Gary Walker(Musician) Biography 

Gary Walker (born Gary Leeds; March 9, 1942) is an American musician, who was the drummer and vocalist with both the Standells and the Walker Brothers.

Scott Walker (born Noel Scott Engel; January 9, 1943 – March 22, 2019) was an American-born British singer-songwriter, composer and record producer. Walker was known for his distinctive baritone voice and an unorthodox career path which took him from 1960s pop icon to a 21st-century avant-garde musician. Walker’s success was largely in the United Kingdom, where his first three solo albums reached the top ten. He lived in the UK from 1965 and became a British citizen in 1970.

First coming to fame in the mid-1960s as the frontman of the pop music trio The Walker Brothers, Walker began a solo career with 1967’s Scott, moving toward an increasingly challenging baroque pop style on late ’60s albums such as Scott 3 (1969) and Scott 4 (1969). His solo work did not sell well, leading him to reunite with The Walker Brothers in the mid-1970s. From the mid-1980s, Walker revived his solo career while moving in an increasingly avant-garde direction that The Guardian likened to “Andy Williams reinventing himself as Stockhausen.”

Walker continued to release solo material until his death and was last signed to 4AD Records. As a record producer or guest performer, he worked with a number of artists including Pulp, Ute Lemper, Sunn O))) and Bat for Lashes.

He has been credited as the catalyst in bringing the unrelated Walker Brothers to the UK in 1965 where, for a couple of years, they enjoyed commercial success. He had two minor UK hit singles while still a member of the group in 1966. The Walker Brothers split in May 1967 with all three members going solo.

In 1967 he founded Gary Walker and the Rain, which consisted of Joey Molland (guitar and vocals); Charles “Paul” Crane (lead vocals, guitar); and John Lawson (bass guitar).

As of 2019, due to the death of Scott Walker, Gary is now the last surviving member of The Walker Brothers.

Gary Walker(Musician) Age

Gray Leads is 77 years old as of 2019. He was born on 9 March 1942, in Glendale, California, United States

Are the Walker brothers really brothers?

The Walker Brothers. The Walker Brothers were an American pop group of the 1960s and 1970s that included Scott Engel (eventually known professionally as Scott Walker), John Walker (born John Maus, but using the name Walker since his teens) and Gary Leeds (eventually known as Gary Walker).

Gary Leeds – Biography – IMDb

Gary Leeds, the only true native Californian amongst The Walker Brothers, was born on 9 March 1942 in Glendale, a suburb of Los Angeles, the only child of Jack, an industrial chemist, and his wife Violet.

Gary had developed an interest in music during his school days, and at the age of 14, after constantly drumming on the cushions at home, he decided that he would like to concentrate on playing drums. He was very proud of his first drum kit, which was a red wooden set complete with animal skins that used to stretch and tighten depending on the temperature, so Gary was forever adjusting them! He joined the school band for a period of time, but soon formed his own group called The Beltones when the discipline got too much for him, and they had some success locally while still at school. A succession of groups followed over the next few years and firmly established Gary amongst the constantly changing line-ups of bands around Los Angeles at that time. He joined local group The Standells when they were formed in 1962, and remained with them until he was replaced by former Mouseketeer Dick Dodd in 1963, just before they were due to record their first album for Liberty Records.

One of Gary’s earliest claims to fame was standing in on drums for Elvis Presley when they were appearing on the same bill, and Elvis’s drummer fell ill. Although his engagement with the Presley band only lasted a short time until the regular drummer was fit enough to resume, it gave Gary a taste of fame and made him realize the possibilities that lay open to him. A later connection with PJ Proby brought Gary to England for the first time in 1964, where he stayed until his work permit ran out. He then returned to California where he resumed drumming on the LA club circuit. During this time Gary visited Gazzari’s Club where John Maus and Scott Engel had a residency at The Walker Brothers. Gary suggested that they should join up with him and try their luck in England. After further encouragement from Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones, a regular visitor to Gazzaris, the trio decided to make the trip to the UK. They arrived in London on a cold wintry day in February 1965 as complete unknowns, but by the end of the year The Walker Brothers’ popularity rivaled that of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, and they were mobbed wherever they went.

At the height of The Walker Brothers’ success in 1966 Gary released two singles as a solo artist, “You Don’t Love Me” and “Twinkie-Lee”, both of which peaked at No 26 in the charts. Three major UK tours took place during 1966 and 1967 but, after the third one, the group announced that they were splitting up to follow their individual careers.

Gary formed his own group, Gary Walker and The Rain, in the autumn of 1967. As a bandleader, Gary was the driving force in all of the Rain’s recording sessions, contributing as songwriter, vocalist, and drummer. Their debut single was a cover of the Classics IV song “Spooky” released early in 1968. The single release was supported by a lengthy and very successful UK tour with The Kinks, The Herd and The Tremeloes. An extensive tour of Japan followed later that year during which the Gary Walker & The Rain Album No 1 was released. The LP was supported by the release of an EP and two singles, all consisting of songs taken from the album. None of the tracks were ever released other than in Japan, consequently, the original Japanese LP is now extremely valuable and rare. A further UK single, an Easybeats song, “Come In You’ll Get Pneumonia” was released before the group split up early in 1969. Gary was forced to return to the USA because his work permit had expired again, Paul Crane became a producer, John Lawson joined the post-Honeybus group Lace and Joey Molland went on to become a member of Badfinger.

In 1975 Gary returned to the UK music scene during The Walker Brothers’ reunion, which produced the top ten single “No Regrets” from the album of the same name. A further two albums, “Lines” and “Nite Flights”, followed, the latter featuring Gary on lead vocals for the self-penned numbers “Den Haague” and “Death Of Romance”. The Walker Brothers parted again in 1978.

Gary disappeared from public life, marrying his English wife Barbara on 17 November 1979. During the ’80s Gary’s artistic talents came to the fore again running his own business making models of castles made from sand blended with Gary’s “secret resin”. The ’80s also saw Gary on UK TV once again, making a guest appearance on the ITV game show “Tell The Truth” where he totally hoodwinked a rather embarrassed Suzi Quatro. Gary and Barbara’s son Michael made his arrival on 17 December 1986. In more recent years Gary has turned his hand to casting and creating models of the Titanic wreck as she now lies at the bottom of the ocean. Gary uses a number of materials for his models, including bronze. Following on from the success of this venture, Gary has also been creating individually commissioned models of the hands of babies, children, and newly-weds.

Gary received a sensational welcome and three standing ovations when he appeared on stage on 16 July 2005 for the first time in 27 years, at the White Rock Hotel in Hastings with fellow Walker Brother John. Gary performed two memorable numbers from his days with The Walker Brothers: “Twinkie Lee” and “Dizzy Miss Lizzy”. Gary and John were accompanied on stage at the White Rock by Chris Black & Blackcat.

Gary returned to the White Rock Hotel, again accompanied by Chris Black & Blackcat, on 3 December 2005. On this occasion, Gary fronted the band for an extended set that included his self-penned songs “Den Haague” and “Death of Romance” from the classic Walker Brothers’ album ‘Nite Flights’ – the first time that any songs from this album have been performed on stage. Amongst other highlights was the finale, “Land of 1000 Dances”, which has long been associated with Walker Brother shows.

Gary is currently working on a number of projects.

Gary Walker(Musician) Songs

• Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine
  The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore · 1966
• Make It Easy On Yourself
  Take It Easy with the Walker Brothers · 1965
• Land Of 1000 Dances
  Take It Easy with the Walker Brothers · 1965
• Love Minus Zero
  Take It Easy with the Walker Brothers · 1965
• The Electrician
  Nite Flights · 1978
• My Ship Is Comin’ In
  Take It Easy with the Walker Brothers · 1965
• You Don’t Love Me
  2001
  After the Lights Go Out
  The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore · 1966
• Stay With Me Baby
  Images · 1967
• She Makes Me Feel Better
  2010
• First Love Never Dies
  Take It Easy with the Walker Brothers · 1965
• I Will Wait for You
  Images · 1967
• Another Tear Falls
  Portrait · 1966
• Who Needs You So Bad
  1974
• No Regrets
  No Regrets · 1975
• Nite Flights
  Nite Flights · 1978
• I Can’t Let It Happen to You
  Images · 1967
• Walking in the Rain
  Images · 1967
• I Don’t Want to Hear It Anymore
  Take It Easy with the Walker Brothers · 1965
• There Goes My Baby
  Take It Easy with the Walker Brothers · 1965
• Santa’s Got a Brand New Bag
  1988
• Summertime
  Portrait · 1966
• Stand By Me
  Images · 1967
• The Girl I Lost in the Rain
  Take It Easy with the Walker Brothers · 1965
• Everything Under the Sun
  Images · 1967
• Deadlier Than the Male
  Portrait · 1966
• Love Her
  No Regrets · 1975
• It Makes No Difference Now
  Images · 1967
• Living Above Your Head
  Portrait · 1966
• Just Say Goodbye
  Images · 1967
• Orpheus
  Images · 1967
• Looking for Me
  Take It Easy with the Walker Brothers ·

Scott Walker (singer) Death

Walker’s death at the age of 76 was announced on 25 March 2019 by his record company, 4AD, who called him “a unique and challenging titan at the forefront of British music”. Tributes included those from Thom Yorke, Marc Almond, and Labour deputy leader Tom Watson. He is survived by his partner Beverly, his daughter Lee and granddaughter Emmi-Lee.

2006–2019: The Drift, Bish Bosch, Soused, and others

On May 8, 2006, Scott Walker released The Drift, his first new album in 11 years. Critical acclaim for the album garnered a Metacritic score of 85, making it one of the most successfully reviewed albums of 2006.

In both composition and atmosphere, The Drift was a continuation of the surreal, menacing, partially abstract approach displayed on Climate of Hunter and Tilt. It featured jarring contrasts between loud and quiet sections; instrumentation was similar to Tilt in the use of rock instruments and a large orchestra, but the album also interpolated unnerving sound effects such as the distressed braying of a donkey, a demoniac Donald Duck impression, and (during a recording sequence captured on film) an orchestral percussionist punching a large cut of raw meat. Lyrical subjects included torture, disease, the relationship and eventual shared death of Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci, and a conflation of the 9/11 attacks with a nightmare shared by Elvis Presley and his dead twin brother Jesse. In contemporary interviews, Walker appeared more at ease with media attention, revealing a wish to produce albums more frequently and hinting at significant changes in the nature of his own material if and when it suits him. Although he mentioned the possibility of touring again with a compact, five-piece band in an interview with The Wire this has yet to happen.

In June 2006, Mojo and radio honored Scott Walker with the MOJO Icon Award: “Voted for by Mojo readers and Mojo4music users, the recipient of this award has enjoyed a spectacular career on a global scale”. It was presented by Phil Alexander. A documentary film, Scott Walker: 30 Century Man, was completed in 2006 by New York film director Stephen Kijak (Cinemania and Never Met Picasso). Interviews were recorded with David Bowie (executive producer of the film), Radiohead, Sting, Gavin Friday and many musicians associated with Walker over the years. The World Premiere of Scott Walker: 30 Century Man took place as part of the 50th London Film Festival. When The Independent released its list of “Ten must-see films” at the 50th London Film Festival, Scott Walker: 30 Century Man, was among them. A documentary on Walker containing a substantial amount of footage from the film was shown on BBC1 in May 2007 as part of the Imagine… strand, presented by Alan Yentob.

Walker released “Darkness” as part of Plague Songs, an album of songs for the Margate Exodus project, a re-telling of the Book of Exodus, the story of Moses and his search for the Promised Land. Ten singer-songwriters were commissioned by Artangel to write and record a song inspired by one of the ten biblical plagues. Walker’s evocation of “Darkness” appears as the ninth.

On September 24, 2007, Walker released And Who Shall Go to the Ball? And What Shall Go to the Ball? as a limited, never-to-be-re-pressed edition. The 24-minute instrumental work was performed by the London Sinfonietta with solo cellist Philip Sheppard as music to a performance by London-based CandoCo Dance Company. The recording is currently available. From November 13 to 15, 2008, Drifting and Tilting: The Songs of Scott Walker was staged at The Barbican, in London. It comprised eight songs, two from Tilt – “Farmer in the City” and “Patriot (a single)” – and the rest from The Drift: “Cossacks Are”, “Jesse”, “Clara (Benito’s Dream)”, “Buzzers”, “Jolson and Jones” and “Cue”. Each song was presented in a music-theatre manner, with the vocal parts taken by a number of singers, including Jarvis Cocker, Damon Albarn, and Dot Allison.

Walker collaborated with Bat for Lashes on the song “The Big Sleep” from her 2009 album Two Suns. He wrote the score for the ROH2 production of Jean Cocteau’s 1932 play Duet for One, which was staged in the Linbury Studio in June 2011.

Walker’s most recent solo album, Bish Bosch, was released on December 3, 2012, and was received with wide critical acclaim.

It was confirmed by 4AD that, early in 2014, Walker collaborated with experimental drone metal duo Sunn O))) on a new album. The album, Soused, was released on October 21, 2014.

In 2015, Walker composed the score for Brady Corbet’s film The Childhood of a Leader; this was followed in 2018 by the score for Corbet’s film Vox Lux, also featuring music by Australian singer-songwriter Sia.

The Walker Brothers

The Walker Brothers were an American pop group of the 1960s and 1970s that included Scott Engel (eventually known professionally as Scott Walker), John Walker (born John Maus, but using the name Walker since his teens) and Gary Leeds (eventually known as Gary Walker). After moving to Britain in 1965, they had a number of top ten albums and singles there, including the No. 1 chart hits “Make It Easy on Yourself” and “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine (Anymore)”, both of which also made the US top 20. In between the two was the lesser US hit “My Ship is Coming In”.

Formed in 1964, they adopted the ‘Walker Brothers’ name as a show business touch even though the members were all unrelated — “simply because we liked it.” They provided a unique counterpoint to the British Invasion by achieving much more success in the United Kingdom than in their home country, a period when the popularity of British bands such as The Beatles dominated the U.S. charts.

Band members

Scott Walker – lead vocals, guitar, bass guitar, keyboards
Gary Walker – drums, vocals
John Walker – guitar, vocals

1964–1967: The Walker Brothers

As a trio, the Walker Brothers cultivated a glossy-haired and handsome familial image. Prompted by Maus, each of the members took “Walker” as their stage surname. Scott continued to use the name Walker thereafter, with the brief exception of returning to his birth name for the original release of his fifth solo album Scott 4, and in songwriting credits. Initially, John served as guitarist and main lead singer of the trio, with Gary on drums and Scott playing bass guitar and mostly singing harmony vocals. By early 1965, the group had made appearances on TV shows Hollywood A Go-Go and Shindig and had made initial recordings, but the start of their real success lay in the future and overseas.

While working as a session drummer, Leeds had recently toured the United Kingdom with P.J. Proby and persuaded both John and Scott to try their luck with him on the British pop scene. The Walker Brothers arrived in London in early 1965. Their first single, “Pretty Girls Everywhere” (with John still installed as lead singer) crept into the charts but did not place highly. Their next single, “Love Her” – with Scott’s deeper baritone in the lead – was a more substantial chart hit and he became the group’s frontman.

The Walker Brothers’ next release, “Make It Easy on Yourself”, a Bacharach/David ballad, swept to No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart (number 16 on the U.S. charts) on release in August 1965. After hitting again with “My Ship Is Coming In” (number 3 UK), their second No. 1 (number 13 U.S.), “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Any More”, shot to the top in early 1966 and shortly thereafter their fan club grew to contain more members than the official fan club of The Beatles, though this is no indication that the Walker Brothers’ actual fan base was ever larger. In any case, the Walker Brothers, especially lead singer Scott, attained pop star status.

Finding suitable material was always a problem. The Walkers’ 1960s sound mixes Phil Spector’s “wall of sound” techniques with symphonic orchestrations featuring Britain’s top musicians and arrangers, notably Ivor Raymonde. Scott served as effective co-producer of the band’s records throughout this period (alongside their named producer, Johnny Franz), and has claimed authorship of this sound in later interviews.[when?] Many of their earlier numbers had a driving beat, but by Images, their third album, ballads predominated.

By the time of Images, John Walker’s musical influence on the Walker Brothers had waned (although he sang lead on a cover of “Blueberry Hill” and contributed two original compositions) and this led to tensions between him and Scott. For his part, Scott was finding the group a chafing experience – “There was a lot of pressure. I was coming up with all the material for the boys, and I was having to find songs and getting the sessions together. Everyone relied on me, and it just got on top of me. I think I just got irritated with it all.” Artistic differences and the stresses stemming from overwhelming pop stardom led to the break-up of the Walker Brothers in 1967, although they reunited briefly for a tour of Japan the following year.

The Walker Brothers’ last two singles, “Stay With Me Baby” and “Walking in the Rain”, failed to reach the top ten and provided Scott with the necessary trigger for the split.

1967–1974: Solo work

For his solo career, Walker shed the Walker Brothers’ mantle and worked in a style clearly glimpsed on Images. Initially, this led to a continuation of his previous band’s success. Walker’s first four albums, titled Scott (1967), Scott 2 (1968), Scott 3 (1969), and Scott: Scott Walker Sings Songs from his TV Series (1969), all sold in large numbers, with Scott 2 topping the British charts. During this period, Walker combined his earlier teen appeal with a darker, more idiosyncratic approach (which had been hinted at in songs like “Orpheus” on the Images album). While his vocal style remained consistent with Walker Brothers, he now drove a fine line between classic ballads, Broadway hits, and his own compositions, and also included risqué recordings of Jacques Brel songs (translated by Mort Shuman, who was also responsible for the hit musical Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris). Walker’s own original songs of this period were influenced by Brel and Léo Ferré as he explored European musical roots while expressing his own American experience and reaching a new maturity as a recording artist.

Walker was also continuing to develop as a producer. In 1968 (during the brief Walker Brothers reunion and tour of Japan), he produced a single with the Japanese rock group the Carnabeats, featuring Gary Walker on vocals. Upon his return to the UK, he produced a solo album for the Walker Brothers’ musical director and guitarist Terry Smith. In 1968, Walker also produced Ray Warleigh’s First Album. According to Anthony Reynolds, “[Warleigh’s] album, recorded on December 13 and released in the following year, had little in common with the more esoteric progressive jazz that Scott was digging at the time, and the result veered more toward pleasantly middle-of-the-road muzak than the jazz fusion just around the corner.”n 1968, Scott Walker also produced John Maus’s solo single “Woman”.

Walker’s own relationship with fame and the concentrated attention which it brought to him remained a problem as regards his emotional well-being. He became reclusive and somewhat distanced from his audience. In 1968 he threw himself into intense study of contemporary and classical music, which included a sojourn in Quarr Abbey, a monastery on the Isle of Wight, to study Gregorian chant.[19], building on an interest in lieder and classical musical modes.

At the peak of his fame in 1969, Scott Walker was given his own BBC TV series, Scott, featuring solo Walker performances of ballads, big band standards, Brel songs, and his own compositions. Footage of the show is currently very rare as recordings were not archived. In recent interviews, Walker has suggested that by the time of his third solo LP, a self-indulgent complacency had crept into his choice of material. His fourth solo album – Scott: Scott Walker Sings Songs from his TV Series – exemplified the problems he was having in failing to balance his own creative work with the demands of the entertainment industry and of his manager Maurice King, who seemed determined to mold his protegé into a new Andy Williams or Frank Sinatra.
Having parted company with King, Walker released his fifth solo LP – Scott 4 – in 1969. Compensating for his recent dip into passivity, this was his first record to be made up entirely of self-penned material: the ‘standards’ and Brel covers were gone. The album failed to chart and was deleted soon after. It has been speculated that Walker’s decision to release the album under his birth name of Noel Scott Engel contributed to its chart failure. All subsequent re-issues of the album have been released under his stage name.

Walker then entered a period of self-confessed artistic decline, during which he spent five years making records “by rote, just to get out of contract” and consoling himself with a drink. His next album, ‘Til the Band Comes In (1970), showed a pronounced split between its two sides. Side A featured original material (mostly co-written with Ady Semel) while side B consisted almost entirely of cover versions. Subsequent releases saw Walker revert to cover versions of popular film tunes and a serious flirtation with country music. The Moviegoer (1972), Any Day Now (1973), Stretch (1973), and We Had It All (1974) feature no original material whatsoever.

In the 2006 documentary Scott Walker: 30 Century Man, Walker describes these as his “lost years” in terms of creativity. He has also confessed to having surrendered his direction due to outside pressure:
The record company called me in [following the commercial failure of Scott 4] and carpeted me and said you’ve got to make a commercial record for us… I was acting in bad faith for many years during that time… I was trying to hang on. I should have stopped. I should have said, ‘OK, forget it’ and walked away. But I thought if I keep hanging on and making these bloody awful records… this is going to turn round if I just hang in long enough, and it didn’t. It went from bad to worse…

1975–1978: The Walker Brothers reunite

The Walker Brothers reunited in 1975 to produce three albums. Their first single, a cover of Tom Rush’s song “No Regrets”, from the album of the same title climbed to number 7 in the UK Singles Chart. However, the parent album only reached number 49 in the UK Albums Chart. The two singles from the next album Lines (its title track, which Scott regarded as the best single the group ever released, and “We’re All Alone”) both failed to chart, and the album fared no better.

With the imminent demise of their record label, the Walkers collaborated on an album of original material that was in stark contrast to the country-flavored tunes of the previous 1970s albums. The resulting album, Nite Flights, was released in 1978 with each of the Brothers writing and singing their own compositions. The opening four songs were Scott’s, the final four John’s, while the middle pair were by Gary. Scott’s four songs – “Nite Flights”, “The Electrician”, “Shut Out”, and “Fat Mama Kick” – were his first original compositions since ‘Til the Band Comes In and represented his first steps away from the MOR image and sound he had cultivated since the commercial failure of Scott 4. The extremely dark and discomforting sound of Scott’s songs, particularly “The Electrician”, was to prove a forerunner to the direction of his future solo work.

In spite of a warm critical reception (with his contributions particularly lauded), sales figures for Nite Flights were ultimately as poor as those of Lines. The supporting tour saw the band concentrating on the old hits and ballads and ignoring the songs from their new record. Apparently now fated for a stagnant career on the revival circuit, the Walker Brothers lost heart and interest, compounded by Scott’s increasing reluctance to sing live. By the end of 1978, now without a record deal, the group drifted apart again and Scott Walker entered a three-year period of obscurity and no releases.

Gary Walker(Musician)album

Music Albums Gary Walker Album

• No. 1 2009 Nite Flights The Walker Brothers,
• 1978 No Regrets The Walker Brothers,
• 1975 Take It Easy with the Walker Brothers The Walker Brothers,
• 1965 If You Could Hear Me Now The Walker Brothers,
• 2001 No Regrets – The Best of Scott Walker and The Walker Brothers 1965–1976 1992 The Walker Brothers’ Story The Walker Brothers,
• 1967 Poems Without Words Gary Walker,
• 2017 The Singles+ The Walker Brothers,
• 2001 Color Fields Gary Walker,
• 2017 Dirty Water The Standells, 1966