Johnny became involved in music and songwriting during his time at Fine Arts College and began playing regularly on the London circuit.

In 2002 he formed the band Razorlight and went on to have a top 10 hit single Golden Touch closely followed by 2004 debut album Up All Night which charted at number 3 in the UK charts. In the same year Razorlight won Best New Act at the 2004 Q Awards.

Their follow up album was released in 2006 and debuted at number 1 in the UK Album Chart, the first single from the album America gave Razorlight their first UK number 1.

In 2007 the band won Best British Band at the Elle Style Awards and in the same year Johnny appeared on the cover of Vogue magazine becoming only one of seven men to have done so.