For the music world last week was a celebration of all things music during the Grammys, which included a tribute to deceased music legend Prince. It is with a heavy heart that we must report that Junie Morrison has passed away at the age of 62 via ROLLINGSTONE.
Walter “Junie” Morrison played the keyboard in Parliament-Funkadelic and in the Ohio Players. Morrison passed away on Saturday, it was reported by his daughter via Junie’s Facebook page.
Details surrounding the death of Junie’s death have not been released. On the Ohio Players official Facebook page they had this to say,
“It is with great sadness that the Ohio Players have lost on this earth another one of the original members of the band Walter”Junie” Morrison.When I got in the band in 1972 he was my roommate on the road and a brother in law, at one time being married to my wife’s sister.The voice of granny in the funky worm, an incredibly talented individual. He left the band in 1973 only to hook up with George Clinton and that group called Parliament. We send our condolences to his family and his friends and fans.”
He had a career that many artist dream of which spanned beyond high charting hit records. In 1972, he helped arrange and co-write the song “Funk Worm”, where on the song he pretended to be an old woman. It charted in the top 20 on the hot 100 chart.
During an interview in 2015 he had this to say, “Early in my career with Ohio Players, we played a lot of nightclubs and had a closer interaction with the audience,” he continued, “As a result, we would do skits to bring ourselves even closer to the people in that setting. One of these so-called ‘skits’ involved the character I created of a young boy with a very ‘dirty mouth.’ That ‘boy’ character was using what later became the ‘Granny’ voice on ‘Funky Worm.’ From young to old in an instant!”
While working with Funkadelic, he co-wrote the title song, “One Nation Under a Grove” from their 1978 album along with George Clinton and guitarist Garry Shider, it charted at number 28 on the hot 100 billboard chart.
The multi-talented artists was born in Dayton, Ohio and he made his debut with the Ohio Players on the album Pain in 1972. In 1997, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by another legend, Prince.
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