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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZWALKER BROTHERSVocal and instrumental trio formed on West Coast '64: bassist Noel Scott Engel (b 9 January 1944, Hamilton OH; d 22 March 2019 in London of cancer), John Joseph Maus (b 12 November 1943, NYC; d 7 May 2011 of cancer) on guitar, drummer Gary Leeds (b 3 September 1944, Glendale CA) Leeds had toured UK with P.J. Proby and suggested they try their luck there; they had two top 20 singles in USA '65-6, but were seen as a British import and had greater UK success, with nine top 30 singles '65-7 including 'My Ship Is Coming In' at no. 3, 'Make It Easy On Yourself' and 'The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore' both no. 1; four top ten LPs included Take It Easy, Portrait and Images plus a compilation. Their dramatic ballads had an epic production style borrowed from Phil Spector; their brooding good looks were a hit with Engel singled out as a teen idol, but his withdrawn nature and nervous disposition ill-fitted him for it. Pressure split them '67; all three pursued solo careers, but only Engel (as Scott Walker) had any success: three eponymous solo LPs '65-7 were top three albums UK, bringing Jacques Brel songs to a wider audience; three hit singles incl. top ten UK with 'Joanna'. 'Brothers' reunited for No Regrets '75 (a last UK top ten with Tom Rush's title song), Lines '76, Nite Flights '78. Engel's enigmatic, withdrawn image and doomed romantic ballad mould had their influence on Julian Cope, Marc Almond and young David Bowie. He continued to develop avant-garde pop with albums The Climate Of Hunter '84, Tilt '95, Looking Back '96 and The Drift 2006. There was a documentary film called Scott Walker: 30 Century Man 2007 (nobody knows why it isn't called '30th'), directed by Stephen Kijak, with Bowie as executive producer, who said in the film, 'I like the way he can paint a picture wuth what he says...I had no idea what he was singing about. And I didn't care.' Howard Kaylan of The Turtles told The Record Collector News, 'My jaw hit the ground when I heard Tilt...And by the time he got to Drift, I understood what he was doing: He is doing the most conventional pop music I ever heard. He is just doing it as if he was observing it from outer space and then trying to tell you what he saw as an alien.' Sundog, a collection of his lyrics, was published in 2018 with an introduction by Irish novelist Eimear McBride, who compared him to James Joyce.
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