'Just Got Paid' Singer Johnny Kemp Found Dead in Jamaica

According to new reports, singer Johnny Kemp was found dead in Montego Bay, Jamaica earlier this week. He was 55. He was most famous for his hit song, "Just Got Paid."

The cause or exact date of death has not yet been determined. There was speculation that he had been aboard the Tom Joyner Foundation-hosted annual Fantastic Voyage cruise at the time, as he was scheduled to perform as part of this year's lineup, however, other accounts say he never joined it and therefore died elsewhere.

He began singing in nightclubs in the Bahamas at 13. He moved to New York in 1979 with the band Kinky Fox. His self-titled debut album came out in 1986 and he scored a minor hit with "Just Another Lover". True success came the following year, however, with the release of his Secrets of Flying album, which contained a pair of Top 5 hits on the US Billboard R&B chart: "Dancin' with Myself" and "Just Got Paid", the latter hitting #1. "Just Got Paid" also cracked the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1988, and went to top the Hot Dance Music/Club Play. It provided his only UK Singles Chart entry, peaking at #68 for one week in August 1988.[2] His only other Hot 100 entry was "Birthday Suit", a tune from the soundtrack to the movie, Sing which climbed to #36 in 1989.

Kemp appeared on the 2007 DVD release by Keith Sweat entitled Sweat Hotel Live. This DVD featured live performances by Sweat in a sort of reunion with other R&B/new jack swing era pioneers of the late 1980s, including Teddy Riley. Kemp appeared on the final track, an "all-star finale" rendition of "Just Got Paid", originally recorded at a February 2006 concert in Atlanta, Georgia. Incidentally, Sweat had initially passed on the instrumental track that would eventually become "Just Got Paid", when it was first offered to him in the mid-1980s. Kemp listened to it, added his own lyrics to the melody, and "Just Got Paid" was born.

Kemp was the featured performer (singing "Just Got Paid") at the NJS4E event in New York on September 8, 2007. As the name implied, the show celebrated and commemorated 20 years of new jack swing, and took place at Ashford & Simpson's Sugar Bar.

Kemp was married and the father of two sons.

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