Junior Walker & The Allstars
Junior Walker was born Autrey de Walt Jr. in Blytheville,
Arkansas, in 1931, and was a teenager in South Bend, Indiana when
he began playing sax.
He formed a band called The All Stars and moved them first to
St Louis and then to Battle Creek, Michigan. There they were
signed to ex-Moonglows Harvey Fuqua's Harvey Records and released
three singles.
The sound - blustery, honking sax riffs over funky rhythm
tracks - and the line-up (Walker, organist Vic Thomas, guitarist
Willie Woods and drummer James Graves) were already in place on
those early singles
When Motown bought out Harvey Records, it inherited Walker, who
didn't quite fit in with 'the sound of young America'.
Nevertheless, when Walker said he had written a song to go with
'the shotgun' (a popular new dance in Michigan) Motown sent him
into the studio. When the assigned vocalist didn't show up,
Walker was forced to sing on record for the first time.
In the wake of the success of Shotgun (1965), he and
the All Stars started turning out similar singles, with growling
chants, vibrato-laden sax and funky dance beats. Walker had
numerous R&B and pop hits with songs like Do The Boomerang,
I'm A Road Runner, Pucker Up Buttercup and These
Eyes.
Every record sounded like a party in full swing, and Motown
actually added background party noises to Walker's versions of How
Sweet It Is and Money (That's What I Want).
Walker's second (and last) R&B chart-topper was 1969's
smooth crooner What Does It Take (To Win Your Love). The
hits soon dried up, and the original All Stars broke up.
Walker made his last splash on record by playing the sax solo
on Foreigner's 1981 hit, Urgent. He lost a two-year
battle with cancer on 23 November 1995. He was 64.
Junior Walker Vocals, saxophone; Willie
Woods Guitar; Vic Thomas Organ; James
Graves Drums; Tony Washington Drums
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