DULUTH — Singer, songwriter, therapist, and activist Diona Johnson (or Dee Jay), a Dalucian who led popular bands AfroGeode and the Gemstones, died Monday at the age of 35.
According to her husband, Steve Carells, Johnson’s death was sudden and the exact cause remains unknown pending the results of an autopsy.
“She could have had a pulmonary embolism,” Carrels told the News Tribune, “a thrombotic event of sorts.” Complications are very likely.”
AfroGeode and Gemstones shared the news in a social media post on Tuesday.
Contribution / Studio27 Photo
“Today is an incredibly difficult day,” the band said.
“Yesterday we lost one of the strongest, kindest, badass women ever who had the pleasure of calling friends, bandmates, bandleaders and family.”
Members of the community responded with grief and paid tribute to Johnson’s legacy. We had finished recording the album.
“She was a pioneer of the world we were trying to create in Duluth,” said Daniel Oinroie, who organizes Dansan Creatives, a partner in Johnson’s artistic endeavor. She knew the value of it and she was successful because she was great.”
The group’s guitarist, Josh Nikira, said, “Afrogeode (and the Gemstones) owes all of its success to her.” We[the band]make music, but she’s the music. is playing.”
“She had a very holistic approach to her intentions to heal people,” Carels said. “Everything she did was tied into music, therapy, community activism. It was all one big thing for her. That was her.”
Steve Kuchera/Files/Duluth News Tribune
Diona Johnson grew up in St. Paul and was adopted by a large biracial family. In 2022, she told the News Tribune, “Growing up was chaotic, loud and crowded, but interesting and sometimes fun.
“She had a difficult childhood,” Carels said. “She spent years in therapy, and years of self-care, to get rid of all of this. I feel that
She had a very holistic approach to her intention to heal people. Everything she’s done ties into that: her music, therapy, community work. It was all one big thing, and that was her.
Diona Johnson’s Husband Steve Carells
Johnson holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Stout and a master’s degree in social work from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In 2012, after graduating from graduate school, she moved to Duluth and took a job with Northwood Children’s Services, eventually ending up as a student therapist and cross-cultural student at St. Scholastica College, in what Carels called her “dream job.” I got a job as an intermediary.
Carels said he and Johnson met in 2015 when he and Johnson attended a show his band Fearless Moral Inventory was playing at RT Quinlands in downtown Duluth. I saw the band and was like, ‘Who’s this ginger bass player?’ We hit it off really hard that night.
The two married in Solon Springs in the summer of 2022. “We just wanted to throw the biggest party possible for our friends, family and chosen ones. I think we’ve done a great job of throwing a killer party,” Carels said. . “Probably the best day of my life.”
After more than ten years in Duluth, Johnson has become one of the city’s most widely admired voices, musically and otherwise.
Mr Johnson said last year:
Her mental health advocacy is based on “my lived experience as a black, queer, fat person. These are the communities I advocate for and do my best to protect, and those in need.” lives, families, and futures that deserve protection from systemic oppression, phobias, and doctrines.”
“She was very vocal about how black people are paid in Duluth, how black people are treated in Duluth, how queer people are treated in Duluth.” said Oinroy. “She was very vocal and advocated a safe place for all.”
“It was very difficult for her to live in a place that was 93 percent white,” said Carells.
That said, Carels continued, “She was definitely focused on making a difference in this community and doing the best she could because this city has a small but really strong BIPOC. We had a community (members) and activist group and we were very close to her and she helped us a lot.”
Contribution / Studio27 Photo
“It started small with her,” says Karels.
“Her musical name is AfroGeode,” said Oyinloye. She said, “She remembers when she came up with it. I asked, ‘What does that mean?’ She said, “Afro, because I’m African and black, so that’s my roots, that’s where I came from, and Geode because I just love stone.
Johnson has reached a broad local audience since 2021 when he founded AfroGeode and the Gemstones as a live band performing at Duluth Superior Pride. “My performance at Pride went so well that we decided to go together,” Johnson said in a 2022 interview quoted by The News Tribune. It was incredible to find people.”
“Di sent a message about finding someone to back her up for the 2021 Pride Show,” Nikira recalled. We all started jamming, and then Di came in through the door and heard we were playing, and I could see her coming in with a big smile on her face. She did the right thing and got the right people.”
Jess Morgan, entertainment coordinator for that year’s Duluth Superior Pride and deeply impressed by Johnson’s previous performances, said, “Not too many people are making art about the dynamics of non-traditional relationships. “I felt it was important to have her voice and all of the different intersections she occupied.”
Morgan continued, “I really loved her too.
The song and how free it was. It felt intrinsically related to the Pride Festival. When I saw that song…I was like, wow, everyone needs to see this. ”
Contribution / Studio27 Photo
Despite stormy skies at the band’s Pride debut, Johnson was determined not to miss the gig. Occur. “
After that win, Nikira said the band had many offers to play, but never played “just for the sake of it.” “This is about doing a show to prove something. We are doing a show to endorse something.” We headed to venues like Blush, a former downtown spot that used to be.
Not too many people are creating art about the dynamics of non-traditional relationships.
Jess Morgan, Entertainment Coordinator for the 2021 Duluth Superior Pride
In addition to her full-time and part-time work as a therapist, Johnson worked to support her own artistic career as well as that of her peers. ‘, but no one is really working to make sure people are cared for,” Oinroie said. “She did. Everyone she came into contact with, even us.”
Oyinloye continued, “She wrote those grants to do our project, but she has never denied the work we do or the work others do. Everyone was paid something, even if it wasn’t enough, they were paid on that premise, she said to them, ‘You deserve more’ It would be vulnerable enough to say.”
Recently, Johnson curated and performed a sold-out Studio Four concert called “Jazzy, Classy, Queery.” Johnson, who took her/their pronouns, told the News Tribune that he called the show on: Be yourself and have a space where you can perform safely. ”
“She really wants to see the good in people and encourage them to bring that sort of thing into the universe,” Morgan said. I think I also encouraged the people in to be as real and authentic as possible.”
Jed Carlson / 2023 Files / Superior Telegram
Johnson’s music and performances drew extensively on traditions such as soul, jazz, pop and spoken word. She and her DanSan Creatives recently filmed her music video for the song “Unprotected Woman” from her debut EP of the same title.
“It was kind of my way of grasping all of these intersecting identities,” she said.
Of the EP, “And understanding what it means to be a black and queer person in my body and how I move and how society moves around me.” .
She was just a loving person. She wanted everyone to love and be loved.
Daniel Oyinloye, Dan San Creatives
Johnson and the band recorded their next album at Washburn’s Weight Room Studios with engineer Ryan Rush. “The mixing process ended basically the day she died,” Carels said.
“Last Wednesday was the last time we got together,” Nikira said. “We were talking about the process of when we could finish[the album]and release it to the world.”
“Her birthday is June 29th,” Carels said. “This summer she will be throwing a party to celebrate her birthday, which could also be the release of the album.”
Carels said he thinks music could be Johnson’s main focus. “She would always have been in therapy, but she had a desire to go on tour.” Johnson said he had begun the process of planning a move to Minneapolis for a bigger chance. Mr Carrells said.
“As a musician and a huge music nerd, I was deeply touched and very proud of what she’s accomplished with her music, how she’s grown and who she is.” continued Carels.
“She was just a loving person,” said Oinroie. “She wanted everyone to love and be loved, and that speaks to her nature even by the career she chose as a therapist.”
“She was a healer,” Carels said. “Really, first and foremost, that was her vocation. She was a healer and she healed with music, so it ties directly to her music.”
