THE JOURNEY OF SCOTT WALKER

Scott Walker's unique career has spanned at least 5 decades.  After playing in many bands, he formed the Walker Brothers.  They had a lush teen pop sound using Phil Spectre's wall of sound recording / mixing techniques. 

 In 1967 the Walker Brothers broke up, and he begin his solo career, which he is widely know for covering Jacques Brel songs.  Brel had a large effect on Walker's style, and his songs became more influenced by Brel as he explored European musical roots while expressing his own American experience.

In the late 60s, he planted himself at the Isle of Wight, as far SE as you can get in the UK, to study classical music and Gregorian chant.

Around this time he released 3 albums (1967-1969) that were received with great success in Britain.  His mental state did not bode well with the attention, and he became reclusive and became distanced from his audience. During this time he combined his teen style with a darker side, and released another album in 1969, Scott 4.  

At the peak of his success he was given a BBC TV series featuring solo Walker performances of ballads, big band standards and introductions of his own and Brel compositions. He continued to produce albums through the early 70s, and then reunited with the Walker Brothers in 1975 to release 3 more albums.  After that his releases were much more intermittent, with 3 release spanning almost 3 decades.  In 2006 he released The Drift.

There is a pretty amazing documentary about him, called Scott Walker: 30 Century Man.  Check it and check out the man!