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Obituaries
John Walker dies
By CMU Editorial | Published on Monday 9 May 2011
John Walker, one of the Walker Brothers, has died aged 67 after losing his battle with liver cancer.
Walker, born John Maus, formed the Walker Brothers with Scott Engel and Gary Leeds in 1964. Maus had already adopted the surname Walker, and the three unrelated musicians decided on the Walker Brothers moniker because they thought it sounded good.
Although harking from California, and having a US record deal with Mercury, it was when the trio relocated to the UK that they enjoyed real success, quickly scoring chart hits and garnering considerable press interest, and building a considerable mainly teenage fanbase as a result. The Walker Brothers split in 1968, through reformed for three more albums in the mid-seventies. In between the two stints Walker also enjoyed some success as a solo artist.
In the mid-eighties Maus relocated back to the US and took an electronics course and became a technical consultant to various companies. But he kept his hand in music, initially combining his two careers and building a recording studio. He started to write songs for others and set up his own publishing company to manage his works. A record company followed in 2000, and in the last decade of his life he began releasing records and touring again, enjoying some success, mainly on the UK nostalgia circuit.
Confirming his death this weekend, a spokesman for the musician said: “Sadly John passed away yesterday morning Californian time, after a six-month battle with liver cancer”.
