Anthony Rolfe Johnson was born in Tackley in Oxfordshire. When he was a child he enjoyed singing, but did not think of taking it up as a career. He started to work in farm management. Then, in his late twenties, he decided to study singing at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He started his singing career by singing in operas in the chorus and in small roles at the Glyndebourne Festival between 1972 and 1976. His first big operatic part was Vaudémont in Tchaikovsky’s "Iolanthe" in 1973 with the English Opera Group. Then he sang the part of Albert Herring in Britten’s opera.