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Junior Parker

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Vocalist

The Resume

    (March 27, 1932-circa November 18, 1971)
    Born in Bobo, Mississippi
    Birth name was Herman Parker
    Blues singer and harmonica player
    Recorded the singles 'Bad Women, Bad Whiskey' (1952), 'Feelin' Good' (1953), 'Mystery Train' (1953), 'Please Baby Blues' (1954), 'Next Time You See Me' (1957), 'Sweet Home Chicago' (1958), 'Five Long Years' (1959), 'Driving Wheel' (1961), 'In the Dark' (1961), 'Strange Things Happening' (1964), 'Crying for My Baby' (1965), 'Worried Life Blues' (1969), and 'Drowning on Dry Land' (1971)
    Inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame (2001)

Why he might be annoying:

    There is uncertainty about the year and place of his birth and whether his original first name was Herman or Herbert.
    In case 'Junior' was insufficiently diminutive, on many records he was billed as 'Little' Junior Parker.
    He released the album 'You Don't Have to Be Black to Love the Blues' with a cover showing a Chinese boy eating a watermelon. (Even allowing that it was a parody of the then-popular 'You Don't Have to Be Jewish to Love Levy's' ad campaign depicting various ethnic types enjoying Levy's rye bread, it's still an eyebrow raiser.)
    At the end of his life, he was overshadowed by fellow Beale Street bluesmen B.B. King and Bobby 'Blue' Bland.

Why he might not be annoying:

    Bobby 'Blue' Bland started out as Parker's valet.
    His voice was described as 'velvet-smooth.'
    His 'Feelin' Good' and 'Mystery Train' became R&B and rock standards.
    Al Green dedicated the original version of 'Take Me to the River' to Parker, who he calls, 'a cousin of mine who's gone on, and we'd kinda like to carry on in his name.'

Credit: C. Fishel


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