Walker was born in Blytheville, Arkansas and grew up in South Bend, Indiana. His unmistakable saxophone style was the anchor for the band's rambunctious sound. The other members of the group were drummer James Graves, guitarist Willie Woods and on keyboards Vic Thomas.

The group was spotted by Johnny Bristol. He recommended them to Harvey Fuqua, who had his own recording labels. When this labels were taken over by Berry Gordy, Jr. Walker & The All Stars became members of the Motown label.

Their first and signature hit was Shotgun. It was written by Junior Walker himself, but under his real name Autry DeWalt. The song was produced by Motown president Berry Gordy. The song begins with a shot from a shotgun. The song reached #4 on the Pop chart and #1 on the R&B chart. Shotgun was followed by many other hits, such as (I'm A) Road Runner, Shake And Fingerpop and covers of the Motown classics Come See About Me and How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You).

In 1969 the group had another hit entering the top 5. What Does It Take (To Win You're Love) reached #4 on the Pop chart and #1 on the R&B chart. From that time on Walker sang more on the records than earlier in their carreer.

In 1979, Junior Walker went solo and was signed to Norman Whitfield's label. He wasn't as succesful as he had been with the All Stars in his Motown period. Junior Walker also played the sax on the group Foreigner's Urgent in 1981. The solo was actually cobbled together from tapes that he had made with the band. He later recorded his own version of the Foreigner song.

In 1983 Walker was re‑signed with Motown. He died on November 23, 1995 in Battle Creek, Michigan of cancer. Drummer James Graves died in 1967 in a car accident and guitarist Willie Woods in 1997

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jr._Walker_%26_the_All_Stars