We’ve all had a “sliding doors” moment — something seemingly trivial occurs and it changes everything. In an alternate universe there’s a you for which this trivial occurrence never happened, and that “you” embarks on a different journey. Life is filled with “what ifs?” and they all reside in untold alternate universes.

Junior Walker knows what I’m talking about. In another universe, we’ve probably never heard of him.

Walker was born to play the saxophone. So it’s a good thing he picked one up and started playing it at his high school in South Bend, Indiana in the late 1940s. Jump blues and wailing R&B informed his playing and he joined a couple of egalitarian bands over the next decade, but eventually his prowess took top billing, and Jr. Walker & The All Stars were born.

The group released a handful of records for a small indie label in the early 60s but found little success. In 1964, Motown Records acquired that label and now Jr. Walker & The All Stars found themselves in the big leagues — and that meant a couple of changes.

While popular and exciting in concert, the rough and ready All Stars paled in comparison to the mighty Motown session players. For their first album under the auspices of the new label, the band members (excepting Junior and his exceptional sax playing) took a backseat to the regular Motown studio crew.

The All Stars mostly played instrumentals, but Junior had written a song called “Shotgun” with a few lyrics and lyrics required a vocalist, which the band did not have. In this case, they hired one for the session but for some reason he never showed up.

Time is money, so the producer told Junior to get up to the mic and sing his song (something Junior had not done before). Recording technology meant his vocal could be erased and replaced at a future date and that was the plan as far as everyone knew. However, much to Walker’s amazement, when label president Berry Gordy heard the song he decided that Junior’s raw vocal fit perfectly and kept the original take.

Released as a single in February of 1965, “Shotgun” double-barreled its way to #4 on the US Hot 100 and #1 on the R&B chart. Walker continued to have hits into the 70s and became a much in-demand soloist (most notably, on “Urgent” by Foreigner). But it easily could have ended up differently.

Hopefully the unknown session singer went on to have a happy and fulfilling life, because in this universe, he missed the hit.

So dig potatoes and pick tomatoes. Break it down, baby… with Jr. Walker & The All Stars.