Dave Walker Q&A

[Les]

Hi,

Marty has organized the next Q&A session, and this time it is with former Fleetwood Mac member, Dave Walker. It runs from Oct 12-25. I'm assuming there are a few folks out there, like me, who don't know tons of information about Dave, so I took the liberty of pasting the Penguin bio on Dave here for anyone interested . . . or for anyone who has more to add, or wants to discuss Dave.

Dave Walker was hired by Fleetwood Mac in 1972. He had been the lead singer of Savoy Brown, and they had established quite a following in America "playing blues boogie in the heavy metal style of those metal monsters, Grand Funk Railroad." After Danny Kirwan was let go, Fleetwood Mac recruited Walker as a "front-man vocalist."

Like Christine McVie, Walker's roots were in Birmingham, England, and he shared a similar musical background with FM. He even knew Chris' ex-Chicken Shack-mates Andy Sylvester and Dave Bidwell. After touring the U.S. in late 1972, Walker and the rest of the band recorded Penguin, which was released in the spring of 1973. His contribution to the album was minimal, and he seemed to spend more time in the pub than in the studio. Christine McVie and Bob Welch tried to write material for him, but Walker tended to make the songs sound more like Savoy Brown than Fleetwood Mac. As Welch recalls: "The light finally dawned on us that we were throwing away what FM had been, that we weren't Savoy Brown." Walker "was aware of the other's growing resentment over his inability to either hack it in the spotlight or contribute to their repertoire," and he was asked to leave the band by mid-1973. Walker went on to join Black Sabbath in the fall of 1977 as a replacement for Ozzy Osbourne, but left in February 1978 upon Ozzy's return. Walker did not appear on any Black Sabbath albums, but played live once on BBC's "Top of the Pops" and was involved in a primitive version of "Junior's Eyes."

Currently, Dave Walker is living in Montana but has been working the small clubs in England doing mostly acoustic gigs and getting a very good reception. He will be traveling back to England in a few months to play more acoustic shows with a small band in some of the smaller venues.

[Lori]

Hi Les,

I'll be interested to read the Dave Walker Q&A. I read through his bio (thanks for pasting it) and was struck by the thought that I wonder what Dave himself would think of his bio? It's very close to what Mick had to say in his book, and it's not very, shall we say, complimentary to Mr. Walker. In fact, the most complimentary thing I think I've heard said about him was that he could put a lot of feeling into "Howyadoin' Pittsburgh!?!" I wonder if Dave would agree that he was kind of a "slacker" at that point in his life, or if he feels he's being given a bum rap? One of the many reasons the Q&A's are so enjoyable is that it gives the interviewees an opportunity to speak for themselves and allows us fans to hear the other side of the story!

Although I don't own the Penguin album, I do have the Chain boxed set, and love the song "Did You Ever Love Me" that has Dave singing on it. He has a nice voice. I hope that he is doing well.

Looking forward to the Q&A!
Lori

[Edited 1 times, lastly by Lori on October 11, 2000]

[Lori]

OOPS!

Got an email correction on my post - I've been informed that it is indeed NOT Dave Walker singing w/Chris, but Bob Weston on "Did You Ever Love Me." Well, hell, at least I knew enough to know it wasn't Bob Welch! Now that it's been mentioned, I do remember reading about that in Weston's Q&A. Oh well, I still like the song, and I still hope Dave is doing well!

I guess what I really need to do is get myself a copy of the Penguin album and then I won't make such embarrassing mistakes anymore!
Lori



[Edited 1 times, lastly by Lori on October 12, 2000]

[Les]

Of all the FM members, he was always the most blank for me in terms of knowing who he was, so it's been interesting learning about him.

Lori, he's addressed some of the things you were curious about. I have to say I was curious about those things too. My only impressions of him at all came from Mick's book and those weren't altogether complimentary of Dave. It's always something of a danger to only have one or two views of someone, I think. That's never a full, rounded-out perspective that can do the person justice. It is nice to hear his perspective.

quote:

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One of the many reasons the Q&A's are so enjoyable is that it gives the interviewees an opportunity to speak for themselves and allows us fans to hear the other side of the story!

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Absolutely. I said this to Marty once too -- even if I end up not particularly liking a Q&A guest...which is rare, and doesn't really matter anyway...at least now I have a face and some sort of personality to place on some of the names that are bandied about in FM history. Now I have their words, their version of how things happened, and some impression of them as people. It's a great forum!