Al 'Carnival Time' Johnson was born Alvin Lee Johnson on June 20, 1939 in New Orleans, and was raised in the Lower Ninth Ward after early years in Houston. His father bought instruments for all the siblings — a trumpet for Al, a piano for his sisters, a trombone for his brother — and Johnson chose the piano, learning the chord changes in different keys while taking inspiration from Fats Domino, Smiley Lewis, and Tommy Ridgely.
In 1956, at 17, he recorded his first songs for Aladdin Records, then signed with Ric Records and cut a string of songs at Cosimo Matassa's famed J&M Studios. In 1960 he recorded 'Carnival Time,' which — alongside Professor Longhair's 'Go to the Mardi Gras' and the Hawketts' 'Mardi Gras Mambo' — became one of the essential, most-requested songs of the New Orleans Carnival season. Drafted into the Army, he returned to New Orleans in 1964 to find label owner Joe Ruffino dead and his royalties tangled in legal fights; he eventually won full rights to 'Carnival Time' in 1999.
Still writing, recording, and performing well into his eighties, Johnson was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2007, reigned as King of Krewe du Vieux in 2005, and is a regular at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Later releases include the album Beyond Carnival (2013), 'Who Dat Say' with Egg Yolk Jubilee, and 'Red Beans' with Bon Bon Vivant, recorded after he was named Grand Marshal for Life of the Krewe of Red Beans.
