Johnny Crowder

Musical career

In 2009, Crowder and his bandmates started In Reference to a Sinking Ship in Palm Harbor, Florida. After releasing the EP Aimless in 2010, they changed their name to Dark Sermon in 2012.

Dark Sermon signed with Good Fight Entertainment, eOne Music, and Nuclear Blast Records, putting out two full-length albums, In Tongues and The Oracle, before going on indefinite hiatus in 2017. Crowder then focused on Prison, a project he had started in 2014 with musicians from Dark Sermon, Adaliah, and ABACABB/In Alcatraz 1962. Prison's album Still Alive spent a week each on Billboard's Heatseekers and Independent Albums charts.

Mental health advocacy and public speaking

Johnny Crowder first stepped into mental health advocacy in 2011, working as a speaker for the National Alliance on Mental Illness and teaming up with Mental Health America. Having received diagnoses for depression, anxiety, OCD, schizophrenia, PTSD, and bipolar disorder, he later earned certification as a Recovery Peer Specialist. He now travels across the U.S. delivering keynote addresses for groups like the International City/County Management Association, as well as at Shenandoah University and Elon University—where he spoke during its 2022 National Mental Illness Awareness Week.

Crowder has also given two TEDx Talks: “How to Grow as a Person (And Why It Sucks)” and “Why I Don’t Want to Die Anymore,” the latter described by the Indiana Gazette as recounting the near-death experiences that redirected his life toward purpose and hope. He is booked through Keppler Speakers, Washington Speakers Bureau, and Executive Speakers Bureau. In 2018, he launched Cope Notes, a telehealth service that, per the Tampa Bay Times, sends subscribers positive thoughts and affirmations to fight depression and anxiety.

The company won the People’s Choice award at the 2022 national Startup of the Year summit, finishing in the top 15 out of 100 semi-finalists.

Did You Know?

• Crowder grew up near Oldsmar, Florida, attending Lowry Elementary, Farnell Middle and Hillsborough High schools.
• He earned an associate's degree in psychology from the University of Central Florida.
• Crowder is a Christian who adheres to a straight edge lifestyle, abstaining from drugs and alcohol.