Wally Waller | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Alan Edward Waller |
| Also known as | Wally Allen, Asa Jones |
| Born | 9 April 1944 Barnehurst, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, producer |
| Instrument(s) | Bass guitar, guitar, vocals |
| Years active | 1963–present |
Alan "Wally" Waller or Wally Allen (born 9 April 1944) is an English bassist and producer. He was a member of Pretty Things on their most famous records, S.F. Sorrow and Parachute .
Wally Waller was born Alan Edward Waller in Barnehurst and grew up in neighbouring Bexley, then in Kent. [1]
In the early 1960s, Wally Waller played the rhythm guitar in Bern Elliott and the Fenmen, a five-piece beat and rhythm and blues band. They had a Top 20 hit with their cover of "Money (That's What I Want)" in December 1963. When lead singer Bern Elliott left the band, early in 1964, the other four continued as The Fenmen, releasing a few singles with strong vocal harmonies, such as their cover of "California Dreamin'" in 1966. Their last single, "Rejected", featured one of the first songs penned by Waller as an A-side. [2] [3]
In the early months of 1967, Wally Waller joined Pretty Things as a bass player, replacing John Stax. At the same time, Jon Povey, the Fenmen's drummer, became the Pretty Things' keyboardist. Waller was a childhood friend of lead singer Phil May, and they started writing songs together for the Things' third studio album, Emotions , released in 1967. Their musical partnership continued on the next two albums, the rock opera S.F. Sorrow (1968) and its follow-up Parachute (1970), the latter being entirely written by May and Waller. [1] [3]
Wally Waller left the Pretty Things in 1971 to take up a job as producer for EMI at the invitation of Norman Smith. As a producer, he worked for Barclay James Harvest and Marcus Hook Roll Band, among others. [4] He also produced the Pretty Things' Freeway Madness under the alias "Asa Jones", since the Things were then signed to Warner Bros. [3] He contributed the song "Over the Moon" to the album and sang lead, also singing backing vocals on several other songs. He rejoined the Pretty Things from 1978 to 1981 and from 1994 to 2008.
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Pretty Things were an English rock band formed in September 1963 in Sidcup, Kent. They took their name from the 1955 song of the same name. In their early years, they had several singles charting in the United Kingdom. Their album S. F. Sorrow (1968) was one of the first rock operas. Although they would change their style throughout their career, they never managed to recapture the same level of commercial success of their early releases.
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