Born in Mount Vernon, NY, Axella Johannesson moved with her family to suburban Long Island in the early 1960s. After her parents divorced, her mother remarried and the family settled in St James, NY, where she lived until she completed high school.
Axella has been both an atheist, and a vegetarian, since childhood.
She wrote her first song at 13 years of age, with the help of an $18.99 acoustic guitar ordered from the Sears catalog. It was called "Save the World", a song she later described as, "pretty awful".
Axella has always credited her parents' and grandparents' eclectic music tastes with inspiring her love of popular music. She grew up hearing The Mills Brothers, Trini Lopez, Nat King Cole, The Beatles, and The Animals, among many others, played around her relatives' homes. Axella used to love listening to her mother's 45 RPM pop records as a child, and credits these as a huge inspiration to write her own songs.
Axella played in assorted bands throughout her teens, as well as performing coffee house gigs with her acoustic guitar. She married, and later became an activist in the fight against the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant, and was active as a consumer advocate on issues affecting Long Islanders. She had three children.
After divorcing, Axella moved to Traralgon, Australia in late 1989. In 1991, she remarried.
In the late 1990s, Axella Johannesson's music began to appear on-line, on sites such as MP3.com, Ampcast, Garage Band, IUMA, and others. She achieved several genre Number Ones on MP3.com, and held the number one spot site-wide on Ampcast with the song, "Mama Never Told You About Me", a joint collaboration with Jon Andersen of Texas. She began to receive airplay on internet, community, and commercial radio.
Axella has released two full CDs, "Fighting the Good Fight", and "Mama Never Told You About Me", as well as a number of singles. She still lives in Traralgon, and and is currently in production on a new CD, expected to be completed in late 2007.
Catch That Rockabilly Fever by Sheree Homer is a candid account of life on the road and in the studio with '50s legends and today's talent. These are personal stories told by the artists themselves. It's a soft cover biography that will be published in October 2009 by McFarland Publishers and retail for $39.95. It will have never before seen photos (strictly 1950's photos of the legends) and rare stories from the artists themselves. Catch That Rockabilly Fever will be approximately 350 pages in length. It will be unlike any other rockabilly book on the market since it will include some of today's hottest young talent plus insightful stories from 1950's backing musicians and engineers for the first time, such as James Kirkland (Bob Luman, Ricky Nelson), Richie Frost (Ricky Nelson), Steve Handford (Bobby Lee Trammell), Tony Austin (Rock and Roll Trio), Stanley Walker (Ray Smith), Bobby Poe (Wanda Jackson), Vernon Sandusky (Big Al Downing) and Bob Sullivan (KWKH/Louisiana Hayride). Foreword by acclaimed writer Ken Burke.
These forty-six artists will have individual profiles and one glamorous photo per musician: Glen Glenn, Lew Williams, Art Adams, Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, Bob Luman, Ed Bruce, Dickey Lee, Jack Earls, Hayden Thompson, Maddox Brothers and Rose, Sonny Burgess, Carl Mann, Ray Smith, Johnny Powers, Larry Donn, Pat Cupp, Ronnie Hawkins, Bobby Lee Trammell, Huelyn Duvall, Gene Summers, Sonny West, Buddy Holly, The Collins Kids, Wanda Jackson, Charlie Gracie, Big Al Downing, Laura Lee Perkins, The Rock and Roll Trio, Narvel Felts, The Dave and Deke Combo, Kim Lenz, Go Cat Go, High Noon, Larry Cole, Cari Lee Merritt, Josie Kreuzer, Eddie Clendening, Suzy and Buddy Dughi, The Casey Sisters, Carl Sonny Leyland, Dawn Shipley, Sue Moreno, Ruby Ann, and Tex Rubinowitz.
Hi Sheryl- great to hear from you- may you & your family have a great xmas and a wonderful 2009-and congratulations on the wonderful blessings of the new addition to your family and becoming a grandma.lovely news.btw. There is a section called' upcoming shows' on my site where all the gigs are listed-under the songs section. Next gig is Sunday 28th Dec- at 'The old bar'- 74 Johnston Street Collingwood with 'Graveyard train- a cool country band-always welcome. Take care and give my regards to all my friends in the Latrobe Valley-all the best~ Mark
Hey there Sheryl- Hows it going- Great to hear your musics going real well- Im playing 'old Colonial Hotel'in Brunswick St Fitzroy this friday.if ya can make it.Take care.Rock on! MD
Hi Axella Thanks very much for your comments and you have a great blusey sound. I was also impressed with your quick answer to the fame game music question on Temptation :) Best wishes, Catherine
