The Walker Brothers | |
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Background information | |
Origin | Los Angeles, California, United States |
Genres | Pop, baroque pop, blue-eyed soul, soft rock, country rock, art pop, new wave, avant-pop |
Discography | The Walker Brothers discography |
Years active |
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Labels | Philips, Smash, GTO |
Past members | Scott Walker (deceased) John Walker (deceased) Gary Walker |
The Walker Brothers were an American pop group formed in Los Angeles in 1964 by John Walker (real name John Maus) and Scott Walker (real name Noel Scott Engel), with Gary Walker (real name Gary Leeds) joining shortly after. They adopted the 'Walker Brothers' name as a show business touch even though none of the members were related. [1] After moving to Britain in 1965, they had several Top 10 albums and singles there, including the No. 1 hits "Make It Easy on Yourself" and "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore)", both of which also made the US Top 20 and Canadian Top 2. Between them was the UK No. 3 hit "My Ship is Coming In". They provided a unique counterpoint to the British Invasion by achieving much more success in the UK than in their home country, a period when the popularity of British bands such as The Beatles dominated the U.S. charts. [2]
The trio split up in 1968, with all three members pursuing solo projects to varying degrees of success. They eventually reunited in 1975 and scored a final Top 10 UK hit with "No Regrets". After releasing the critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful album Nite Flights in 1978, the group again disbanded. John Walker remained active in the music business and toured as a solo act until his death in 2011. Scott Walker resumed his solo career and gained recognition as an avant-garde artist; he died in 2019, leaving Gary Walker as the last surviving member.
The Walker Brothers Trio was formed in Los Angeles in 1964 by John Walker (lead vocals, guitar), Scott Engel (bass, harmony vocals), and Al "Tiny" Schneider (drums). Before then, John Walker—who had already been using that name professionally for several years—had performed and recorded several unsuccessful singles with his sister as a duo, John and Judy, and Engel had been bass player with instrumental band The Routers. Walker and Engel, with two other musicians, had also toured the Midwest in 1963 as The Surfaris, though the group included none of the musicians who played on the Surfaris' records. Dropping the word Trio, the Walker Brothers were signed by Mercury Records, recorded a single, "Pretty Girls Everywhere", and became a leading attraction at Gazzari's Club in Hollywood. They also appeared on the Shindig! TV show, developed by Jack Good, and then on a weekly TV show, Ninth Street A Go Go . [3]
Late in 1964, they met drummer Gary Leeds, previously of The Standells (Late 1962–1964). He had recently toured the UK with singer P.J. Proby. [1] [4] Leeds – along with Gazzari's club regular Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones [5] – persuaded them that the band's rock and roll and blues style would go down well in "swinging London," where Proby had already succeeded. Before leaving, they recorded their second single, "Love Her", overseen by Nick Venet and arranger Jack Nitzsche, with Scott, now Scott Walker, taking the lead vocal part for the first time—previously John had been the lead vocalist. With his distinct baritone, Scott became the group's de facto frontman, and the trio shifted their focus from upbeat R&B to pop ballads that better suited his vocals. They also appeared in a film, Beach Ball , and sent demo recordings to record labels in the United Kingdom.
With Leeds, now Gary Walker, the band's drummer, and with financial backing from his stepfather, the Walker Brothers traveled to the UK in February 1965 for an exploratory visit. [3]
When they landed in England, record producer Johnny Franz was keen to sign them up. In a short time, the group had secured a recording contract with Philips Records, an affiliate of Mercury, and had played several venues around the UK. Along with the group's relocation came a change in image, abandoning matching suits and pompadours in favour of the mop top haircuts and casual attire typical of British pop stars. Their first single, "Pretty Girls Everywhere," had little success, [4] but radio stations picked up on the follow-up "Love Her" with Scott's baritone vocals, and it made the Top 20 in the UK Singles Chart in June 1965. [6] The song had originally been recorded by The Everly Brothers and released as the B-side to their single "The Girl Who Sang The Blues" in 1963. [7]
Philips then recorded and released the group's version of "Make It Easy on Yourself," a Burt Bacharach and Hal David ballad previously recorded by Jerry Butler. It was sung by Scott, arranged by Ivor Raymonde and produced by Johnny Franz, with a full orchestra augmented by session musicians. [7] Session musicians on the record included Alan Parker and Big Jim Sullivan. By August 1965, "Make It Easy on Yourself" had entered the UK Top 10, eventually reaching the top of the record chart. [6] Later in the year, it also reached No. 16 in the US Billboard Hot 100. [4] The track sold 250,000 copies in the UK, and over one million copies globally, achieving gold disc status. [1]
The No. 3 UK hit "My Ship Is Coming In", originally recorded in 1965 by soul singer Jimmy Radcliffe, followed. Then in March 1966, the Walker Brothers hit No. 1 for the second time in six months with "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore." [6] Their popularity in the UK – particularly that of Scott – reached a new high, especially among teenage girls, and their fan club in that country was said to have been larger than The Beatles at one point in 1966. "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" also made the US Top 20, but ultimately the group would remain far more popular in the UK than in their home country. [4]
Between 1965 and 1967, the group released three albums, Take It Easy with the Walker Brothers (1965), Portrait (1966) and Images (1967), and two EPs, I Need You and Solo John/Solo Scott (both 1966). Following "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore", the group's subsequent singles in 1966 were "(Baby) You Don't Have to Tell Me" (No. 13 UK), "Another Tear Falls" (No. 12 UK) and "Deadlier Than the Male" (No. 32 UK), the latter recorded for the soundtrack of the film of the same name, while 1967 brought two more singles in "Stay With Me Baby" and "Walking in the Rain" (both of which reached No. 26 in the UK).
As time went on, Scott took a more prominent role in their song choices and arrangements, but with diminishing commercial success. They also had to leave the UK for six months in 1967 because of work permit problems. As pop music moved on, the Walker Brothers began to sound dated. By early 1967, the pressures of stardom, internal tensions and 'artistic differences' began to weaken the group. After a UK tour in April 1967, which also featured Jimi Hendrix, Cat Stevens, and Engelbert Humperdinck, the group officially disbanded, though they temporarily reformed for a tour of Japan in 1968.
All three continued to release solo records, with Scott being by far the most successful and creating a large cult following. [6] Late in 1974, Scott, John and Gary agreed to reform as the Walker Brothers. In 1975, they released the album No Regrets . The title track was released as a single and rose to No. 7 on the UK chart in early 1976. The follow up album Lines (1976) was less commercially successful. In 1978 the band released their last album Nite Flights , made up entirely of original songs (the first four by Scott, the middle two by Gary and the final four by John), with the avant-garde style of Scott's tracks on the album laying the stylistic groundwork for his subsequent solo work. Nite Flights earned positive reviews, particularly for Scott's tracks, but failed to make any commercial impact. The Walker Brothers then undertook some cabaret performances, although Scott was becoming increasingly reluctant to sing live; the group's contract with GTO Records ended and, according to John Walker, the group "just drifted apart" at the end of 1978. [3]
Interest in the band was briefly revived in 1992 with the issue of the compilation album No Regrets – The Best of Scott Walker and The Walker Brothers 1965–1976 , which reached No. 4 in the UK Albums Chart. [8] The following year, David Bowie covered the song "Nite Flights" on his Black Tie White Noise album. 2006 saw the release of the Walker Brothers box set Everything Under the Sun, which included a number of previously unreleased tracks among its five CDs.
John Walker later went on to customize guitars and establish his own recording studio in California, and resumed touring in 2004. Gary Walker remains active in England. Scott Walker continued to record sporadically, with his music moving further towards the avant-garde, and engage in cultural works, e.g. curating the Meltdown Festival. John and Gary Walker published their own joint autobiography, The Walker Brothers: No Regrets — Our Story in 2009 (Scott chose not to participate). John died at his Los Angeles home on May 7, 2011; Scott died in London on 22 March 2019, leaving Gary as the last surviving Walker brother.
"The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" and "Stay With Me Baby" were prominently featured in the 2012 film, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World , written and directed by Lorene Scafaria and starring Steve Carell and Keira Knightley.
The Four Seasons is an American vocal quartet formed in 1960 in Newark, New Jersey. Since 1970, they have also been known at times as Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. The band evolved out of a previous band called The Four Lovers, with Frankie Valli as the lead singer, Bob Gaudio on keyboards and tenor vocals, Tommy DeVito on lead guitar and baritone vocals, and Nick Massi on bass guitar and bass vocals. On nearly all of their 1960s hits, they were credited as The 4 Seasons. The band had two distinct lineups that achieved widespread success: the original featuring Valli, Gaudio, DeVito, and Massi that recorded hits throughout the 1960s, and a 1970s quintet consisting of Valli, Lee Shapiro, Gerry Polci, Don Ciccone and John Paiva, with Gaudio and Long providing studio support.
The Hollies are an English pop rock band formed in 1962. One of the leading British groups of the 1960s and into the mid-1970s, they are known for their distinctive three-part vocal harmony style. Allan Clarke and Graham Nash founded the band as a Merseybeat-type group in Manchester, although some of the band members came from towns further north, in east Lancashire. Nash left the group in 1968 to form Crosby, Stills & Nash, though he has reunited with the Hollies on occasion.
Noel Scott Engel, better known by his stage name Scott Walker, was an American-British singer-songwriter and record producer who resided in England. Walker was known for his emotive voice and his unorthodox stylistic path which took him from being a teen pop icon in the 1960s to an avant-garde musician from the 1980s to his death. Walker's success was largely in the United Kingdom, where he achieved fame as a member of pop trio the Walker Brothers, who scored several hit singles, including two number ones, during the mid-1960s, while his first four solo albums reached the top ten during the later part of the decade, with the second, Scott 2, reaching number one in 1968. He lived in the UK from 1965 onward and became a UK citizen in 1970.
John Charles Franz was an English record producer and A&R man at the Philips label. He was one of Britain's most successful producers in the 1950s and 1960s. While his recordings encompassed several forms of mainstream popular music, his most enduring contributions were to British pop music of the mid-1960s on records by Dusty Springfield, The Walker Brothers, and the early solo recordings of Scott Walker. From 1973, he was responsible for the production of Peters & Lee recordings, which included their No. 1 chart hit "Welcome Home".
Robert Stanley Crewe was an American songwriter, dancer, singer, manager, and record producer. Crewe co-wrote and produced a string of Top 10 singles with Bob Gaudio for the Four Seasons.
"The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore)" is a song written by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio.
"Love Ain't Here Anymore" is a song by English boy band Take That. Released on 27 June 1994 by RCA and BMG, it was the sixth and final single taken from the band's second studio album, Everything Changes (1993). The song peaked at number three in the UK Singles Chart, ending their string of consecutive number-one singles. It failed to overtake Wet Wet Wet's cover of "Love Is All Around" at number one, and American R&B group, All-4-One, who reached number two with "I Swear". "Love Ain't Here Anymore" was re-recorded for release in the United States and included on their first Greatest Hits compilation in 1996.
Gary Walker is an American musician, who was the drummer and vocalist with both the Standells and the Walker Brothers.
Portrait is the second album by the American pop group The Walker Brothers. Released in 1966 the album was their most successful and reached number three on the UK Albums Chart. The group's musical accompaniment was directed by Ivor Raymonde and Reg Guest and produced by John Franz. Receiving good to mixed reviews the album was first released in both Mono and Stereo LP formats in August 1966. The album was later released on CD having been remastered and expanded in 1998. The sleeve notes were written by Keith Altham with photography by Dezo Hoffmann.
Images is the third album by the American pop group The Walker Brothers. Released in 1967 the album reached number six on the UK Albums Chart. It was the last of their trio of 1960s albums. They would not record together again until 1975's No Regrets.
"No Regrets" is a song by folk and blues singer/songwriter Tom Rush. It is the final song on his 1968 album The Circle Game and was released as a single in the UK in January 1968 and in the US in April. It peaked at number 57 on the UK BMRB Breakers, an official extension of the UK Singles Chart.
Nite Flights is the sixth and final studio album by American pop group the Walker Brothers, released in July 1978 by GTO Records. In contrast to their previous two albums, which were made up almost entirely of cover versions, Nite Flights is the group's only album to feature entirely original songs; Gary Walker contributed two while Scott Walker and John Walker each contributed four. In addition to containing all original material, the album was a radical departure from the group's usual mainstream sound, displaying elements of art rock, new wave and experimental music. It is generally considered an artistic breakthrough for Scott Walker, presaging his later re-emergence as an avant-garde artist.
Russell Hitchcock is the self-titled debut solo album by Russell Hitchcock, best known as the lead singer of Air Supply, released in 1988. The album did not reach the charts, though singles "Someone Who Believes in You", "I Can't Believe My Eyes" and the covers "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore", "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" and "Where Did the Feeling Go?" had minor recognition.
No Regrets is the fourth album by the American pop group The Walker Brothers. The album was released in 1975 and was the group's first together since 1967. It reached number forty-nine on the UK Albums Chart and includes the single "No Regrets". The single backed with the non-album B-side "Remember Me" became the group's final significant hit single, reaching #7 in the UK Singles Chart in early 1976.
Scott Walker is the stage name of the American singer-songwriter Noel Scott Engel (1943–2019), former lead singer with The Walker Brothers. He lived in the United Kingdom from the 1960s until his death.
"I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore" is a song written by Pam Sawyer and Laurie Burton in 1965. Originally envisioned to be recorded by a British Invasion artist, the song was extremely well liked by the American rock group the Young Rascals, and they subsequently recorded the song and released it as their debut single in November 1965 through Atlantic Records. Though only a marginal hit, reaching number 52 on the Billboard Hot 100, it largely established the band on the American music scene. It has since been included on several albums by the band, including their eponymous debut album, and several compilation albums, including Time Peace: The Rascals' Greatest Hits, on which it was the opening track.
John Joseph Maus, known professionally as John Walker, was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist, best known as the founder of the Walker Brothers, who had their greatest success in the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom.
The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore is the second North-American album release by the Walker Brothers. Released in 1966, the album was the group's fourth overall.
The discography of American pop group The Walker Brothers consists of eight studio albums, two of which were created for the American market, one live album, three extended plays, twenty singles, twenty b-sides and numerous compilations - several of which are listed here.