Emery "Detroit Junior" Williams, Jr. (October 26, 1931 – August 9, 2005) was an American

Chicago blues Chicago blues is a form of blues music developed in Chicago, Illinois. It is based on earlier blues idioms, such as Delta blues, but performed in an urban style. It developed alongside the Great Migration of the first half of the twentieth cent ...

pianist, vocalist and songwriter. He is known for songs such as "So Unhappy", "Call My Job", "If I Hadn't Been High", "Ella" and "Money Tree". His songs have been covered by

Koko Taylor Koko Taylor (born Cora Anna Walton, September 28, 1928 – June 3, 2009) was an American singer whose style encompassed Chicago blues, electric blues, rhythm and blues and soul blues. Sometimes called "The Queen of the Blues", she was known for ...

Albert King Albert Nelson (April 25, 1923 – December 21, 1992), known by his stage name Albert King, was an American guitarist and singer who is often regarded as one of the greatest and most influential blues guitarists of all time. He is perhaps b ...

and other blues artists.

Career

Born in

Haynes, Arkansas Haynes is a town in Lee County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 150 at the 2010 census, down from 214 at the 2000 census. Geography Haynes is located in northern Lee County at (34.889993, -90.793472). Arkansas Highway 1 passes thro ...

, Detroit recorded his first single, "Money Tree", with the Bea & Baby label in 1960. His first full album, ''Chicago Urban Blues'', was released in the early 1970s on the Blues on Blues label. He also has recordings on

Alligator An alligator is a large reptile in the Crocodilia order in the genus ''Alligator'' of the family Alligatoridae. The two extant species are the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') and the Chinese alligator (''A. sinensis''). Additiona ...

, Blue Suit, The Sirens Records, and Delmark. Detroit Junior began his career in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

, backing touring musicians such as

Eddie Boyd Edward Riley Boyd (November 25, 1914 – July 13, 1994)Dahl, Bill. Eddie Boyd: Biography AllMusic. Retrieved October 13, 2016. was an American blues pianist, singer and songwriter, best known for his recordings in the early 1950s, including the ...

John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues. Hooker often ...

, and

Amos Milburn Joseph Amos Milburn (April 1, 1927 – January 3, 1980) was an American rhythm-and-blues singer and pianist, popular in the 1940s and 1950s. He was born in Houston, Texas, and died there 52 years later. One commentator noted, "Milburn excel ...

. Boyd brought him to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1956, where he spent the next twelve years. In the early 1970s, Detroit toured and recorded with

Howlin' Wolf Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. Over a four-decade care ...

. After the death of Wolf in 1976, Detroit returned to Chicago, where he lived and performed until his death from heart failure in 2005. He was a weekly regular at Chicago blues clubs B.L.U.E.S. and Kingston Mines. He was survived by his brother Kenneth H. Williams, who is a songwriter, guitarist and audio engineer, currently engineering for

Erykah Badu Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu (), is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Influenced by rhythm and blues, R&B, Soul music, soul, and hip hop, Badu rose to prominence in the ...

Childish Gambino Donald McKinley Glover Jr. (; born September 25, 1983), also known by his stage name Childish Gambino (), is an American entertainer, writer, director, and producer. After working in Derrick Comedy while studying at New York University, Glove ...

and others.

Discography

Albums

References

External links

Biographical information
{{DEFAULTSORT:Detroit Junior 1931 births 2005 deaths American blues pianists American male pianists American blues singers Songwriters from Arkansas Singers from Arkansas Chicago blues musicians Electric blues musicians Blues musicians from Arkansas 20th-century American singers Songwriters from Illinois 20th-century American pianists 20th-century American male singers American male songwriters