redman); from Canada: Fergus Marsh on bass and Chapman Stick (Bruce Cockburn, Pierce Pettis Kevin, Peter Murphy, Kevin Prosch,); from Los Angeles: Alex Wurbrand, a classically trained violinist and film composer; also from Los Angeles: Marc Ford (the Black Crows, Ben Harper, Chris Lizotte); from Columbus, Ohio: Gregory Emler, trumpet (long time contributor to both studio recordings and live performances, Grammy nominated jazz instrumentalist). From L.A. (Lower Alabama): vocals were added by friend and international acclaimed recording artist JoAnn McFatter; from Nashville: additional vocals were contributed by Gerard and Jovaun Woods and Gayle Mays (Israel Houghton, CeCe Winans). Jason Tucker, Nashville adds piano (Dave Matthews, Eric Durrance, Ashley Cleveland).
Loren earned an MBA from Baylor University and spent the early years in Los Angeles working as a consultant, creative director, producer and music entrepreneur earning credits on over 50 national releases for a variety of artists, Grammy award winning producers and record labels. A prayer and an encounter would lead to a beautiful brokenness and would bring an unexpected change in the direction of his life. At the point of homelessness he responded in song and doors opened, first in the clubs of Hollywood, and then in amphitheatres, theatres and churches and in such distant places as India, Kazakhstan, Romania, and Argentina. John-David Walt Chaplin, author and co-writer with Chris Tomlin of The Wonderful Cross describes him as "a Modern-day Psalmist" whose uniquely moving and literate, songs are birthed out of a desire for intimacy with the author of love.
For seven years he served as the Worship and Arts Pastor for King's Harbor Church in Redondo Beach where he oversaw a team of over 70 leaders, musicians and vocalists. During his tenure as Worship Pastor he was regularly called upon to organize and lead worship for citywide events, uniting worship leaders from various denominations across social and economic boundaries. He has had the privilege to serve with such church leaders as Jack Hayford, Ed Silvoso, and Lou Engle. He is a founding member of the Hollywood Transformation Coalition where he led worship for a gathering of leaders from World Vision, Mastermedia, YWAM, The Hollywood Prayer Network and others who worked to educate and encourage Christians around the world to bless and pray for Hollywood.
He remains a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and is a two-time winner of Los Angeles Music Awards in the best artist and producer categories. He served for five years on the board of directors of the Oasis of Hollywood (an outreach to youth at risk) and continues on as an advisor. Loren has recorded and released four projects Simplicity, The Unexpected and Wholly as well as a live worship project called ONE through CEO Records. He is passionately in love with his beautiful wife Christine and is a proud father of three.
