Don Julian (April 7, 1937 – November 6, 1998) – Super Slick (1974)

After scoring the cult Blaxploitation film Savage!, the unsung singer/songwriter wrote this super funky title track to the final LP released by Don Julian & the Larks.

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Don Julian was a singer/songwriter, guitarist, arranger, composer and producer who got his start as a doo-wop singer in the 1950s, had a #1 R&B hit in 1964 with the dance song “The Jerk,” and composed the soundtrack to the 1973 Blaxploitation film Savage!, distributed by Roger Corman’s New World Pictures.

Born in Houston, Texas, Donald Ray Julian moved with his family to Los Angeles as a teenager. In the early fifties he formed a doo-wop group called Don Julian & the Meadowlarks. After early lineup changes, white singer Glenn Reagan was added, making them the first integrated doo-wop group in America.

Their first single “Heaven And Paradise” b/w the humorous jam “Embarrassing Moments” was released in 1955 on Dootone Records, which would later shorten their name to Dooto to avoid being sued for copyright infringement by Duotone Records. They released a string of singles on the label throughout the rest of the fifties before switching to Original Sound in 1959, and later recorded for Interlude, Dynamite, and Magnum Records.

In 1964, after changing the group’s name to The Larks, Julian wrote a track to cash in on the myriad of dance crazes that had swept the country since The Twist hit it big. “The Jerk” was released on Hollywood-based Money Records, b/w “Forget Me,” also written by Julian. It went to #1 R&B and crossed over to #7 on the Billboard Hot 100, inspiring yet another short-lived dance craze. The group performed it on American Bandstand later that year.

A decade later, Julian scored the 1973 cult Blaxploitation film Savage!, which was distributed by Roger Corman’s New World pictures. It was directed by Cirio H. Santiago and starred Carol Speed and James Iglehart as the title character, best known for playing the boxer Randy Black in Russ Meyer’s 1970 cult classic Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Its epic title track was co-written by Julian and the prolific L.A. session guitarist Arthur G. Wright. The funky flute jams “Lay It On Your Head” and “Where I'm Coming From” both featured laid back, spaced-out breaks, and were solely written by Julian.

The following year he and the Larks recorded their final album together. Original copies of Super Slick (1974) today sell for $250 on average on Discogs. It contained several covers of soul classics including “Show And Tell,” “Just My Imagination,” “Respect Yourself,” and “Let's Stay Together.” But its highlights were the original songs, like the funky jam “Schoolin' And Foolin',” co-written by Julian with Hank Chaney, Ted Walters, and Veronica Aaron; the Julian-penned funk bomb “Shorty The Pimp,” which was the title track to another low-budget Blaxploitation film he scored that was never completed (with the rest of the soundtrack remaining unreleased until 1998); and its super funky title track, which Julian solely wrote.

Happy Heavenly Birthday to the great Don Julian.

#soul #funk #doowop #R&B #DonJulian