American lead guitarist, singer, keyboarder and composer, a member of the “Walker Brothers” musical group. The group’s hits included “My Ship Is Coming In,” 1965, “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore,” 1966 and “No Regrets,” 1976.
The Engel family moved to New York while Scott was still a child, and it was there that he initially pursued a career as an actor. He briefly recorded under his birth name of Scott Engel in the late 1950s and early 1960s before moving to Hollywood where he joined the “Routers” as a bassist. He next joined the “Dalton Brothers,” which eventually evolved into the “Walker Brothers” and led him to change his last name to “Walker.” The trio moved to England in 1965 where they were immediately successful and were worshipped as “teen-idols” until their break-up in May 1967.
Walker then launched his solo career, singing about offbeat subjects like transvestites, prostitutes, plagues and suicide. His first four albums made it into the UK Top Ten, with the second reaching number one in 1968. The 1970s were a frustrating time for the singer, and his solo releases were sporadic. He reunited with the other members of “Walker Brothers” in the mid-1970s, but it was a largely unsuccessful venture, and they released their last album in 1978. He disappeared from public view for a while, but emerged in 1984 with the album, “Climate of Hunter,” which was well received. Several more years passed before Walker’s last album “Tilt” was released in 1995.
Throughout his career, Walker’s public image as a “star” was contrasted severely with his normal reclusiveness. Moody, preferring to wear dark glasses and stay in darkened rooms during the day, he avoided the television appearances that his manager encouraged. He rarely granted interviews, and since his days as a teen-idol, he was rarely seen in public.
A biography of his life, “Scott Walker: A Deep Shade of Blue,” was published in 1994.
Walker’s death on 22 March 2019 at the age of 76 was announced by his record company, 4AD, which called him “a unique and challenging titan at the forefront of British music”.
Link to Wikipedia biography