Obituary of Darrel DJ Johnson

Darrel “DJ” Johnson, age 63, of Bothell, WA, passed away suddenly on February 20, 2023, after a heart attack.

 

DJ was born on May 17, 1959, to Bill and Sharon Johnson in Seattle. After graduating from Inglemoor High School in 1977, DJ went on to study music and recording at Shoreline Community College and pursued a musical career in Los Angeles for a time.

 

In 1990 DJ’s daughter Karlie was born, and he raised her as a single dad until 1993, when DJ met his wife Louise on a Bulletin Board system and they became a blended family with her daughter Sarah. The whole family celebrated the relationship with wedding vows in January 1995.

 

After retiring due to disabling back pain in 1995, DJ published an online music magazine called “Cosmik Debris”, first as a text only version and then, when graphical interfaces became possible, as one of the first web-based magazines. Throughout his life music was always very important to DJ. Most recently he spent a lot of time creating and sharing Spotify playlists as well as playing nearly every fantasy sport available (including surfing!).

 

DJ was predeceased by his father, Bill, and brother-in-law Terry. He is survived by his mother, Sharon, his sister Kathy and her sons Antonio and Hunter, his wife Louise, daughters Sarah and Karlie, Karlie’s three children Rory, Katherine and Wesley, and her husband James.