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Scott Walker (born 9 January 1943 ) is an American singer, born '''Noel Scott Engel''' (named after his father, who worked for Marathon Oil ) in Hamilton, Ohio . He has long been resident in England . BIOGRAPHY Walker was discovered by Eddie Fisher in the late 1950s and appeared several times on Fisher's TV series as a teen idol type in the vein of Fabian or Frankie Avalon , under his real name. In the early 1960s , he formed The Walker Brothers in Los Angeles . Relocating to London in 1965, (reputedly to escape military service) the band attained worldwide popularity with Pop Ballad s, many of them written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David . As the lead singer, Scott attained pop star status. Mental health problems led to the breakup of The Walker Brothers in 1967, although they reunited briefly for a tour of Japan the following year. Scott soon began a solo career in a different style than he had been known for in the past, turning to a downbeat mixture of pop, Folk , and European Cabaret , with a focus on Mort Shuman 's English translations of the songs of Belgian Singer-songwriter Jacques Brel . His earlier original songs were very much in the vein of Brel, but sung in a voice reminiscent of Frank Sinatra . Walker's solo career was initially extremely successful; his first three albums, titled ''Scott'' (1967), ''Scott 2'' (1968) and ''Scott 3'' (1969) all sold in large numbers, ''Scott 2'' topping the British charts. During this time, Walker was able to combine his earlier teen appeal with a darker, more idiosyncratic approach to music both in his original compositions and his lyrically-risqué choice of cover versions. At the peak of his fame, he had his own British TV series, ''Scott'', in 1969, mainly featuring solo Walker performances of ballads and big band standards. At the same time, Walker released his fourth solo LP, ''Scott 4'', his first album made up entirely of his own material. The songs on ''Scott 4'' marked a further step away from the MOR stylings of The Walker Brothers era, with lyrical references to topics like Ingmar Bergman and Joseph Stalin ; the public was confused by the lack of similarity between the ''Scott'' TV shows and the more radical approach of ''Scott 4'' and the album failed to chart. The fact that the LP was originally released under his birth name of Noel Scott Engel, rather than the more familiar Scott Walker name, may also have been a contributing factor. A 1970 follow-up, '''Til The Band Comes In'', also flopped and after a brief early-70s flirtation with the Country And Western scene which yielded three solo albums—''The Moviegoer'' (1972), "Any Day Now" (1973), ''Stretch'' (1973), and ''We Had It All'' (1974)—featuring no original material whatsoever, Scott's time at the top was over. Known for being somewhat private and reclusive, Walker's activity has been sporadic since the late 1970s . The Walker Brothers reunited in 1975 and produced three further albums, ''No Regrets'' (1975), which produced the top 10 single of the same name, ''Lines'' (1976), and lastly 1978's ''Nite Flights'', to which Scott contributed four original numbers. He has released two albums since 1980: 1983's ''Climate of Hunter'' and the darker, more experimental ''Tilt'' in 1995. In 1993 he co-wrote and produced a single "Man From Reno" c/w "Indecent Sacrifice" for the soundtrack of the film ''Toxic Affair''. 1996 saw him record the song "I Threw It All Away" under the direction of Nick Cave to be included in the soundtrack for the film ''To Have And To Hold''. In 1999 , he sang the David Arnold song "Only Myself To Blame", included on the soundtrack of the Bond film '' The World Is Not Enough ''. The same year saw him write and produce the soundtrack for the Léos Carax film '' Pola X ''. The following year, Walker wrote and produced two songs for Ute Lemper . He went on to produce the Britpop band Pulp 's 2001 album '' We Love Life ''. In 2000, he curated the London South Bank Centre 's annual summer live music festival, Meltdown , which has a tradition of Celebrity curators. He did not perform at Meltdown himself, but wrote the music for The Richard Alston Dance Project item "Thimblerigging". Walker is a strong continuing influence on other artists, in particular Marc Almond , the Divine Comedy / Neil Hannon , and cult performer Glyn Styler . In October 2003, Walker was given an award for his contribution to music by the British music magazine Q . This was presented to him by Jarvis Cocker of Pulp, and he received a standing ovation at the presentation. This award had only been presented twice before, the first to Phil Spector , and second to Brian Eno . The following month saw the release of a retrospective box set, '' 5 Easy Pieces '', comprising five themed discs spanning Walker's work with The Walker Brothers, his solo career (including film soundtrack work), and the two pieces composed for Ute Lemper. Walker signed to British independent label '' being made by New York director Stephen Kijak (''Cinemania'' and ''Never Met Picasso''). Interviews have already been recorded with David Bowie (executive producer of the film), Radiohead , Sting , Gavin Friday and others. Some of the filming has already taken place inside the studio, and a short promo film was shown at Cannes Film Festival earlier in 2005. DISCOGRAPHY The Walker Brothers
Solo
Selected compilations
As producer
QUOTATION "I've become the Orson Welles of the record industry. People want to take me to lunch, but nobody wants to finance the picture...I keep hoping that when I make a record, I'll be asked to make another one. I keep hoping that if I can make a series of three records, then I can progress and do different things each time. But when I have to get it up once every 10 years... it's a tough way to work." EXTERNAL LINKS
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