Corbin Johnson

Music has been my passion for as long as I can remember. As a young child when my mom would take me to church I would always be the main attraction because while all the other kids are crawling under chairs I would clapping on beat with the adults. One of the first major moment of my life is when I watched a live Earth Wind and Fire show in Japan and the drummer Sunny Emory did a solo where his drums levitated and his sticks glowed n the dark it changed my life forever. My goal as a artist is to constantly seek innovation and creativity and to try my best to take myself and my surroundings to new heights

From the age of five, Corbin David Johnson had shown natural talent for playing the drums and classical piano. He began at his local church in Washington DC playing them both for the youth choir. He played in the band throughout his middle school, showing such great prowess; he would later get accepted into the prestigious Duke Ellington School for the arts for his 10th grade year in the instrumental department. Under his professor, Davey Yarborough, he joined the Washington Jazz Institute where he expanded on his styles on the drum kit. He clearly shined brighter than the rest of the drummers in his class allowing him to play in the 18-show $100,00 musical theater production Dreamgirls at his school. He's also played with notable artists such as Earth, Wind, & Fire, John Legend, Smokey Robinson, Ledisi, Jennifer Holiday, and Kirk Franklin just to name a few. Showing great promise and professionalism in his field, he also had the opportunity to go on a two-week tour in France with the Duke Ellington Show Choir. Johnson has also taken his skills from the stage to the screen playing in commercials for Nickelodeon and a tribute commercial for Marvin Gaye. During Corbin's senior year at Ellington he auditioned for DC CAP, a talent competition for scholarship money. Undeterred by the celeb judges he was playing for, Debbie Allen, Ricky Minor, Dionne Warwick—he made it to the top 10 out of 500 contestants. Performing at the Kennedy Center for the final round, his drum solo earned him 2nd place and earned a $20,000 scholarship to any university of his choice. Wanting to continue his musical career, Johnson chose the renowned Berklee College of music where he received yet another scholarship paying for his 4 year college career. Now he studies as a freshman drum set principle hoping day by day to better his craft.