John Maus of the Walker Brothers

[George Geddes]

From the BBC website:

"John Walker, one of the founders of 1960s group The Walker Brothers, has died at the age of 67.

His spokeswoman said Mr Walker died on Saturday at his Los Angeles home after a six-month battle with liver cancer.

The band was formed when three unrelated US musicians - Scott Engel, John Maus and Gary Leeds - adopted the Walker Brothers name in 1964.

Their biggest hits included the songs Make It Easy On Yourself and The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Any More).

The group's fame flourished after travelling to the UK in the 1960s and they continued to score huge commercial success in the 1970s"

RIP

George

[Mikey]

Sad news and such a relatively young age. I saw the Walker Brothers at the Bournemouth Gaumont in 1967. On the same bill were Cat Stevens, Englebert Humperdink and - wait for it - Jimi Hendrix...and he set light to his guitar a la Monterey!
RIP John.

[RayL]

A big factor in those Walker Brothers hits were the 'wall of sound' backings by Ivor Raymonde. Interestingly, their three biggest hits (Make It Easy On Yourself (Oct 65*), My Ship Is Coming In (Jan 66*) and The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Any More (April 66*)) were all ahead of River Deep, Mountain High (May 66**). Although Ivor Raymonde may have been influenced by Phil Spector's earlier productions, there is a good argument to be made that the apotheosis of the Spector sound was in turn influenced by these three UK-produced ballads with their crescendo choruses, thudding basslines and deep reverb.

* American release dates on the Smash label
** American release date on Philles

Ray

[Derek Mowbray]

Another sad passing of a 60`s pop star ,I saw John a couple of years ago on The Solid Silver 60`s show and a fine singer he was. When he was in The Walker Bros he was overshadowed by Scott Walker who went on to have solo success ,I read somewhere that Gary Walker did not play drums on their records.

[alewis41]

I can still remember the shock I felt as a young lad when I learned that they weren't actually called Walker and weren't even brothers!