Walter "Junie" Morrison | |
---|---|
Birth name | Walter Morrison |
Also known as | J.S. Theracon |
Born | 1954 Dayton, Ohio, U.S. |
Died | January 21, 2017 (aged 62) London, England |
Genres | Funk |
Occupation(s) | Keyboardist, vocalist, producer |
Instruments | Multi-instrumentalist |
Associated acts | Ohio Players, Parliament-Funkadelic |
Website | Official website |
Walter "Junie" Morrison (1954 – January 21, 2017) was an American musician and record producer. He was a member of the Ohio Players in the early 1970s, and later became the musical director of P-Funk (Parliament-Funkadelic).
Born in Dayton, Ohio, Morrison sang and played piano as a child, soon learning a range of other instruments and becoming a school choir director and orchestra conductor. In 1970, he joined the funk band the Ohio Players, becoming a producer, writer, keyboardist and vocalist involved in some of their major hits and the albums Pain, Pleasure, and Ecstasy. He was largely responsible for writing and arranging the band's 1973 hit single, "Funky Worm".
He left the band in 1974 to release three solo albums on Westbound Records, on which he played all the instruments, credited as Junie – When We Do, Freeze, and Suzie Supergroupie.
In 1977 Morrison joined George Clinton's P-Funk (Parliament-Funkadelic) where he became musical director. He brought a unique sound to P-Funk and played a key role during the time of their greatest popularity from 1978 through 1980. In particular, he made prominent contributions to the platinum-selling Funkadelic album One Nation Under a Groove, the single "(Not Just) Knee Deep" (a #1 hit on the U.S. R&B charts in 1979), the gold-selling Parliament albums Motor Booty Affair, and Gloryhallastoopid. Morrison also played on and produced some P-Funk material under the pseudonym J.S. Theracon, apparently to avoid contractual difficulties. Morrison is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic. Clinton once described Morrison as "the most phenomenal musician on the planet."