Battlin’ Bunker Hill

Plenty of singers have transitioned from gospel to popular secular music, but no one ever did it with such screaming intensity as David Walker aka Bunker Hill. As a teenager, David joined the west coast gospel group The Sensational Wonders. The Wonders were founded by gospel legend Joe Ligon, who would revolutionize gospel music by injecting it with a little R&B when The Sensational Wonders became The Mighty Clouds of Joy.

The Mighty Clouds of Joy – Ain’t Got Long Here

I think we might see David/Bunker singing background there. The Mighty Clouds of Joy would become one of the most successful gospel groups of all time with a career spanning five decades. They had hits on both the gospel and r&b charts and were the first ones to add a full band with drums, bass, and keyboards to the standard vocal quartet with one electric guitar. Our friend David was one of the background harmonizers, but did get to sing lead on at least one track, Jesus Lead Us Safely, and second lead on a couple others.

The way his vocals build from soft and sweet to loud and screechy would reflect the changes in his life and career. The details of David Walker’s life aren’t well known. Some sources say he was born in 1941, but that doesn’t seem to line up and I imagine it was earlier. I’m also not sure where he was originally from. At one point he became a professional boxer, but whether this was during a break from the Clouds, or before he started singing isn’t clear. He did manage to achieve an 18-5 (plus 2 draws) record as a heavyweight, so while it wasn’t the longest career, it was substantial. For a time he was even World Light Heavyweight Champion Archie “The Mongoose” Moore’s sparring partner. Since David was a heavyweight, this could have been around the time The Mongoose had his shots at the heavyweight title in the mid-50’s. Archie Moore was the second and last boxer to ever knock down Rocky Marciano. It happened in a controversial championship bout in Yankee Stadium when a Moore right floored Marciano. Rocky rose after a count of two, but the referee gave him a mandatory eight count even after he was standing, which allowed Marciano to collect himself and prevented Archie from delivering a knockout blow. Mandatory counts didn’t apply in championship fights. The Mongoose steamed over this for years.

Anyway, after his boxing career, David Walker either began singing, or went back to singing gospel until the secular bug got to him. in 1961, David met producer and musician Vernon Wray whose brother Link had recently had a hit with the down and dirty instrumental Rumble. It’s unknown who recruited who, but combining Link’s rough style with David’s piercing voice produced magic. Their first session in Vernon’s studio produced Hide n’ Go Seek, a soul rocker with an energetic garage sound and vocals that take Little Richard’s shtick and turns it up to 11.

Bunker Hill – Hide N’ Go Seek

To hide what he was doing from his fellow Mighty Clouds of Joy, David decided to use a stage name, and for whatever reason chose “Bunker Hill” after rejecting Vernon Wray’s suggestion of Four H. Stamp. Link Wray and Raymen were the backing band and vocalists. Vernon convinced Link’s label, Mala Records, a small subsidiary of Bell records, to release Hide n’ Go Seek and the song ended up charting on both the pop and r&b charts. It’s also featured in the John Waters film Hairspray. Its success allowed Bunker Hill to record two more singles, and the follow up to Hide n’ Go Seek is one of the most frenzied wild things ever put to vinyl.

Red Riding Hood and the Wolf is just drums and Bunker screaming his lungs out and it’s glorious. I don’t know how Vernon’s equipment survived the session. Interestingly, the b-side, Nobody Knows, is a mellow doo-wop number that lets us hear that old Mighty Clouds of Joy sweetness.

He went back to the madness for the third single, though.

And the B-side:

That’s a damn cool song that would make even the stiffest square groove.

The Bunker Hill sessions inspired Link to record a single of his own in the Bunker Hill style with Bunk singing in the background.

While those follow up singles matched Hide n’ Go Seek’s energy, they couldn’t match its success, and they marked the end of the ride for Bunker Hill. His pseudonym never fooled his old Mighty Clouds of Joy bandmates and, even though they were a little peeved, he rejoined them for a few years. Joe Ligon said the Clouds “begged him not to go. He did come back, when his career started going downhill. He had one big record, but it just didn’t fit his lifestyle. David Walker was a dynamic lead singer. When he and I sang together, I never had to sing uptempo songs. He sang all the fast songs. David and I were the lead singers. When the Clouds really began to come into our own as a group, David was leaving again at that time. I would say he left before the 1960s ended.”

After that, David Walker slipped into obscurity. It’s unknown what he did the rest of his life. He may have appeared with The Mighty Clouds of Joy a few times in the 70’s and 80’s, but he certainly never again matched that exciting period when he went from boxer to gospel pioneer to one hit novelty wonder. He died in Houston in 1986 mostly forgotten, and before renewed interest in Link Wray brought his brief career as Bunker Hill back on the radar.