The Genius of Junior Walker

Autry DeWalt Mixon Jr. is a name that might not be recognizable but you have surely heard of Junior Walker. He is known to the world for his musical contributions and is best known for his 1964 hit SHOTGUN which was recorded as Junior Walker & the All Stars. Each time I hear this song in recent years, an image from the movie COOLEY HIGH comes to mind because this song was playing during a poignant scene.

AutryMixon was born on June 14, 1931 and passed away on November 23, 1995, He was a multi-instrumentalist long before Prince played every instrument on his first album. Mixon recorded for Motown during the 1960s and was known primarily as a vocalist and saxophonist. During the 1980s Walker performed as a session and live-performing saxophonist with the band Foreigner.

Jr. Walker was born in Blytheville, Arkansas, but grew up in South Bend, Indiana. He began playing saxophone while in high school, and his personal style became the anchor for the sound of the bands he later played in. His career began when he started his own band, the Jumping Jacks in the mid-1950s. Walker's longtime friend and drummer Billy Nicks also had his own group, the Rhythm Rockers. On occasion, Walker would sit in on the Rhythm Rockers shows and Nicks would do the same for the Jumping Jack's performances.

Junior Walker's Allstars came about in a very interesting manner. His friend Billy Nicks obtained a permanent gig at a local South Bend, Indiana, TV station and asked Walker to permanently join him and keyboard player Fred Patton. Nicks asked a local singer, Willie Woods to perform with the group as a guitar player. After Nicks was drafted into the United States Army, Walker convinced the band to move to Battle Creek, Michigan and while performing in Benton Harbor, Jr. Walker replaced Nicks with drummer, Tony Washington,

When Fred Patton left the group, Victor Thomas stepped in and this is when the name, The Rhythm Rockers, was changed to "The All Stars." Singer Johnny Bristol, and in 1961 he recommended them to Harvey Fuqua, who had his own record labels. Once the group started recording on the Harvey label, their name was changed to Jr. Walker's All Stars. When the Fuqua recording labels were taken over by Berry Gordy, of Motown in 1964 the name was changed again to Jr. Walker & the All Stars, thus beginning their time with the famed Detroit music studio.

Berry Gordy liked to have lead singers out front as with Diana Ross and the Supremes, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and Lionel Richie and the Commodores. He was unsuccessful, however in changing the Jackson brothers name to Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5. After Fuqua was taken over by Motown there was an additional transition with band members. Drummer Tony Washington left and was replaced by James Graves. Shotgun was the first and signature hit for the group. It was written and composed by Walker and produced by Berry Gordy.

The Funk Brothers' James Jamerson was on bass and Benny Benjamin on drums. In 1965 "Shotgun" reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on the R&B chart. Junior Walker & the All Stars had other hits, such as (I'm a) Road Runner, Shake and Fingerpop. They also had hits with 2 remakes of Motown songs Come See About Me and How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You). These were previously top 10 re3cordings by the Supremes and Marvin Gaye respectively.

In 1966, Graves left the group and Billy Nicks returned. The hits continued with I'm a Road Runner and Pucker Up Buttercup. Junior Walker & The All Stars had another top 5 hit with, What Does It Take,(to win your love). Initially, during a Motown quality control meeting, the song was rejected for release as a single. Radio station DJs made the track popular, which resulted in Motown releasing it as a single, and it reached No. 4 on the Hot 100 chart and No. 1 on the R&B chart.

At this point, Junior Walker began singing more on the records than he had earlier in the group's career. There were several more R&B Top Ten hits over the next few years, and the last one came in 1972. In 1979, Walker decided to go solo and disbanded the All Stars, He signed with Norman Whitfield's Whitfield Records label but never again achieved his former level of success. On November 24, 1995 at the age of 53, Walker died of cancer at his home in Battlecreek Michigan.