Justine Johns was a singer/songwriter no-hit wonder of the decade–a synth rocker in the mold of Pat Benatar and Patty Smyth. Not that she didn’t have her moments, the video for “Babylon”–winner of a Best Independent Video award in 1984–being one. She toured plenty, turned up on MTV and the occasional television rock show, but only released the one album (that I know of)…”Stage Struck”, released on the Artist International label (re-issued in 2015).

Justine Johns was actually a stage name for Deborah Williams (it was the 80s and you needed a name with a bit of pizzaz; even I had a name–as a disc jockey–that had that uniquely 80s flair…nope, not sayin’). Deborah could have taken her experience in a number of different ways. She could have been encouraged or discouraged, clung to her 80s persona or given up on the music biz entirely. Instead, she went to work. She studied the craft in all of its many facets in all of the cities where talent congregates…. L.A., New York, Nashville, etc. She worked musical theater, did voice-overs for commercials and took character roles in assorted television shows. She sang at corporate conventions and weddings. She played the nightclubs of New York and the casinos of Las Vegas. In more recent times, she’s taught others, passing on the decades of knowledge she’s accumulated.