Dave Walker
Encyclopedia
David Walker is a singer and guitarist for a number of bands; notably Savoy Brown
and Fleetwood Mac
. He shortened his name to Dave Walker. He started his career in the early 1960s with a Brumbeat R & B
band called The Redcaps; and continued into the 21st century, with Donovan's Brain.
Other bands he played in include Beckett, Idle Race
, Hungry Fighter, Raven, Mistress and Black Sabbath
.
was not allowed to be watched on television
. His first experience with public singing came at a very young age at a Methodist church, where Dave volunteered to sing "Away in a Manger
". As teenagers, Dave and his brother Mick formed a "backyard skiffle"
group which played at weddings and youth gatherings.
band called The Redcaps. He initially played rhythm guitar, and later took over as lead vocalist after Ronnie Brown "King" left. The band included Roy Brown and Mick Blythe on guitar
s, Alan Morley on drum
s, Mike Walker on bass
and Mac Broadhurst on saxophone
. They recorded three singles for Decca Records
, who were trying to cash in on the success of The Beatles
, as The Redcaps had opened for The Beatles in concert on four occasions.
Their first single, in 1963, was a cover of the pulsating Isley Brothers's "Shout" backed by "Little Things You Do" an original tune written by Walker and Roy Brown. However, Lulu
had beaten The Redcaps to the British charts with her version of "Shout".
Their next single, in 1964, was a cover of Chuck Berry's
"Talking About You" backed by "Come On Girl". It has been rumoured that guitarist Jimmy Page
, later of Led Zeppelin
, played on "Talking About You", in his early pre-Yardbirds London session days, but Walker has since said Page does not play on this track. The story behind the rumour being that Page was available, if needed, but Redcaps guitarist Roy Brown handled the lead parts himself. The track was recorded in a different studio from where Page was working, on the day of the recording.
Their final single, "Funny Things" an original tune penned by Blythe backed by "Mighty Fine Girl", was also released in 1964 but after all three singles flopped, The Redcaps disbanded.
Between 1965 and 1969 Walker played in Beckett, a band which included Pete Oliver, Don McGinty and Colin Timmons. Beckett played three days a week at the Rum Runner
nightclub in Birmingham, but they never recorded.
left his original band, Idle Race
, to join The Move
as it evolved into the Electric Light Orchestra
. Idle Race had built a substantial cult following in the Birmingham area, and wanted to continue after Lynne's exit.
To replace Lynne, Walker joined on lead vocals and Mike Hopkins on guitar. The rest of the lineup was Roger Spencer on drums, Dave Pritchard on rhythm guitar and Greg Masters on bass.
In 1970 this new lineup recorded two singles for Liberty Records
; a cover of Mungo Jerry's
skiffle hit "In the Summertime", ( which reached number one in Argentina
) backed by an Idle Race original "Told You Twice". Their second single was a cover of Hotlegs
' "Neanderthal Man
" backed by another Idle Race original number "Victim Of Circumstance".
Also in 1970, Idle Race recorded an album Time Is
for Regal Zonophone, however Walker was incorrectly credited as "Richie Walker". Walker wrote two tracks ("I Will See You" and "And The Rain") and co-wrote two others ("Alcatraz" and "We Want It All") on this album. The album was a commercial failure and in 1971 Idle Race started to break up - Walker left and Steve Gibbons joined on vocals, and they evolved into The Steve Gibbons Band.
, leader of blues rock boogie band Savoy Brown
, lost the rest of his band - guitarist Dave Peverett
, drummer Roger Earl
and bassist Tony Stevens
- who left to form Foghat
with ex-Black Cat Bones
guitarist Rod Price
. Simmonds recruited Dave Bidwell (drums), Paul Raymond
(keyboards/guitars - later of UFO
and M.S.G.
) and Andy Silvester
(bass) who had all just left guitarist Stan Webb
's Chicken Shack
. Dave Walker joined on vocals, to form the most commercially successful lineup of Savoy Brown to date.
They recorded the Street Corner Talking
album in 1971 on Parrot/Deram Records, which included one of Savoy Brown's biggest hits "Tell Mama", written by Raymond, and they headlined a tour over Rod Stewart
and The Grease Band
in early 1971, as persistent touring was beginning to pay off for the Savoys.
The next album, Hellbound Train
(Parrot/Deram), was their biggest-selling album to date, reaching the top 40 in the US
while the title cut became a concert favorite.
Ex-Blodwyn Pig
/Juicy Lucy
bassist Andy Pyle
replaced Silvester by the next album Lion's Share (Parrot/Deram) for which Walker wrote "Denim Demon". Lion's Share was released in late 1972, after Savoy Brown had previewed tracks on their extensive tours earlier that year. Before the late 1972 tour began, Walker quit Savoy Brown to join Fleetwood Mac
.
In addition to the studio albums, two "official" live Savoy Brown albums from this era, also include Walker:- a 1972 New York
concert, Live in Central Park (Relix Records) 1985 (LP) and 1989 (CD); and Jack the Toad Live '70/'72 (Mooncrest Records) 2000 taken from Kim Simmonds' personal collection of live Savoy Brown recordings.
Simmonds recordings are all from the same venue: The Gardens Edmonton, Alberta, Canada but on different dates, and only two tracks include Walker.
See Return to Savoy Brown
was fired from Fleetwood Mac
and was replaced by Walker on vocals and Bob Weston
on guitar. They joined Fleetwood Mac as they were struggling to record the Penguin
album (1973, Reprise Records). Walker only appears on two tracks, his self-penned "The Derelict" (which was still apparently unfinished on release according to some reports) and a cover of Jr. Walker & the All Stars
' Motown classic "(I'm A) Roadrunner".
The subsequent tour seemed to go well, and Penguin was the highest charting Fleetwood Mac album in the US at the time, clawing its way into the Top 50. However, during the recording of their next album, Mystery to Me
, it was mutually agreed upon that Walker's vocal style and attitude "did not fit in" with Fleetwood Mac and by June 1973 he had left. If anything was ever recorded by Walker for Mystery to Me it was not used, and remains unreleased.
In 1974 Walker rejoined Savoy Brown colleagues, drummer Dave Bidwell and bassist Andy Silvester and, together with guitarist Danny Kirwan (who Walker had replaced in Fleetwood Mac), they formed Hungry Fighter. Hungry Fighter only managed to play one live gig, at the University of Surrey
in Guildford
, England (which was not recorded), before folding.
guitarist John Cipollina
). It is known that Walker did some live shows with Raven, but most accounts suggest Walker never recorded with Raven due to legal difficulties. (It was apparently due to these legal problems that they could not finish a record deal they were working on and the album Raven had recorded, without Walker.) In 1976 the album was put on the shelf but was eventually released as John Cipollina's Raven after the band split in 1980.
Walker and some ex-Raven members, joined a new "revolving door" band who called themselves Mistress (not to be confused with the later heavy metal band Mistress
).
Mistress encountered legal difficulties as well, though Walker did demo a song he had co-written for the project called "High On the Ride". This track appears on the album, released after Walker had left, although it is unclear whether any Walker vocal takes from the demo sessions appear on the finished product. If they were used, they are uncredited. The album included a minor hit, with the ballad "Mistrusted Love" scraping into the US top 50 singles chart. Legal difficulties also caused the eponymous album recorded by Mistress (again without Walker) in 1977 to be shelved, but it was released in 1979 by RSO Records, nearly two years after Mistress broke up.
remembered Walker from their days in Birmingham, and contacted Walker in San Francisco, asking him to join Black Sabbath
, as singer Ozzy Osbourne
had just left the band.
On the flight from San Francisco to London in November 1977, and for the next three weeks, Walker wrote lyrics to the new music which the remaining members of Black Sabbath (guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Terry 'Geezer' Butler
and drummer Bill Ward) wrote for their next album. No vocals were recorded with Walker, but the new line-up appeared on the BBC
Midlands TV program "Look Hear" on 6 January 1978, performing their hit "War Pigs
" plus an early version of what would eventually become "Junior's Eyes".
Shortly after this appearance, Osbourne decided to rejoin Black Sabbath, so Dave Walker was out before recording with the band. None of Walker's lyrics were used for Black Sabbath's resulting Never Say Die!
album, because Osbourne would not sing any material written during his time out of the band. Geezer Butler
thus resumed his traditional job as Black Sabbath's primary lyricist, and completely new lyrics for the album were written, including what became "Junior's Eyes". After the 1979 tour to promote the album, Osbourne was asked to leave, and was replaced by Ronnie James Dio
.
After being fired from Black Sabbath in January 1978, Dave Walker more or less left the music business.
persuaded Walker to rejoin his revamped Savoy Brown
, which included Al Macomber on drums and Jim Dagnesi on bass.
In 1987 Walker moved to Gallup, New Mexico
where he lived until 1998 and Savoy Brown recorded the Make Me Sweat album, released in early 1988 on GNP Crescendo Records, followed in April 1989 by the Kings Of Boogie album (also on GNP Crescendo).
Macomber was replaced by Pete Mendillo on drums, Lou Kaplan replaced Dagnesi on bass and Rick Jewett augmented the lineup on keyboards for the tour to promote Kings Of Boogie, and in November 1990 a live album from this tour was released called Live And Kickin' (GNP Crescendo). These well received albums were produced by Neil Norman who sought out Dave's infectious comedic style.
However, by September 1991, Dave Walker had had enough of gruelling tours, so he left Savoy Brown again.
days but nothing came from it.
By the late 1990s Walker had relocated to Bozeman, Montana
, where he met up with an old friend from his San Francisco days, Ron Sanchez, who had (and still has) a psychedelic garage band called Donovan's Brain, who have an "open door" approach to personnel, jamming and making music.
The music Donovan's Brain were working on, harked back to Walker's Idle Race days, which interested him, so he got involved, although, with their "open door" approach, it is unclear if Walker was/is a "member" of Donovan's Brain or not.
In 1999/2000 he worked on a Donovan's Brain session for their Tiny Crustacean Light Show album (originally on Get Hip Records
but now on Career Records), in which he did much of the backing vocals and some lead vocals.
He also played tambourine
on a track by The Nomads (who were working in the same studio as Donovan's Brain on 24 May 1999) called "Top Alcohol", which was the "B-side" to their "The King of Night Train" single (White Jazz Records).
Walker sang on a rare Donovan's Brain track, "22 Lost Marbles" (which appeared on A Pot By Any Other Name, a free CD with issue 30 (Spring 2001) of the independent music magazine Ptolemaic Terrascope
), and a Brain cover of a song "The Single #2", originally by the band Man
. This cover appeared on a various-artists Man tribute CD Man, We're Glad We Know You: A Tribute to the Man Band (originally a private pressing, but now on Career Records).
Several tracks including Walker, that were left over from the TCLS sessions, were released in January 2003 on the Donovan's Brain album, The Great Leap Forward (Career Records)
On that same label, an album by Angie Pepper was released in 2003 on which Dave recorded backing vocals one track.
In 2004, Walker also contributed vocals to a cover of I'm Tired, on founder member of Savoy Brown John O'Leary's album "Sins". This album was re-released as "Two For The Show" in 2010 on the Acrobat label.
In 2005 Walker recorded Mostly Sonny - A Tribute To Sonny Boy Williamson on The Mooreland Street Records label. Musicians included members of Peter Green's Splinter Group, The Kinks, Downliners Sect and former Yardbird Ray Majors on lead guitar.
CD "Crazy ALl the Time" released July 17, 2010.
Savoy Brown
Savoy Brown, originally known as the Savoy Brown Blues Band, are a British blues rock band, formed in 1965, in Battersea, South West London...
and Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood...
. He shortened his name to Dave Walker. He started his career in the early 1960s with a Brumbeat R & B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
band called The Redcaps; and continued into the 21st century, with Donovan's Brain.
Other bands he played in include Beckett, Idle Race
Idle Race
The Idle Race were a British rock group from Birmingham in the late 1960s and early 1970s who had a cult following but never enjoyed mass commercial success...
, Hungry Fighter, Raven, Mistress and Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
.
Early life
Walker was raised by his strict grandmother in a household where rock and rollRock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
was not allowed to be watched on television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
. His first experience with public singing came at a very young age at a Methodist church, where Dave volunteered to sing "Away in a Manger
Away in a Manger
"Away in a Manger" is a Christmas carol first published in 1885 in Philadelphia and used widely throughout the English-speaking world. In Britain it is one of the most popular carols, a 1996 Gallup Poll ranking it joint second.-History of the lyrics:...
". As teenagers, Dave and his brother Mick formed a "backyard skiffle"
Skiffle
Skiffle is a type of popular music with jazz, blues, folk, roots and country influences, usually using homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a term in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century, it became popular again in the UK in the 1950s, where it was mainly...
group which played at weddings and youth gatherings.
1960s
Walker started his career in the early 1960s with a Brumbeat R & BRhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
band called The Redcaps. He initially played rhythm guitar, and later took over as lead vocalist after Ronnie Brown "King" left. The band included Roy Brown and Mick Blythe on guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s, Alan Morley on drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
s, Mike Walker on bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
and Mac Broadhurst on saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
. They recorded three singles for Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
, who were trying to cash in on the success of The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, as The Redcaps had opened for The Beatles in concert on four occasions.
Their first single, in 1963, was a cover of the pulsating Isley Brothers's "Shout" backed by "Little Things You Do" an original tune written by Walker and Roy Brown. However, Lulu
Lulu (singer)
Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, OBE , best known by her stage name Lulu, is a Scottish singer, actress, and television personality who has been successful in the entertainment business from the 1960s through to the present day...
had beaten The Redcaps to the British charts with her version of "Shout".
Their next single, in 1964, was a cover of Chuck Berry's
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B...
"Talking About You" backed by "Come On Girl". It has been rumoured that guitarist Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page
James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...
, later of Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
, played on "Talking About You", in his early pre-Yardbirds London session days, but Walker has since said Page does not play on this track. The story behind the rumour being that Page was available, if needed, but Redcaps guitarist Roy Brown handled the lead parts himself. The track was recorded in a different studio from where Page was working, on the day of the recording.
Their final single, "Funny Things" an original tune penned by Blythe backed by "Mighty Fine Girl", was also released in 1964 but after all three singles flopped, The Redcaps disbanded.
Between 1965 and 1969 Walker played in Beckett, a band which included Pete Oliver, Don McGinty and Colin Timmons. Beckett played three days a week at the Rum Runner
Rum Runner (nightclub)
The Rum Runner nightclub was opened on Broad Street, Birmingham in the city centre in 1964. It was demolished in 1987 to make way for the Hyatt Hotel....
nightclub in Birmingham, but they never recorded.
Idle Race
In early 1970, Jeff LynneJeff Lynne
Jeffrey "Jeff" Lynne is an English songwriter, composer, arranger, singer, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer who gained fame as the leader and sole constant member of Electric Light Orchestra and was a co-founder and member of The Traveling Wilburys together with George Harrison, Bob...
left his original band, Idle Race
Idle Race
The Idle Race were a British rock group from Birmingham in the late 1960s and early 1970s who had a cult following but never enjoyed mass commercial success...
, to join The Move
The Move
The Move, from Birmingham, England, were one of the leading British rock bands of the 1960s. They scored nine Top 20 UK singles in five years, but were among the most popular British bands not to find any success in the United States....
as it evolved into the Electric Light Orchestra
Electric Light Orchestra
Electric Light Orchestra were a British rock group from Birmingham who released eleven studio albums between 1971 and 1986 and another album in 2001. ELO were formed to accommodate Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne's desire to create modern rock and pop songs with classical overtones...
. Idle Race had built a substantial cult following in the Birmingham area, and wanted to continue after Lynne's exit.
To replace Lynne, Walker joined on lead vocals and Mike Hopkins on guitar. The rest of the lineup was Roger Spencer on drums, Dave Pritchard on rhythm guitar and Greg Masters on bass.
In 1970 this new lineup recorded two singles for Liberty Records
Liberty Records
Liberty Records was a United States-based record label. It was started by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revivals.-1950s:...
; a cover of Mungo Jerry's
Mungo Jerry
Mungo Jerry is an English rock group whose greatest success was in the early 1970s, though they have continued throughout the years with an ever-changing line-up, always fronted by Ray Dorset. They are remembered above all for their hit "In the Summertime". It remains their most successful and most...
skiffle hit "In the Summertime", ( which reached number one in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
) backed by an Idle Race original "Told You Twice". Their second single was a cover of Hotlegs
Hotlegs
Hotlegs was a short-lived English band best known for its hit single "Neanderthal Man" in 1970. The band consisted of Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley, Lol Creme and – briefly – Graham Gouldman...
' "Neanderthal Man
Neanderthal Man (song)
"Neanderthal Man" is a song by Hotlegs, an English pop band that was later relaunched as 10cc. The song, initially created only as a studio exercise to test drum sounds on new recording equipment, sold over two million copies and reached No.2 in the UK and No. 22 in the US...
" backed by another Idle Race original number "Victim Of Circumstance".
Also in 1970, Idle Race recorded an album Time Is
Time Is
Time Is is the final studio album recorded by The Idle Race. It was recorded in 1970 after Jeff Lynne had left the band. He was replaced by vocalist Dave Walker and guitarist Mike Hopkins.-Track listing:#"Dancing Flower" – 2:14...
for Regal Zonophone, however Walker was incorrectly credited as "Richie Walker". Walker wrote two tracks ("I Will See You" and "And The Rain") and co-wrote two others ("Alcatraz" and "We Want It All") on this album. The album was a commercial failure and in 1971 Idle Race started to break up - Walker left and Steve Gibbons joined on vocals, and they evolved into The Steve Gibbons Band.
Savoy Brown
In 1971, guitarist Kim SimmondsKim Simmonds
Kim Simmonds is a Welsh guitarist, now residing in New York and best known as leader and founding member of the blues/rock band Savoy Brown.-Career:...
, leader of blues rock boogie band Savoy Brown
Savoy Brown
Savoy Brown, originally known as the Savoy Brown Blues Band, are a British blues rock band, formed in 1965, in Battersea, South West London...
, lost the rest of his band - guitarist Dave Peverett
Dave Peverett
David Peverett or Lonesome Dave was a British musician. He is best known as the original singer and rhythm guitarist of Foghat, which he founded following his tenure in Savoy Brown....
, drummer Roger Earl
Roger Earl
Roger Earl is the drummer of the band Foghat, famed for their relentless touring and strong live performances...
and bassist Tony Stevens
Tony Stevens
Tony Stevens is an English musician, best known as the bassist with the bands Foghat and Savoy Brown.- Career :...
- who left to form Foghat
Foghat
Foghat are a British rock band that had their peak success in the mid- to late-1970s. Their style can be described as "blues-rock," or boogie-rock dominated by electric and electric slide guitar. The band has achieved five gold records...
with ex-Black Cat Bones
Black Cat Bones
Black Cat Bones was a British heavy blues rock group from London.The band is perhaps best known for having had Paul Kossoff and Simon Kirke in its lineup, both of whom later joined Free in 1968...
guitarist Rod Price
Rod Price
Rod Price was an English guitarist who was best known for his work with the rock band Foghat...
. Simmonds recruited Dave Bidwell (drums), Paul Raymond
Paul Raymond (musician)
Paul Martin Raymond is an English keyboardist/guitarist.Raymond began his musical career as a keyboardist/vocalist for the band, Plastic Penny, in 1967. He left after the band split up in 1968. He replaced Christine Perfect in British blues band Chicken Shack when she left to join Fleetwood Mac...
(keyboards/guitars - later of UFO
UFO (band)
UFO are an English heavy metal and hard rock band, who were formed in 1969. UFO became a transitional group between early hard rock and heavy metal and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal...
and M.S.G.
Michael Schenker Group
The Michael Schenker Group is a guitar-oriented hard rock band formed in 1979 by former Scorpions and UFO guitarist, Michael Schenker. In 1986, Schenker and vocalist Robin McAuley formed the McAuley Schenker Group, which lasted until 1992. After that, the Michael Schenker Group was reformed.The...
) and Andy Silvester
Andy Silvester
Andrew Frederick 'Andy' Sylvester is a bassist and multi-instrumentalist. Sylvester has played in various bands during his career, most notably as co-founder of both Chicken Shack and Big Town Playboys as well as a tenure in the British blues band Savoy Brown and Los Angeles based soft rock...
(bass) who had all just left guitarist Stan Webb
Stan Webb
Stan Webb is the frontman and lead guitarist with the blues band, Chicken Shack.-Career:...
's Chicken Shack
Chicken Shack
Chicken Shack are a British blues band, founded in the mid-1960s by Stan Webb , Andy Silvester , and Alan Morley , who were later joined by Christine Perfect in 1968.-Career:...
. Dave Walker joined on vocals, to form the most commercially successful lineup of Savoy Brown to date.
They recorded the Street Corner Talking
Street Corner Talking
Street Corner Talking is the seventh studio album by the band Savoy Brown. Released by Parrot in 1971, it was the first album released by the band since the departure of Lonesome Dave Peverett, Roger Earl, and Tone Stevens who all went on to form the band Foghat. This left Kim Simmonds as the only...
album in 1971 on Parrot/Deram Records, which included one of Savoy Brown's biggest hits "Tell Mama", written by Raymond, and they headlined a tour over Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....
and The Grease Band
The Grease Band
The Grease Band was a rock band that started out as Joe Cocker's backing band. They recorded two albums in the 1970s. They are probably most widely known for their performance of The Beatles song, "With a Little Help from My Friends", with Joe Cocker at the Woodstock Festival in 1969...
in early 1971, as persistent touring was beginning to pay off for the Savoys.
The next album, Hellbound Train
Hellbound Train (album)
Hellbound Train is the eighth album by the band Savoy Brown.It was released by Parrot in 1972.-Track listing:# "Doin' Fine" # "Lost and Lonely Child" # "I'll Make Everything Alright" # "Troubled by these Days and Times"...
(Parrot/Deram), was their biggest-selling album to date, reaching the top 40 in the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
while the title cut became a concert favorite.
Ex-Blodwyn Pig
Blodwyn Pig
Blodwyn Pig were a British blues–rock group founded by guitarist–vocalist–songwriter Mick Abrahams, after he left Jethro Tull in 1968 due to a falling-out with Tull leader Ian Anderson.-Career:...
/Juicy Lucy
Juicy Lucy (band)
Juicy Lucy is a blues-rock band formed on April 1, 1969. After the demise of The Misunderstood, vocalist Ray Owen, steel guitarist Glenn Ross Campbell, and saxophone player Chris Mercer formed Juicy Lucy...
bassist Andy Pyle
Andy Pyle
Andy Pyle is an English bass guitarist. He played with The Kinks from 1976–1978. Prior to that, he was in Blodwyn Pig and Savoy Brown...
replaced Silvester by the next album Lion's Share (Parrot/Deram) for which Walker wrote "Denim Demon". Lion's Share was released in late 1972, after Savoy Brown had previewed tracks on their extensive tours earlier that year. Before the late 1972 tour began, Walker quit Savoy Brown to join Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood...
.
In addition to the studio albums, two "official" live Savoy Brown albums from this era, also include Walker:- a 1972 New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
concert, Live in Central Park (Relix Records) 1985 (LP) and 1989 (CD); and Jack the Toad Live '70/'72 (Mooncrest Records) 2000 taken from Kim Simmonds' personal collection of live Savoy Brown recordings.
Simmonds recordings are all from the same venue: The Gardens Edmonton, Alberta, Canada but on different dates, and only two tracks include Walker.
See Return to Savoy Brown
Fleetwood Mac and Hungry Fighter
in August 1972 Danny KirwanDanny Kirwan
Daniel David "Danny" Kirwan is a British musician best known for his role as guitarist, singer and songwriter with the blues-rock band Fleetwood Mac between 1968 and 1972.-Early career:...
was fired from Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood...
and was replaced by Walker on vocals and Bob Weston
Bob Weston (guitarist)
See Bob Weston for the American bassist and recording engineer.Robert Joseph 'Bob' Weston is a British musician best known for his brief role as guitarist and songwriter with the rock band Fleetwood Mac....
on guitar. They joined Fleetwood Mac as they were struggling to record the Penguin
Penguin (album)
Penguin is the seventh album by British rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in 1973. It was the first Fleetwood Mac album to feature Bob Weston and the only one to feature Dave Walker.The penguin is the band mascot favoured by John McVie.-Track listing:...
album (1973, Reprise Records). Walker only appears on two tracks, his self-penned "The Derelict" (which was still apparently unfinished on release according to some reports) and a cover of Jr. Walker & the All Stars
Jr. Walker & the All Stars
Junior Walker & the All Stars were signed to the Motown label in the 1960s, and became one of the label's signature acts.-Biography:...
' Motown classic "(I'm A) Roadrunner".
The subsequent tour seemed to go well, and Penguin was the highest charting Fleetwood Mac album in the US at the time, clawing its way into the Top 50. However, during the recording of their next album, Mystery to Me
Mystery to Me
Mystery to Me is the eighth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in 1973. This was their last album to feature Bob Weston...
, it was mutually agreed upon that Walker's vocal style and attitude "did not fit in" with Fleetwood Mac and by June 1973 he had left. If anything was ever recorded by Walker for Mystery to Me it was not used, and remains unreleased.
In 1974 Walker rejoined Savoy Brown colleagues, drummer Dave Bidwell and bassist Andy Silvester and, together with guitarist Danny Kirwan (who Walker had replaced in Fleetwood Mac), they formed Hungry Fighter. Hungry Fighter only managed to play one live gig, at the University of Surrey
University of Surrey
The University of Surrey is a university located within the county town of Guildford, Surrey in the South East of England. It received its charter on 9 September 1966, and was previously situated near Battersea Park in south-west London. The institution was known as Battersea College of Technology...
in Guildford
Guildford
Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
, England (which was not recorded), before folding.
Raven and Mistress
Walker then moved to San Francisco and joined Raven (a band which in its short life had a revolving door of personnel but was fronted throughout by the late ex-Quicksilver Messenger ServiceQuicksilver Messenger Service
Quicksilver Messenger Service is an American psychedelic rock band, formed in 1965 in San Francisco.-Introduction:Quicksilver Messenger Service gained wide popularity in the Bay Area and, through their recordings, with psychedelic rock enthusiasts around the globe and several of their albums ranked...
guitarist John Cipollina
John Cipollina
John Cipollina was a guitarist best known for his role as a founder and the lead guitarist of the prominent San Francisco rock band Quicksilver Messenger Service...
). It is known that Walker did some live shows with Raven, but most accounts suggest Walker never recorded with Raven due to legal difficulties. (It was apparently due to these legal problems that they could not finish a record deal they were working on and the album Raven had recorded, without Walker.) In 1976 the album was put on the shelf but was eventually released as John Cipollina's Raven after the band split in 1980.
Walker and some ex-Raven members, joined a new "revolving door" band who called themselves Mistress (not to be confused with the later heavy metal band Mistress
Mistress (band)
Mistress were an extreme metal band from Birmingham, England, United Kingdom. The members of this five-piece band adopted pseudonyms as stage-names including: Drunken and Misery on guitars, Dirty Von Arse on bass, Dave Cunt on vocals and Migg on drums...
).
Mistress encountered legal difficulties as well, though Walker did demo a song he had co-written for the project called "High On the Ride". This track appears on the album, released after Walker had left, although it is unclear whether any Walker vocal takes from the demo sessions appear on the finished product. If they were used, they are uncredited. The album included a minor hit, with the ballad "Mistrusted Love" scraping into the US top 50 singles chart. Legal difficulties also caused the eponymous album recorded by Mistress (again without Walker) in 1977 to be shelved, but it was released in 1979 by RSO Records, nearly two years after Mistress broke up.
Black Sabbath
Tony IommiTony Iommi
Anthony Frank "Tony" Iommi is an English guitarist and songwriter best known as the founding member of pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and its sole continual member through multiple personnel changes.Iommi is widely recognised as one of the most important and influential guitarists in...
remembered Walker from their days in Birmingham, and contacted Walker in San Francisco, asking him to join Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
, as singer Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English vocalist, whose musical career has spanned over 40 years. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead singer of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, whose radically different, intentionally dark, harder sound helped spawn the heavy metal...
had just left the band.
On the flight from San Francisco to London in November 1977, and for the next three weeks, Walker wrote lyrics to the new music which the remaining members of Black Sabbath (guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Terry 'Geezer' Butler
Geezer Butler
Geezer Butler is an English musician and songwriter. Butler is best known as the bassist and lyricist of heavy metal band Black Sabbath. He was also involved in Heaven & Hell from 2006 to 2010.-Career:Butler formed his first band, Rare Breed, with old friend John "Ozzy" Osbourne in the autumn of...
and drummer Bill Ward) wrote for their next album. No vocals were recorded with Walker, but the new line-up appeared on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Midlands TV program "Look Hear" on 6 January 1978, performing their hit "War Pigs
War Pigs
"War Pigs" is a song by British heavy metal band Black Sabbath from their 1970 album Paranoid. It is generally believed that the band wrote the song as a protest against the Vietnam War; however, when Sabbath played "War Pigs" in the mid-'70s, they projected scenes from World War II.As explained in...
" plus an early version of what would eventually become "Junior's Eyes".
Shortly after this appearance, Osbourne decided to rejoin Black Sabbath, so Dave Walker was out before recording with the band. None of Walker's lyrics were used for Black Sabbath's resulting Never Say Die!
Never Say Die!
-Band:*Ozzy Osbourne – lead vocals*Tony Iommi – guitar, backing vocals on "A Hard Road"*Geezer Butler – bass guitar, backing vocals on "A Hard Road"*Bill Ward – drums, lead vocals on "Swinging the Chain", backing vocals on "A Hard Road"-Additional musicians:...
album, because Osbourne would not sing any material written during his time out of the band. Geezer Butler
Geezer Butler
Geezer Butler is an English musician and songwriter. Butler is best known as the bassist and lyricist of heavy metal band Black Sabbath. He was also involved in Heaven & Hell from 2006 to 2010.-Career:Butler formed his first band, Rare Breed, with old friend John "Ozzy" Osbourne in the autumn of...
thus resumed his traditional job as Black Sabbath's primary lyricist, and completely new lyrics for the album were written, including what became "Junior's Eyes". After the 1979 tour to promote the album, Osbourne was asked to leave, and was replaced by Ronnie James Dio
Ronnie James Dio
Ronald James Padavona , better known as Ronnie James Dio, was an American heavy metal vocalist and songwriter. He performed with, amongst others, Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Heaven & Hell, and his own band Dio, which means God in Italian. Other musical projects include the collective fundraiser...
.
After being fired from Black Sabbath in January 1978, Dave Walker more or less left the music business.
Return to Savoy Brown
After being out of the music business for eight years, in 1986 Kim SimmondsKim Simmonds
Kim Simmonds is a Welsh guitarist, now residing in New York and best known as leader and founding member of the blues/rock band Savoy Brown.-Career:...
persuaded Walker to rejoin his revamped Savoy Brown
Savoy Brown
Savoy Brown, originally known as the Savoy Brown Blues Band, are a British blues rock band, formed in 1965, in Battersea, South West London...
, which included Al Macomber on drums and Jim Dagnesi on bass.
In 1987 Walker moved to Gallup, New Mexico
Gallup, New Mexico
- Demographics :As of the census of 2000, there were 20,209 people, 6,810 households, and 4,869 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,513.7 people per square mile...
where he lived until 1998 and Savoy Brown recorded the Make Me Sweat album, released in early 1988 on GNP Crescendo Records, followed in April 1989 by the Kings Of Boogie album (also on GNP Crescendo).
Macomber was replaced by Pete Mendillo on drums, Lou Kaplan replaced Dagnesi on bass and Rick Jewett augmented the lineup on keyboards for the tour to promote Kings Of Boogie, and in November 1990 a live album from this tour was released called Live And Kickin
However, by September 1991, Dave Walker had had enough of gruelling tours, so he left Savoy Brown again.
Donovan's Brain and later bands
Walker had a band called The Pleasure Chorizos in his later New MexicoNew Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
days but nothing came from it.
By the late 1990s Walker had relocated to Bozeman, Montana
Bozeman, Montana
Bozeman is a city in and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States, in the southwestern part of the state. The 2010 census put Bozeman's population at 37,280 making it the fourth largest city in the state. It is the principal city of the Bozeman micropolitan area, which consists...
, where he met up with an old friend from his San Francisco days, Ron Sanchez, who had (and still has) a psychedelic garage band called Donovan's Brain, who have an "open door" approach to personnel, jamming and making music.
The music Donovan's Brain were working on, harked back to Walker's Idle Race days, which interested him, so he got involved, although, with their "open door" approach, it is unclear if Walker was/is a "member" of Donovan's Brain or not.
In 1999/2000 he worked on a Donovan's Brain session for their Tiny Crustacean Light Show album (originally on Get Hip Records
Get Hip Records
Get Hip Records is an independent Pittsburgh based music label and distributor formed by Gregg Kostelich in 1986. Kostelich used the label to release music by his own band, The Cynics, as well as other local, indie and retro garage rock bands.-Releases:...
but now on Career Records), in which he did much of the backing vocals and some lead vocals.
He also played tambourine
Tambourine
The tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....
on a track by The Nomads (who were working in the same studio as Donovan's Brain on 24 May 1999) called "Top Alcohol", which was the "B-side" to their "The King of Night Train" single (White Jazz Records).
Walker sang on a rare Donovan's Brain track, "22 Lost Marbles" (which appeared on A Pot By Any Other Name, a free CD with issue 30 (Spring 2001) of the independent music magazine Ptolemaic Terrascope
Ptolemaic Terrascope
Ptolemaic Terrascope is a magazine covering old and new music, usually of a psychedelic nature. It has been published irregularly since 1989...
), and a Brain cover of a song "The Single #2", originally by the band Man
Man (band)
Man are a rock band from South Wales whose style is a mixture of West Coast psychedelia, progressive rock, blues and country-rock. Formed in 1968 as a reincarnation of Welsh rock harmony group ‘’The Bystanders’’, Man are renowned for the extended jams in their live performances, and having had...
. This cover appeared on a various-artists Man tribute CD Man, We're Glad We Know You: A Tribute to the Man Band (originally a private pressing, but now on Career Records).
Several tracks including Walker, that were left over from the TCLS sessions, were released in January 2003 on the Donovan's Brain album, The Great Leap Forward (Career Records)
On that same label, an album by Angie Pepper was released in 2003 on which Dave recorded backing vocals one track.
In 2004, Walker also contributed vocals to a cover of I'm Tired, on founder member of Savoy Brown John O'Leary's album "Sins". This album was re-released as "Two For The Show" in 2010 on the Acrobat label.
In 2005 Walker recorded Mostly Sonny - A Tribute To Sonny Boy Williamson on The Mooreland Street Records label. Musicians included members of Peter Green's Splinter Group, The Kinks, Downliners Sect and former Yardbird Ray Majors on lead guitar.
Walking Underwater
In 2007 Dave Walker recorded and released Walking Underwater, a CD featuring new material by Dave Walker, Bob Britten, and William O’Keeffe.Dave Walker Band
Walker put together a new band with some of Montana’s finest musicians. The new Dave Walker Band includes Chris Cundy (Piano, Keys, Hammond Organ), Jimmy Lewis (Guitars), Eddie Tsuru (Bass) and Mike Gillan (Drums). The band has been performing since January 2008 with appearances at Rockin’ The Rivers Music Festival and Magic City Blues Festival.CD "Crazy ALl the Time" released July 17, 2010.