| Don Walker | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Donald Hugh Walker |
| Born | 29 November 1951 |
| Origin | Ayr, Queensland, Australia |
| Genres | Rock Hard rock Pub rock Blues Alternative country |
| Occupations | Musician Songwriter Author |
| Instruments | Piano Keyboard |
| Years active | 1973 - |
| Labels | Mushroom
Records Universal Music Group |
| Associated acts | Cold
Chisel Tex, Don and Charlie |
| Website | Official Site |
Don Walker (born 29 November 1951) is an Australian musician and songwriter most famous for writing many of the hits for legendary Australian pub rock band, Cold Chisel. He played piano and keyboard with the band from 1973 to 1983, when they disbanded.
Donald Hugh Walker was born in Ayr North Queensland. He lived on a cane farm his father owned on Rita Island on the Burdekin River until the age of 4.[1] His family later moved to Grafton.
From the earliest days Walker was the creative songwriting force for Cold Chisel. He became known for his passionate and raw lyrical observations on the Australian society and culture of the time. His songwriting credits include the hit singles "Flame Trees," "Saturday Night," "Choirgirl," (a teary ballad about abortion) "Breakfast At Sweethearts," "Cheap Wine," and the iconic Australian Vietnam war song "Khe Sanh" (voted the 8th greatest Australian song of all time by the Australian Performing Rights Association in 2001).[2] Many of these songs still receive airplay on Australian radio to this day and have become somewhat ingrained in Australian music culture.
During his time with Cold Chisel he produced his first work outside the band, the soundtrack to the Australian movie "Freedom", directed by Scott Hicks. The soundtrack was released as an album and featured members of Cold Chisel and Michael Hutchence.
After Cold Chisel disbanded in 1983, Walker had a five year hiatus before resuming recording and performing using the name "Catfish." Ostensibly a band, Catfish was in effect a solo project, featuring Walker on vocals, keyboards and penning all the songs. Catfish featured various backing musicians, such as Charlie Owen, Ian Moss and David Blight, a much-admired harmonica player. The first album, Unlimited Address, released in 1989, showed a jazzier, European side to Walker's songwriting, probably reflecting his travels during the previous years. Despite being critically lauded, and containing many songs that are much loved by fans, sales were moderate. The next album, "Ruby," was a return to Australia in sound and lyrical subject matter. Again, it was well received by critics but sold relatively poorly. The track "Charleville" was later to receive country music awards when covered by Slim Dusty.
In early 1992 Don performed an acoustic live performance for alternative radio station JJJ with Charlie Owen and Tex Perkins. In 1993 Tex, Don and Charlie released their first album, "Sad but True" on Red Eye Records. The record, an acoustic country-tinged affair, returned Walker to some level of popular awareness and received rave reviews in magazines like Australian Rolling Stone. About half the songs were written by Walker, including "Sitting in a Bar." The band toured strongly on the back of the album, later releasing a live album "Monday Morning Coming Down," featuring the best tracks of "Sad but True" plus some covers of standards.
2005 saw the release of a third Tex, Don and Charlie album, "All is Forgiven," similar in style to the first. Again, Walker wrote about half the songs, including the long-anticipated, "Harry was a Bad Bugger," described by Chris Johnston as, "the Australian song of the year."[3] The album was shortlisted for the inaugural Australian Music Prize.[4]
1994 was the year of Walker's first full release under his own name, "We're All Gunna Die." He stated that it was the first album to carry his name as, "it was the first record that finished up how I wanted it.” [5] It was recorded almost live in the studio over a period of 4 days with a band featuring David Blight, Garrett Costigan on pedal-steel guitar and Red Rivers on guitar. The music is a ragged mix of country, Chicago blues and balladry, and features the song "Barrel of Eternity." It would be another 12 years before Walker was to produce another solo recording, the well-received "Cutting Back." During 2006 he toured Australia with his backing band, the Suave Fucks.
Walker published his first book, Shots, in 2009. It was an autobiographical collection of smaller pieces, rarely more than a few pages in length. The subject matter was mostly recollections of rural Australia or life with Cold Chisel before they became widely famous.
Shots received a number of positive reviews:[6] The Age described the memoir as "a whip crack across a landscape of rural Australia, lonely highways and endless gigs;"[7] in the Australian Book Review it was called "a quite wonderful book [that] blasts away every last vestige of the crude, boozy, foot-stomping, flag-waving Australiana that has until now enveloped the Cold Chisel story like a filthy smog, leaving behind only the simmering highways, the trashy motels, the dank pubs and the monotonous suburbs of a nation slouching apathetically through the remnants of the 20th century."
Readings from Shots, as performed by Walker, were aired on Radio National throughout late 2009.[8]
Walker has worked with many other artists, most notably with song writing credits on Ian Moss's hit album, "Matchbook" and Jimmy Barnes's single "Stone Cold." He has written with or had songs recorded by TOFOG, Jimmy Little, Slim Dusty, Kate Ceberano, Wendy Matthews, Troy Cassar-Daley, Graeme Connors, Anne Kirkpatrick, Mick Harvey, Jeff Lang, and Adam Brand. He also produced Moss's album "Petrolhead."
He is the brother of the Australian novelist, Brenda Walker, and a Brisbane Broncos supporter.[1]
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  | Biography on www.coldchisel.com.au - Cold Chisel - News |
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