On Thursday (Feb. 16), Junie Morrison, the founder of funk band the Ohio Players and member of Parliament-Funkadelic, passed away at 62. Morrison’s impact on music and black culture is etched in the memories of many, playing a major role in the Parliament-Funkadelic’s final essential records (“One Nation Under a Groove,” “(Not Just) Knee Deep”). He was even inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of Parliament-Funkadelic in 1997.
With the news of his death, many musicians and fans payed their respect to legend, one of which was Solange, whose critically acclaimed A Seat At The Table album included a song entitled “Junie.” The multi-hypentate took to her website Saint Heron to pen a heartfelt note to Morrison, sharing that his song “Super Spirit” inspired her to write “Junie” as a last-minute addition to her latest body of work.
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“I remember the first time I heard Junie Morrison‘s “Super Spirit“…Q-Tip played it for me one night in his studio in Jersey,” she began her post with. “No song had ever made me feel quite like it. It tapped into places and spiritual frequencies that I couldn’t even put into words. I listened to it on loop for an hour, each listen hitting me deeper and deeper.” After an appetizer taste, she immediately dove deep into his discography, sampling everything there was to know about him and his music.
“I had just finished my album and started mixing when one day I walked into the studio and heard Raphael [Saadiq] playing this drum and bass loop,” she continued. “He was playing it for a friend, but I begged to take it home and write to it. I started sketching out “Junie” with Junie Morrison heavy on my mind that very night…I wrote the song to honor the brilliant Junie Morrison and the impact his work and story had on me, while wanting to challenge my own relationship with “sharing your magic.””
