Dusty Springfield
THE WALKER BROTHERS
They weren't British, they weren't brothers, and their real names weren't Walker, but Californians Scott Engel, John Maus, and Gary Leeds were briefly huge stars in England (and small ones in their native land) at the peak of the British Invasion. Engel and Maus were playing together in Hollywood when drummer Leeds suggested they form a trio and try to make it in England. And they did -- with surprising swiftness, they hit the top of the British charts with "Make It Easy on Yourself" in 1965. "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" repeated the feat the following year, and the group also had U.K. hits with "My Ship Is Coming In," "(Baby) You Don't Have to Tell Me," "Another Tear Falls," and others. For a few months they experienced frenzied adulation almost on the level of the Beatles and the Stones, though in the U.S. (where they rarely performed) only "Make It Easy on Yourself" and "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" entered the Top 20.
While the Walkers looked the part of British Invaders with their shaggy mop-top hairstyles, they were far more pop than rock. Nor did they play on most of their records. With producer Johnny Franz and veteran British arrangers like Ivor Raymonde (who also worked with Dusty Springfield) and Reg Guest, they favored orchestrated ballads that were a studied attempt to emulate the success of another brother act who weren't really brothers: the Righteous Brothers. Not as soulful as the Righteous Brothers, lead singer Scott Walker's deep croon betrayed strong debts to non-rock vocalists like Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra. While their biggest hits were covers of songs by American pop songwriting teams like Bacharach-David and Mann-Weil, Scott (and occasionally John Walker) could write brooding originals in a more personal, less overblown style when given the chance.
In the intensely competitive days of 1967, the Walkers' brand of pop suddenly become passé, and the group disbanded in the face of diminishing success and Scott's increasingly fruitful solo career. Scott ran off a series of Top Ten British solo albums in the late '60s, which have attracted a sizable cult with their idiosyncratic marriage of Scott's brooding, insular songs and ornate orchestral arrangements. Gary Walker released a few singles and an album with his group the Rain in a much harder-rocking guitar-oriented format. The Walkers reunited for a while in the mid-'70s, which produced a final British hit ("No Regrets"). Much of the Walkers' story is retold in the biography -Scott Walker: A Deep Shade of Blue, published only in Britain.
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Albums:
Source: Richie Unterberger
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Carole King
Carole King, along with her song writing partner Gerry Goffin, has penned a seemingly endless string of hits for other artists. She is also a successful singer in her own right and claims a total of four Grammy awards and a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.
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In the 60s, Goffin and King started working for Aldon Music and had their first successful hit with Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? This song would go on to be recorded by Dusty Springfield, Roberta Flack and Bryan Ferry.
Others soon followed with Take Good Care of My Baby, Some Kind of Wonderful, The Locomotion, Go Away Little Girl, One Fine Day, Don’t Bring Me Down and (You Make Me Feel) Like a Natural Woman just to name a few. The artists that have benefited from this era of King’s prose and song range from household 60s acts like The Monkees, Aretha Franklin and The Drifters to more modern acts like Tom Petty, Billy Joel, Celine Dion, Grand Funk Railroad and Shania Twain.
Throughout this time, King dabbled with her own singing career, lending her vocals and releasing her own material. Chart toppers eluded her until 1971’s iconic album Tapestry topped the US album charts for 15 weeks and remained in the charts for 6 years.
The album featured folky revisions of her earlier hits she had written for others as well as tracks like It’s Too Late and You’ve Got a Friend. Tapestry held the position as top-selling solo album ever until Michael Jackson’s Thriller knocked it off the podium.
The 80s saw King take a back seat to the music industry and her activities were primarily charitable live performances.
King continues to collaborate and more recently touring with James Taylor who had a number 1 hit with King’s You’ve Got a Friend.
Juanita Appleby
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James Taylor
Tom Petty
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Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield is considered one of the UK’s finest white soul singers. Born in Hampstead, England, she started her singing career with her brothers’ folk trio The Springfields, but soon went on to have a hugely successful solo career recording eight top ten hits between 1964 and 1969 including “I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself”, “In The Middle Of Nowhere”, “Some Of Your Loving”, “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me” and “Son Of A Preacher Man”.
After the Sixties, Dusty’s career took a nose dive however, she was encouraged by the Pet Shop Boys to record a collaboration with them “What Have I Done to Deserve This” in 1987.
Dusty Springfield died of cancer on 2nd March 1989.
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This information is provided as a brief overview and not as a definitive guide, there are other sources on the net for that. If however you have a story or information that is not generally known we would love to hear from you. Content@rokpool.com.
