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1965 — 2002
The record: The Recording Academy's ledger for this city is one act and one recording. Jr. Walker & the All Stars received three Grammy Award nominations and won none: "Shotgun" for Best Rhythm and Blues Recording (1965); "What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)" for Best R&B Instrumental Performance (1969) — a vocal record filed, to the act's own chroniclers' amusement, among the instrumentals — and "Wishing on a Star" in the same instrumental category a decade later (1979). The Academy's lasting honor came in 2002, when "Shotgun" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, the Academy's roll of recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. The tie is stated with the precision the Famous People section gives it in full: Junior Walker was born in Blytheville, Arkansas, in 1931 and raised in South Bend — first saxophone, high-school band, and first band, the Jumping Jacks, all here — but the All Stars as an act were assembled in Battle Creek, Michigan, and signed from there. South Bend raised the musician; the nominations belong to a Michigan band led by a South Bend saxophonist, and the ledger prints both halves.
Sources:
- The Recording Academy's record as carried in the act's awards history — three nominations: Best Rhythm and Blues Recording, 1965 ("Shotgun"); Best R&B Instrumental Performance, 1969 ("What Does It Take") and 1979 ("Wishing on a Star"); no wins.
- Motown Records, the label's own artist history of "What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)" — the 1969 Grammy nomination and the category; the Grammy Hall of Fame induction of "Shotgun," 2002.
- The Famous People section of this history — the Blytheville birth, the South Bend upbringing, and the Battle Creek assembly of the All Stars.