We caught up with the brilliant and insightful John Carey a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi John, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
I found my purpose as a young kid living in the Chicago Housing Projects. Growing up everyone around me were poor but understood that we all had to find a way out. The area was surrounded with gangs and alcoholics. I concentrated on music. I began to learn guitar at about 11 years old. Once I understood the dynamics of music and how it made me feel to learn songs and to see my mother smile when I played I knew it was going to be Ok.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
John R. Carey is a seasoned musician with over four decades of experience in the music industry. He began his career in Chicago, where he performed with local blues bands and recorded with blues legends such as Koko Taylor, Floyd Taylor, Tyrone Davis and the Chi-Lites. John attended the Chicago Conservatory of Music and graduated from Wendell Phillips High School.
In 1984, John studied engineering under the direction of veteran studio engineer Steve Robertson while working at S. R. O. studios in Southern California. He went on to do freelance studio work for Interscope Records, programming beats for rappers and recording guitar for Young MC.
During COVID, John wrote and produced two CDs for Ronnie Moss, the tenor singer for The Spinners as well as two CDs for himself, The Journey Home and Positive Thinking. In 2023, John wrote and produced a new single for Ronnie Moss titled “Love is What You Make It” and is currently writing and producing three songs for recording artist Larry Braggs, formerly of Tower of Power.
From 2010 to 2020, John lived in Southern California, where he had the opportunity to open for major artists such as George Benson, Boney James, Dave Koz, Natalie Cole, Earth Wind and Fire, Ledisi, Warren Hill, Queen Latifah, Brian Culbertson and many more. John was asked to produce a special blues project for Smoke Free Cities, Inc. For this project he produced an eight (8) song CD of Blues and Americana, titled “Road To Nowhere”.
John has had the pleasure of being the opening act for the world-famous Guitars and Saxes smooth jazz concert series. This series was held at the famous McCallum Theater in Palm Desert, California. Morongo Casino hired John to develop and produce a smooth jazz series with radio station 94.7, “The Wave”, where John worked with Dave Koz, Warren Hill and many other recording artists.
In 2017 John was diagnosed with CLL (Chronic Leukemia Lymphoma) John was treated for CLL with Chemotherapy and is now in remission, but through all of that John has continued to perform and record. John has had 6 number one songs from the United Kingdom radio community while living here in the United States. John believes music and God has helped him heal and stay in remission.
From 2020 to 2024 John has been very busy doing professional shows from the west coast to the east coast. in the mist of all of that John has manage to produce several songs on other recording artist such as the queen of UK Soul Mrs Ania Garvey Wells. February of 2024 John has released his latest 10 song creation El Fuego (Fire) which shows his humble latino side. If you love Santana you’re defiantly going to love john’s new CD. Please check out 5 of the new songs from El Fuego here in this PPK.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Patience, Motivation, Learning
I learned the hard way that success doesn’t come overnight. Patience is a virtue that I had to learn to develop. It is a skill that I am still developing, but it is one that I believe is essential to achieving success.
Motivation is the ability to do when you really don’t want to, or continue when your mind says stop.
Learning, There’s always room to learn. you are never going to be able to learn everything but you can become a problem solver.
Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?
I believe my challenge is health and getting healthy. Eight years ago I had a pacemaker installed due to 70 percent blockage. Learning how to notice signs of weakness and relax more was definitely a challenge. Two years after that I was diagnosed with CLL Cancer. Chronic Leukemia Lymphocytic. It takes a toll on me with all of the doctor visits and medication but I’ve learned to adjust.
Contact Info:
- Website: myPPK.com/get/guitaristjohncarey
- Instagram: johncareyinfo
- Facebook: johncareyinfo
- Youtube: @jcxperience
Image Credits
Carletta from Cspot Productions
