text: Early life Gill was born on May 22, 1966, in Washington, D.C., the son of Johnny Gill Sr., a Baptist minister, and his wife, Annie Mae Gill, who had four boys. He started singing at the age of five, performing in church in a family gospel group called Little Johnny and "Wings of Faith", which included his brothers Bobby, Jeff, and Randy Gill, a solo recording artist and member of the group II D Extreme. Gill attended Kimball Elementary, Sousa Junior High, and Duke Ellington School of the Arts. His career dictated that he complete his high-school education through the services of a tutor. Gill planned to attend college to pursue a degree in electrical engineering, but decided instead to focus on his singing career.
  Music career
  Early career
  Gill's recording career began in 1982, at the age of 16, when his childhood friend Stacy Lattisaw convinced him to record a demo. This demo fell into the hands of the president of Atlantic Records, and his first self-titled debut album was released shortly thereafter on Atlantic subsidiary Cotillion Records. Gill then teamed up with Stacy for the duet album Perfect Combination. A second solo album on Cotillion Records, Chemistry, was released in 1985.