Scott Walker (musician)

	Chart positions ; Explanation of the data
	Albums
	Scott
	Scott 2
	Scott 3
	Songs from His TV Series
	Climate of Hunter
	No Regrets - The Best of 1965-1976 (with The Walker Brothers )
	Tilt
	The Best of - The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (with The Walker Brothers)
	The drift
	Up to Bosch
	Soused (with Sunn O))) )
	Singles
	Jackie
	Joanna
	Lights of Cincinnati

Scott Walker, 1968

Scott Walker (actually Noel Scott Engel junior , born January 9, 1943 in Hamilton , Ohio , † March 22, 2019 in London ) was an American singer , musician and composer . Walker had his breakthrough in 1965 with the pop band Walker Brothers , was initially successful as a solo artist and turned to avant-garde music in the 1990s .

Life

Walker was the son of Noel Engel senior and his wife Elizabeth Marie. His parents divorced when he was six years old. In 1973 he married his long-time girlfriend Mette Teglbjaerg in Las Vegas , whom he had met in Copenhagen when he was temporarily living there. With her, Scott Walker had the daughter Lee. The marriage ended in divorce in the late 1970s. Scott Walker lived in London.

Early recordings / The Walker Brothers

Walker was discovered by Eddie Fisher in the late 1950s and made multiple television appearances. Similar to Frankie Avalon , he was to be built into a teenage star under his name Scott (Scotty) Engel. In 1957 he released the single When Is a Boy a Man as Scotty Engel.

After moving to Hollywood , he taught himself to play the bass guitar . He worked for Jack Nitzsche as a studio musician. In 1961, Engel became bassist for The Routers .

He then founded the Dalton Brothers in Los Angeles , which were renamed The Walker Brothers in 1964 . The band consisted of Walker as bassist and lead singer, John Maus as guitarist and vocalist, and drummer Gary Leeds . Leeds had already toured England with PJ Proby and suggested they settle down there. The Walker Brothers had worldwide success , mainly with lavishly arranged pop ballads ( The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore ) and cover versions (often by Burt Bacharach and Hal David ). As a lead singer, Walker became a star. In 1967, The Walker Brothers broke up at the height of their success. A year later a farewell tour of Japan followed. Walker retired to a monastery on the Isle of Wight , where he studied Gregorian chants and began a solo career.

First solo albums. Scott 1-4

Walker's solo albums testified to a reorientation. His early solo albums were more and more influenced by European cabaret and chansons . Walker's music was also shaped by the Wall of Sound . During this successful time he mixed his image from the Walker Brothers time with darker, idiosyncratic music and daring lyrics - both in cover versions and in original compositions, which increasingly dominated. His versions of famous Jacques Brel chansons were critically acclaimed. His first three albums ( Scott (1967), Scott 2 (1968), Scott 3 (1969)) were very successful commercially, Scott 2 reached the top of the British charts. In 1969 he got his own TV show. Scott 4 , released at the height of his fame as a solo artist, on the other hand, became a commercial failure. The record consisted exclusively of own compositions with ambitious lyrics and more economical arrangements. The Seventh Seal is based on Ingmar Bergman's film The Seventh Seal ; The Old Man's Back Again alludes to the Prague Spring and the restalinization of Czechoslovakia . The audience did not follow Walker's change of course, as the material of Scott's TV appearances and his other solo albums differed by a significantly more serious tone. The record was originally published under Walker's real name Noel Scott Engel.

The 1970s

In 1970 'Til the Band Comes In . There followed four unsuccessful albums with only cover versions . 1975 was carried Reunion of the Walker Brothers with No Regrets . After the successor Lines (1976), Walker - still under the name The Walker Brothers - made another artistic directional change: on the album Nite Flights (1978), the last album with the "Brothers That Never Were", his first compositions were in eight Years to find. However, commercial success failed to materialize.

Late works

Climate of Hunter (1983), his next record, is considered the least-selling album by the Virgin record company . Highly acclaimed by critics, this album was a major loss for Virgin. Even the participation of well-known musicians such as Billy Ocean and Mark Knopfler could not avert the failure. About the following time, Walker said:

“I became the Orson Welles of the music industry. They want to have lunch with me, but nobody wants to finance the film ... "

- from an interview with The Independent in April 1995

In 1995, after a twelve-year hiatus, the even more radical Tilt followed , heralding the beginning of a complete departure from commercial standards. At the same time, this album and Walker's works received positive reviews. In 1999, Walker's instrumental soundtrack for the film Pola X was released . In the same year he contributed the David Arnold song Only Myself to Blame to the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough . In 2000 he wrote two songs for the album Punishing Kiss by Ute Lemper . These two songs ( Scope J and Lullabye ) were described by Walker in the film 30 Century Man as the "best I've ever written." In 2001, he produced the hit album We Love Life by Pulp .

In 2004, Five Easy Pieces was a best-of album, and in 2006 his album The Drift was released on the 4AD label . The film accompanying the recording sessions, 30 Century Man , was produced by David Bowie .

In 2007 Scott Walker composed the instrumental piece And Who Shall Go to the Ball? And What Shall Go to the Ball? for the dance project "Candoco" with the choreographer Rafael Bonachela . The project brought together physically disabled and non-disabled artists. The purely instrumental piece for chamber orchestra , cello, flute, saxophone and percussion consists of four parts and is almost 25 minutes long. The composition was recorded by the London Sinfonietta chamber orchestra, which specializes in contemporary music . The label 4AD released the work in September 2007 as a limited edition that will never be released again.

The record company was loyal to Scott Walker for Bish Bosch, which was released in 2012 . Walker called it the final part of a trilogy that includes The Drift and Tilt . The international criticism reacted largely positively to the unchanged harsh tones.

The album Soused , released in October 2014, was recorded in cooperation with the drone doom band Sunn O))) .

Discography

The Walker Brothers

Studio albums

1967: Scott
1968: Scott 2
1969: Scott 3
1969: Scott Sings Songs from His TV-Series
1969: Scott 4
1970: 'Til the Band Comes In
1971: The Moviegoer
1973: Any Day Now
1973: Stretch
1974: We Had It All
1984: Climate of Hunter
1995: Tilt
2006: The Drift
2007: And Who Shall Go to the Ball? And What Shall Go to the Ball?
2012: Bish Bosch
2014: Soused (together with Sunn O))) )

Soundtracks

1999: Pola X
2016: The Childhood of a Leader

Compilations

1969: The Romantic Scott Walker
1981: Fire Escape in the Sky: The Godlike Genius of Scott Walker
1981: Scott Walker Sings Jacques Brel
1993: Boychild
2004: Five Easy Pieces
2013: Scott - The Collection 1967–1970 ( Scott 1–4 and 'Til the Band Comes In )

Web links

supporting documents

^ Anthony Reynolds: The Impossible Dream: The Story of Scott Walker and the Walker Brothers . Jawbone Press, London 2009, ISBN 978-1-906002-25-1 , p. 29
↑ Associated Press : Scott Walker of the Walker Brothers Dies at Age 76. In: The New York Times , March 25, 2019. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
↑ Rob Young: No Regrets: Writings on Scott Walker, Hachette UK, 2012 [1]
↑ Alan Jackson, "The Long Distance Walker," The Times , April 22, 1995, [2]
↑ John Walker, Gary Walker : The Walker Brothers: No Regrets - Our Story, John Blake Publishing, 2010 [3]
↑ Sean O'Hagan: Interview: Scott Walker , The Guardian , Nov. 9, 2008
↑ Jan Kedves: Scott Walker is dead - The man with the mahogany voice. Retrieved May 30, 2020 .
↑ 4AD: And Who Shall Go to the Ball?
↑ Das Nothing notet , a review by Christian Schachinger in Der Standard from October 23, 2014, accessed November 3, 2014
↑ ^a ^b Chart sources: Singles Albums UK US
↑ Music Sales Awards: UK

personal data
SURNAME	Walker, Scott
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Angel, Noel Scott (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American singer and bassist
DATE OF BIRTH	January 9, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH	Hamilton , Ohio , USA
DATE OF DEATH	March 22, 2019
Place of death	London , England , UK

[1] Anthony Reynolds: The Impossible Dream: The Story of Scott Walker and the Walker Brothers . Jawbone Press, London 2009, ISBN 978-1-906002-25-1 , p. 29

[2] Associated Press : Scott Walker of the Walker Brothers Dies at Age 76. In: The New York Times , March 25, 2019. Retrieved March 25, 2019.

[3] Rob Young: No Regrets: Writings on Scott Walker, Hachette UK, 2012 [1]

[4] Alan Jackson, "The Long Distance Walker," The Times , April 22, 1995, [2]

[5] John Walker, Gary Walker : The Walker Brothers: No Regrets - Our Story, John Blake Publishing, 2010 [3]

[6] Sean O'Hagan: Interview: Scott Walker , The Guardian , Nov. 9, 2008

[7] Jan Kedves: Scott Walker is dead - The man with the mahogany voice. Retrieved May 30, 2020 .

[8] 4AD: And Who Shall Go to the Ball?

[9] Das Nothing notet , a review by Christian Schachinger in Der Standard from October 23, 2014, accessed November 3, 2014

[charts-10] Chart sources: Singles Albums UK US

[ausz-11] Music Sales Awards: UK