David (Dave) Walker was born on January 25th and was raised in Birmingham, UK. That's where he started his musical career in small British bands like Idle Race.
In 1971, he was asked to join the band Savoy Brown as their lead vocalist. They became a power-boogie band under the leadership of Welsh power guitarist Kim Simmonds. His first album with Savoy was "Street Corner Talking" , and the single that followed, "Tell Mama", which was well-received. In 1972, Savoy Brown released two more albums with Walker: "Hellbound Train" and "Lion's Share".
A year later, in 1972, Danny Kirwan left Fleetwood Mac. Many of the most popular bands of that era (read: Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple) featured a strutting, aggressive lead vocalist. Fleetwood Mac manager Cliff Davis wanted the same sort of frontman for his band. After a fair amount of cajoling, the Mac bandmembers agreed, hiring Dave Walker to fill the void. They had already been familiar with him having had crossed paths with him during their last tour. Dave came on board, along with another guitarist named Bob Weston.
In late 1972, the band went on tour in the States with Walker, Weston, Christine and John McVie, Bob Welch, and Mick Fleetwood. The "Penguin" recording sessions followed soon after in January 1973. Although Dave was supposed to be the lead vocalist, he only added vocals to two songs on the album. It has been reported that he spent more time in bars then in the studio. One of the two songs was a brave choice for a Fleetwood Mac record: the old Jr. Walker and the All-Stars' soul classic "(I'm A) Road Runner". The other was penned by Dave Walker himself, the inauspicious "The Derelict", a song which might have worked better in the context of the band's earlier blues period. Walker's bellowing harp and tacit lyrics did nothing to secure his place in the band. No matter, "Penguin" still became the best selling Fleetwood Mac album in the States up to that point, reaching the top 50 on the Billboard album charts.
In the summer of 1973, the band decided to make yet another personnel change. Dave Walker had to go. This time it wasn't a personality conflict. There were no indications of bizarre behavior and he didn't run off and join a cult. Nor was he an uninspired performer. It was simply a matter of him not fitting with the direction the band was taking. To paraphrase Fleetwood; "Having a front-man like him in the band was tantamount to throwing away all that the band was: that it wasn't Savoy Brown." He also failed to produce much in the way of new material ("The Derelict" notwithstanding). In fact, bandmembers Christine McVie and Welch went so far as to tailor some of their songs to fit Walker's vocals. Walker, all the while, appeared disinterested, preferring to spend his days and nights at the local pub with John McVie. As had been done so many times before, an amiable parting was in the offing, and the remaining five members reconvened to record their next project "Mystery To Me" .
| Dave Walker joined Black Sabbath in 1977, but left only a few months later because Ozzy Osbourne, who he replaced, returned to the band. In 1986, Dave rejoined Savoy Brown and recorded several albums with them until he left permanently in 1991. |  |
These days Dave Walker leads a quiet life in Montana. In the town of Bozeman, he regularly plays with Ron Sanchez, an old friend from San Francisco. They both enjoy playing in a Psychedelic Garage band called Donovan's Brain. They are a band with a "revolving door of personnel" but it’s intentional on their part. They like the "open door" idea and seem to revel in making music with a variety of musicians.
Donovan’s Brain often records material that style-wise reminds one of Dave's old band Idle Race. There should be no surprise there as Dave has make it clear in the past that Idle Race is the band that 'best fits his musical tastes'.
Dave worked with Donovan’s Brain on sessions that produced an album called “Tiny Crustacean Light Show”. He sings backing vocals on many of the tracks and sings lead on two songs.
Other tracks from those sessions eventually surfaced in other forms. "22 Lost Marbles" ended up on the cd “A Pot By Any Other Name” (a free CD that came in the Spring 2001 issue of the independent music mag “Ptolemaic Terrascope”). And a cover of a song from a band called Man entitled "The Single #2" that appeared on a various artists tribute CD called "Man, We're Glad We Know You: A Tribute to the Man Band". This cd was originally a privately pressed disc by www.petegifford.co.uk but is now available through the part Sanchez- owned Career Records label.
In early 2003, the label released a new Donovan's Brain album called “The Great Leap Forward”. It contained several of the tracks that Dave had worked on during the “Tiny Crustacean Light Show” sessions.
Recently Dave sang backup on a song called "Moon" from Angie Pepper's 2003 cd. Although we haven't heard any official recordings from Dave since, we're well aware of his musical skills and sincerely hopes he puts them to good use.
Research: Dirk Faes & John Fitzgerald
Written by: Jan Freedland Dirk Faes, and John Fitzgerald
If you have any interesting facts or insights that you'd like to add to Dave's bio, please drop us a line.
Sources;
One Together website
Kim Simmonds, frontman of Savoy Brown
Savoy Brown Website
"The First 30 Years" by Bob Brunning
"My Twenty-Five Years In Fleetwood Mac" by Mick Fleetwood
"My Life And Adventures In Fleetwood Mac" by Mick Fleetwood