Music & Artists

Rónán & Joanne Johnston

Rónán & Joanne Johnston are a married couple with two children; Naoise and Siún.  They live in County Wicklow, Ireland and are long standing friends of New Dawn, having led the youth ministry at the conference in years gone by.  They are founder members of the Emmaus Community, a youth community based in Dublin which ran until the late 90's.

Rónán Johnston, also affectionately known as Rojo, has spent much of the past decade in studio producing and writing material for other artists, and for TV, Film and Theatre.  His wife Joanne most commonly provides backing vocals.

Twice nominated for IFTA’s (the Irish Oscars) for his soundtrack writing, Rónán has played with the “Black Velvet Band”, has been the main mover in 90’s-00’s Gospel act 'Emmaus', and has been the producer and co-writer of Zig and Zag’s album and five 'Dustin' albums, with whom he also recorded Bob Geldof, Ronan Keating and other well known names.  Rónán's more recent works include his role as the musical director for the ITV1 series 'Rock Rivals'.

Between albums and singles he has produced and written, he has scored more than 33 platinum discs over the past decade, and been responsible for over 15 number 1’s in Ireland. He is also well known as the musical director of the Irish hit TV shows 'You’re a Star' and Irish 'Popstars' in addition to being a host on long-running TV hit show, 'The Lyrics Board'.

In recent times, he has returned to his first love, writing songs about the ordinary stuff of life. His wry sense of humour is still alive in tracks like 'High' while there’s a natural exuberance just bursting forth in tracks like 'Call My Name' and 'Overnight Mechanic'.  His album is entitled 'Songs of Consolation' as much of the album was written following the untimely death of his mother.  Despite well over a decade in the business, this is his first solo offering.

www.rojomusic.com / Rojo on MySpace