Louis Johnson’s squelchy slap bass is the signature sound of Strawberry Letter 23 by The Brothers Johnson; and much more besides, including Billie Jean and Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough.

But I won’t promote the paedophile who sang it. So I’ll focus on the rest of his lengthy and eclectic career, and especially his early work with his brother George.

Louis was a prime exponent of the slap bass style originally devised by Larry Graham of Sly & The Family Stone and swiftly popularised by funksters in the early Seventies.

Without any plucking at all, his basslines use a combination of slapping with the right hand, using the right thumb – hence his nickname “Thunder Thumbs” – with the left hand’s middle finger functioning as a mute technique.

The result – dubbed a “slap choke” – thus creates a percussive sound like drums, adding more rhythm to the bass notes.

Johnson’s came from a Music Man StingRay bass guitar made specially for him by Leo Fender. His style incorporated further funk plucks in combination with his thumping, for that unique funky sound.

Best known as one half of The Brothers Johnson with his guitarist brother George (aka Lightin’ Licks), Louis also played on three of the biggest selling albums of all time with Jackson – Off The Wall, Thriller and Dangerous, including those two huge hit singles.

His slap bass also figures prominently in his work with Stanley Clarke and Grover Washington Jr, and his basslines for Michael McDonald’s I Keep Forgettin’ (Every Time You’re Near) have been sampled in nearly 50 hip-hop tunes, most notably Regulate by Warren G and Nate Dogg.

His multiple credits include work with Billy Preston and Bill Withers, Donna Summer and Herbie Hancock, Temptations and Supremes, Björk, Phil Collins, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder and Stevie Nicks.

Here he is with brother George on the song I first heard in Pulp Fiction, and went on to hear again in Jackie Brown. George discovered the song, originally recorded by Shuggie Otis in 1971, when he was dating Shuggie’s cousin, and the brothers recorded it in 1977.

It’s one of those rare tunes that doesn’t mention its title at all, though that’s largely because the song is about an exchange of musical love letters between a couple, and the song itself is the response to the last one – Strawberry Letter 22.