{"id":21233,"date":"2026-07-29T17:24:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T21:24:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/?post_type=wfsu-news&#038;p=21233"},"modified":"2026-07-29T17:42:03","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T21:42:03","slug":"beloved-tallahassee-singer-songwriter-john-paul-walters-dies","status":"publish","type":"wfsu-news","link":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/beloved-tallahassee-singer-songwriter-john-paul-walters-dies\/","title":{"rendered":"Beloved Tallahassee singer\/songwriter John Paul Walters dies"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-21233-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/cpa.ds.npr.org\/s390\/audio\/2026\/07\/jpwaltersdeath0727full.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/cpa.ds.npr.org\/s390\/audio\/2026\/07\/jpwaltersdeath0727full.mp3\">https:\/\/cpa.ds.npr.org\/s390\/audio\/2026\/07\/jpwaltersdeath0727full.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>Celebrated Tallahassee musician John Paul Walters has died.<\/p>\n<p>In his hometown, Walters is perhaps best remembered for his work with Steve Meisburg who&#8217;d go on to become the city&#8217;s mayor. But Walters also had a vibrant musical career of his own, touring with some of the biggest musical names in the 1970s and 80s. Longtime locals may also remember some of the commercial radio and TV jingles Walters wrote and performed. Perhaps one of the most commonly heard was the signature song for SuperLube quick oil changes. Walters&#8217; friend, local public relations firm owner Rick Oppenheim, also recalls Walters was involved in many social justice causes.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He didn&#8217;t wear politics on his sleeve. I wouldn&#8217;t call him a political activist, but definitely a &#8216;gentle social activist.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Walters died at age 75 on July 23rd from Parkinson&#8217;s disease complications. A celebration of his life takes place at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 1 at Faith Presbyterian Church on North Meridian Road. <\/p>\n<div class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2026 WFSU<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","wds_primary_category":0},"categories":[],"tags":[1136,1135],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Beloved Tallahassee singer\/songwriter John Paul Walters dies - WFSU Local Routes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/beloved-tallahassee-singer-songwriter-john-paul-walters-dies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Beloved Tallahassee singer\/songwriter John Paul Walters dies - WFSU Local Routes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Walters&#039; career included musical tours with some of the biggest names in country, R&amp;B and light rock music in the 1970s and 80s.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/beloved-tallahassee-singer-songwriter-john-paul-walters-dies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WFSU Local Routes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-29T21:42:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/beloved-tallahassee-singer-songwriter-john-paul-walters-dies\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/beloved-tallahassee-singer-songwriter-john-paul-walters-dies\/\",\"name\":\"Beloved Tallahassee singer\/songwriter John Paul Walters dies - WFSU Local Routes\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-29T21:24:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-29T21:42:03+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/beloved-tallahassee-singer-songwriter-john-paul-walters-dies\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/beloved-tallahassee-singer-songwriter-john-paul-walters-dies\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/beloved-tallahassee-singer-songwriter-john-paul-walters-dies\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Beloved Tallahassee singer\/songwriter John Paul Walters dies\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/\",\"name\":\"WFSU Local Routes\",\"description\":\"Local stories from northern Florida and southern Georgia.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Beloved Tallahassee singer\/songwriter John Paul Walters dies - WFSU Local Routes","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/beloved-tallahassee-singer-songwriter-john-paul-walters-dies\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Beloved Tallahassee singer\/songwriter John Paul Walters dies - WFSU Local Routes","og_description":"Walters' career included musical tours with some of the biggest names in country, R&amp;B and light rock music in the 1970s and 80s.","og_url":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/beloved-tallahassee-singer-songwriter-john-paul-walters-dies\/","og_site_name":"WFSU Local Routes","article_modified_time":"2026-07-29T21:42:03+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/beloved-tallahassee-singer-songwriter-john-paul-walters-dies\/","url":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/beloved-tallahassee-singer-songwriter-john-paul-walters-dies\/","name":"Beloved Tallahassee singer\/songwriter John Paul Walters dies - WFSU Local Routes","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-07-29T21:24:32+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-29T21:42:03+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/beloved-tallahassee-singer-songwriter-john-paul-walters-dies\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/beloved-tallahassee-singer-songwriter-john-paul-walters-dies\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wfsu-news\/beloved-tallahassee-singer-songwriter-john-paul-walters-dies\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Beloved Tallahassee singer\/songwriter John Paul Walters dies"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/#website","url":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/","name":"WFSU Local Routes","description":"Local stories from northern Florida and southern Georgia.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wfsu-news\/21233"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wfsu-news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/wfsu-news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wfsu.org\/local-routes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}