CAROLYN DAWN JOHNSON

"I've always wanted to be an artist who writes things that are real to me," Carolyn Dawn says. "I just want to be honest in my music". The fresh-faced songwriter who originally hails from Northern Alberta drove 60 hours from her then home, Vancouver, BC, Canada to build a career in Nashville. She seemingly never looked back. She never had to. Arriving in 1995, Johnson developed her skill and reputation as a songwriter while working odd jobs to pay the bills. A publishing deal led to cuts by artists including Jo Dee Messina, Patty Loveless, Kathy Mattea and more. Her first No. 1 as a writer came in 1999 with Chely Wright's "Single White Female." The milestones came quickly. She was named Music Row Magazine's Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year in 2000, she toured behind Martina McBride for a year, singing backgrounds and playing guitar for her and eventually signed a recording contract with powerhouse label Arista/Nashville. Her first album, Room With A View, bowed in 2001 and launched her first hits as an artist including "Georgia", "I Don't Want You To Go" and the top 5 smash "Complicated." Critical acclaim and the approval of her peers poured in, and Johnson was honoured as the Academy of Country Music's Top New Female Vocalist in 2002. The American Music Awards hailed her as Favorite New Country Artist the following year. She also received a Juno award for Best Country Artist in her home country and to date has brought home 16 Canadian Country Music Awards. High profile tours with Reba McEntire, Alan Jackson, Kenny Chesney and Keith Urban kept her out in the public eye and she won fans all across the country. She then came with her second album, 2004's Dress Rehearsal, featuring the US top 15 hit, "Simple Life", which reached #1 in Canada. Also included on the album were three Canadian top five hits, "Head Over High Heels", "Dress Rehearsal" and "Die of A Broken Heart". In 2005 Arista and CDJ parted ways. Energized and at the same time benefiting from the incredible education of making her first two albums, Johnson took a brave step and made the wildly ambitious decision to record an album without a label deal in place. She wrote or co-wrote all 12 songs on Love & Negotiation, produced eight of them and co-produced the other four with legendary musician and producer Dann Huff. The album was released on Angeline/Universal Records. CDJ’s successes go well beyond her artist career, including acting as an ambassador for Children’s Miracle Network for the last six years, hosting her own syndicated radio show in Canada, developing and producing other artists, and of course songwriting. From her earliest dreams of Nashville, songwriting has been at the core of Johnson's artistry. Johnson recently signed a new publishing deal with highly acclaimed, award winning, Sea Gayle Music Publishing joining forces with Brad Paisley, producer Frank Rogers, and songwriter Chris Dubois.

2010 sees the return of Carolyn to the radio and record marketplace after taking some time to start a family all the while writing songs for her own projects or for others. Her new album co-produced by Frank Rogers will be worth the wait - full of all the gems she has been storing up, now ready to shine. Her first single "Let Me Introduce Myself" came onto the airwaves with welcoming arms grabbing the #1 most added spot two weeks in a row. Her album Love Rules will be released early in the summer in plenty of time for people to learn all the lyrics before she heads out across Canada for her first tour in almost 4 years.

It seems Canadians want more CDJ and they didn’t mind waiting for her.