Donald Walker was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the Fall of 1949. He is an author, musician, bandleader, producer, song-writer, and former law enforcement officer. Donald’s first involvement in the music business was as a drummer when, at age ten, he joined his grade school’s marching band. As a young teen he played the drums for several local bands in and around the Milwaukee area. But Donald had a dream. He wanted to have the absolute best R&B show band, where each member contributed their talent and unique personality to the group. At age 17, Donald went on a mission to make his dream a reality. He personally hand-picked twelve musicians to form his band, which he named “The New Breed Band”. Not only were they exceptional musicians, but their on-stage performance made them exceptional to watch.
As a consequence, the New Breed Band was selected by top Milwaukee promotors to perform as the opening act for many groups that came to Milwaukee, such as: The Temptations, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, James brown and the like. The New Breed Band also performed on the same stage with The Jackson Five before they became involved with Motown. Adapting to the ever changing tides in the music business, in 1969, the New Breed Band revamped their show, and changed their name to A Different Bag.
Realizing that Milwaukee lacked any serious outlet for the progress of A Different Bag, in the late summer of 1970, at age 20, Donald moved his band down to Memphis, Tennessee where they met Isaac Hayes at Stax Record Company. Hayes was so intrigued with the band he became their manager, and used them as his opening act. They spent several months recording and touring in various southern states culminating in New York City at the Apollo theater in Harlem. Though initially promising, Donald soon realized that Hayes was too wrapped-up with his own career and had little time to focus on his band. In early December of the same year, A Different Bag relocated to Los Angeles, California.
Within a few days of arriving in Los Angeles, Donald met Morris Diamond, owner of Beverly Hills Record Company. Morris had been involved in the music business for many years and was able to get the band booked at Bill Cosby’s Christmas party at Chasen’s restaurant in Beverly Hills. Bill was so captivated by their performance, the following day he had them recording some tracks at Uni Records located in Universal City. Following that session, Bill offered them a record contract, but insisted on a name change, (Bunions Bradford), and stipulated that all songs would be written by outside writers. Donald found that to be unreasonable and declined his offer.
Over the next year or so, A Different Bag went on to perform at various nightclubs in and around the Los Angeles area. While they were performing at the Climax, (a nightclub located in west Los Angeles), Little Richard, who had heard about their much talked about show, went there to see for himself. He was so excited about the energy and showmanship that he offered them the opportunity to join him on tour. Hoping this would be a break for the band, Donald accepted his offer, and the very next day, they headed off to open with Little Richard at Kings Castle Hotel in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. From Lake Tahoe they went with Little Richard to Las Vegas where they performed at the International Hotel. The Different Bag continued to perform with Little Richard for the next year or so, doing concerts and TV shows throughout the country. Again, Donald felt like the band was not making the kind of progress necessary to be successful and departed, once again taking his band in pursuit of a more promising direction.
Following their separation from Little Richard, frustration from the members of the band started to emerge, and it wasn’t long before the original twelve were reduced to eight. Though reduced to eight-pieces, the band continued to excite their audiences with their unique showmanship, arguably, unmatched by any other similar R&B group, famous or otherwise.
In the early 70’s, tragedy struck A Different Bag. David, their trumpeter and primary vocalist’s, lost his life in a violent crime while he was in San Diego. It was so devastating that the band nearly broke-up. After meeting with all the members to discuss the band’s future, they decided to continue on.
A producer, named Theodore Tony, invited Donald to go and listen to Revelation Funk, a band that was performing at Hazel & Herbs, a Los Angeles nightclub. Tony explained that the band was in the process of breaking-up and thought possibly he could get the replacement his band needed to fill David’s position. It was there that Donald was introduced to James Ingram, Revelation Funk’s keyboardist and vocalist. Donald was impressed with James and invited him to come and sit-in at A Different Bag’s next rehearsal. During that rehearsal James was polite, and very cooperative. His keyboard playing was excellent, but it was his voice that stood out the most to Donald. Everyone in the band instantly connected with James. It was as though he was tailor-made for A Different Bag. After that rehearsal, James became the band’s Keyboardist and new lead vocalist. James, who was from Akron, Ohio, was not the first member in A Different Bag that was not originally from Milwaukee. For a brief period Bobby McFerrin, a native of Manhattan, New York, also played the keyboards and added his vocals with a Different Bag.
The band continued to perform across the United States and Canada. In late 1974 Donald received an offer from a Hollywood agent who had been in search of them for several weeks. Apparently, a Japanese nightclub owner heard them perform, and was desperate to book them at his club. Other than working in Canada, A Different Bag had never performed outside the United States. Donald thought it would be a great opportunity for his band, and accepted the overseas engagement. The details were worked-out, (contract, passport, etc.…). Several weeks later, A Different Bag was performing in Japan as the opening act for the Ike & Tina Turner Revue at club Mugen in Tokyo, Japan. Ike & Tina were great, but it was A Different Bag that made all the difference. Prior to A Different Bag, only name acts were considered for Mugen. A Different Bag changed all that. They proved that having a name act with a hit record was no longer a requirement. Any group that had the right energy, talent and showmanship, would be sufficient to draw big crowds. For more than a decade after their 1974 appearance at Mugen, A Different Bag remained the standard for all future groups who were brought to Japan. Their style was not limited exclusively to Japanese audiences, but was eventually extended out to other Asian Countries. The overall Asian experience made a lasting impression on Donald that would remain with him forever.
Returning to Los Angeles, A Different Bag resumed performing for the next couple of years, but the band’s morale start to decline. It was difficult to get the members to attend rehearsals, and their show was beginning to lose the magic that it had maintained for so many years. Realizing that a drastic change was necessary, in 1977, Donald quit the band, turning-over the leadership responsibility to his brother and saxophonist Kenny. The transition was rocky, but Kenny managed to hold the band together for several more months before it finally came to an end.
For Donald, this was a difficult period, as it was the first time he was not involved with performing on stage. He kept himself busy by working nights as a security guard, and driving taxi during the day. It was during this time that Donald began writing songs, and in 1978 he formed his own record company, (Posh Records), and released a single on himself, Dancin’ Is Your Love & Skateboard. This was all new to Donald. He had never written songs in the past. He also never considered himself to be a vocalist. Although he was excited about his accomplishments, it was not nearly enough to satisfy his love for being on stage.
In 1982, he found himself back behind the drums with the Gomillione band. This was a newly formed band that was in need of leadership. Using his connections, Donald was able to get them booked for a six-month engagement at a nightclub in Tokyo, Japan; It was a big success. At the end of that engagement, Donald returned to Los Angeles and immediately formed “A Touch of Fire”, a seven-piece band that he patterned after the Gomillione band. For the next eight-years, A touch of Fire performed in various venues all across the Asian continent. By 1990 Donald had completely burned himself out, and decided to call it quits, removing himself from performing live altogether.
With little experience beyond the field of music, Donald was once again faced with an uncertain future. Over the next five years Donald kept busy by working a variety of jobs ranging from security guard, cable technician, used car salesman and a package car driver for UPS just to name a few. In the late spring of 1996 at age 46, Donald joined the Milwaukee Police Department where, upon graduation, he received the chief’s leadership award. Donald remained with the Milwaukee Police Department until he retired early in the summer of 2007. During his final months with the police department, Donald wrote his first book, The Unknown Musician. Within a month of his retirement, Donald relocated to Atlanta, Georgia. From spending so much of his life experiencing different cultures around the world, Donald developed a philosophical approach to a better way of living; A life that draws upon an individual’s inner strengths and powers that would open the door to a more satisfying and enjoyable life experience. He decided to share his philosophy with others and wrote two books on the subject, “The Resurrection of Common Sense” & “Happiness Naturally”. As of 2025, Donald remains in Georgia, dividing his time travelling between The United States and Asia; taking one day at a time, and enjoying
