Little Junior Parker

Little Junior Parker or [b]Junior Parker[/b] (born March 3, 1927, West Memphis, Arkansas, USA or May 27, 1932, Clarksdale or Bobo (Coahoma County), Mississippi, USA - died November 18, 1971, Blue Island, Illinois, USA) was an American Memphis blues singer, harmonica player and songwriter.

He first came to blues as a harmonica player, and backed [a340678] when he came to West Memphis in 1948. By 1950, Parker, now known as "Little Junior" due to the closeness with Wolf, had formed a band with pianist [a1910324]. Known as [a506844], the band included [a348055] and [a1253604] and they were recorded by [a238213] for [l92737] early in 1952. By this time Parker was almost primarily a vocalist. The following year [a386804] and [a700520] replaced Murphy and Dranes on guitar and drums respectively, and the band began to record for [a340809]' new [l39929] label. Their first record, "Feelin' Good" was a hit, so much so that Parker was soon signed by [l72572]/[l71637] in Houston in 1954. Bill Johnson took over the Blue Flames and together they made several hits such as "Mother In Law Blues" and Barefoot Rock". Parker later recorded in a soul style but occasionally reverted to playing the blues with a harp.

Cousin to [a=Al Green], who wrote the song "Take Me To The River" in dedication to his memory.