Junie Morrison

George Clinton once hailed Walter "Junie" Morrison as "the most phenomenal musician on the planet." Although Morrison issued several solo projects, his defining contributions came through shaping landmark funk productions across the 1970s and 1980s, among them the Ohio Players' first number one R&B hit "The Funky Worm," Funkadelic's One Nation Under a Groove, and Clinton's own Computer Games. A multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter, producer, and arranger from Dayton, Ohio, Morrison made his recorded debut alongside the Ohio Players on the 1971 album Pain. He also played on 1973's Ecstacy and virtually single-handedly built the group's 1974 smash "The Funky Worm," after which Westbound offered him a contract. Within two years he delivered three albums of his own: When We Do and Freeze in 1975, followed by Suzie Super Groupie in 1976. Morrison soon entered the P-Funk fold, appearing on most of the collective's releases from 1978 through 1981. He also cut Bread Alone for Columbia in 1980 and Evacuate Your Seats for Island in 1984, while remaining a steady presence on Clinton's solo work and P-Funk All Stars sessions. Morrison died in February 2017 at the age of 62.