Willie Earl Walker (December 21, 1941 – November 19, 2019), also known as Wee Willie Walker, was an American soul and blues singer. Standing at only 5ft 2″ he was a blues giant and adored by everyone lucky enough to catch one of his beautiful and heartfelt performances.
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| The Redemption Harmonizers |
He was born in Hernando, Mississippi, and grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, where he started singing with local gospel groups. First Willie went to Porter Elementary School, then to Porter Junior High and finally to Booker T. Washington in the late 50s, together with Spencer Wiggins and Louis Williams of the Ovations, among others. From his mid-teens, he toured with the Redemption Harmonizers, who included Roosevelt Jamison. In 1960, while touring, Walker and a bandmate decided to stay in Minneapolis with a member of another gospel group, the Royal Jubileers, rather than returning to Memphis. They didn’t make any recordings.
In Minneapolis, he joined a local R&B vocal group, the Val-Dons (later Valdons), who became successful in and around Minneapolis–Saint Paul where they played in synagogue parties, Bar Mitzvahs and dances. He was credited as "Wee" Willie Walker in recognition of his height of 5 feet 2 inches (1.57 m). In the early 1960s, he led his own group, Wee Willie Walker and the Exciters. Walker returned occasionally to Memphis, and made his first recordings there in 1965 for Goldwax Records, produced by Quinton Claunch. His first release, in 1967, was a cover of the Beatles'"Ticket to Ride", with the B-side "There Goes My Used To Be", written by Roosevelt Jamison.
He made more recordings for Goldwax in 1968, including "You Name It, I Have It" and "A Lucky Loser", which were both licensed for release by Checker Records. His recordings were not commercially successful. Due to a misunderstanding he missed the opportunity to be promoted by influential radio DJ John Richbourg, and Goldwax refused to release him from his contract to allow him to work with Curtis Mayfield.
Walker continued to work as a machinist and performed at weekends, singing with a voice described as "a mélange of Sam Cooke, Al Green and Otis Redding." Willie Murphy of the Val-Dons fame formed Willie and the Bumblebees in 1970, and a year later their line-up included Willie himself on bass, Russ Hagen on guitar, Stephen Bradley on drums, John Beach on keyboards and a 3-piece horn section. Willie Walker joined them in 1971, because Willie Murphy didn’t want to be the only vocalist in the group.
After the Bees Willie joined the Bound Band in the latter part of the 70s after which he formed Salt, Pepper and Spice, a horn-based rock band. Along with Mark Parker, Jodi Johnson and George Neal, Willie next worked with Pure Dynamite in 1979 and renamed the group Solid on Down in 1980. Then from 1981 to 1987 Willie left the music business to became a health care provider at New Harmony Health Care. In the 90’s Willie joined the pop-rock group Canoise who performed at weddings and private functions. Willie’s first record since 1968 came out on Curt Obeda’s Haute Records in 2002. The self-titled Willie Walker CDincludes material both from the late 80s, and the 90s with Canoise.
Willieretired from his health care job and linked with local R&B band, the Butanes. They recorded three albums together, Right Where I Belong (2004); Memphisapolis (2006); and Long Time Thing (2011). They also toured together in Europe and Japan. Later, Walker led another R&B band, Willie Walker and We "R", who had a regular residency at the Minnesota Music Café in St. Paul. He also made an album with local musician and songwriter Paul Metsa, Live On Highway 55 (2013). In October 2013 Willie Walker was inducted into the Minnesota Blues Hall of Fame.
In 2014, harmonica player and bandleader Rick Estrin saw Walker performing, and invited Walker to sing with him on tour. Estrin produced Walker's 2015 album If Nothing Ever Changes. Since 2016, Walker has received twelve BMA nominations including Soul Blues Album of The Year, and Soul Blues Male Artist of The Year. Walker was also invited to perform in Norway; that set was recorded with The Greaseland All-stars and released as 2016’s “Live! At The Notodden Blues Festival Norway”. Walker was also named most outstanding male blues singer at the annual Living Blues Awards in 2018. In his latter years, Walker toured internationally, in Europe and South America.
In the midst of a late-career resurgence in which he won recognition from several national blues organizations, Walker died in his sleep at his St. Paul apartment in Minnesota, on November 19, 2019, after returning from a recording session in Oakland with the Anthony Paule Orchestra.
(Edited from Wikipedia, & Soul Express)