Scott Engel

Noel Scott Engel (January 9, 1943 – March 22, 2019), better known by his stage name Scott Walker, was an American-British singer-songwriter, composer, and record producer. Walker was known for his emotive baritone voice and his unorthodox career path, which took him from being a teen pop icon in the 1960s to an avant-garde musician from the 1990s to his death. Walker was most successful in the United Kingdom, where he achieved fame as a member of pop trio the Walker Brothers, who scored several hit singles during the mid-1960s, including two number-one hits on the UK singles chart with "Make It Easy on Yourself" (1965) and "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" (1966). He lived in the UK from 1965 onwards, and became a UK citizen in 1970.

After the Walker Brothers split in 1967, he began a solo career with the album Scott later that year. Strongly inspired by Belgian singer-songwriter Jacques Brel, Walker moved toward an increasingly challenging musical and lyrical style on the late 1960s baroque pop albums Scott 2 (1968), which reached number one in the UK; Scott 3 (1969); and Scott 4 (1969). After Scott 4 and its follow-up 'Til the Band Comes In (1970) failed commercially, Walker released a number of MOR covers albums, which he later disowned, to appease record companies. He reunited with the Walker Brothers in the mid-1970s. They achieved a top-ten single with "No Regrets" in 1975, while their final album, Nite Flights (1978), marked the beginning of Walker's move towards the avant-garde.

During the 1980s, Walker released only one album, Climate of Hunter (1984). Its follow-up, Tilt (1995), saw his work now fully immersed in a dark and avant-garde musical and lyrical idiom. Walker progressed this style through The Drift (2006); Bish Bosch (2012); and Soused (2014), a collaboration with American drone metal band Sunn O))). The Guardian reflected on Walker's stylistic evolution in 2012: "imagine Andy Williams reinventing himself as Stockhausen". Walker also undertook several side projects during the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, including film soundtracks and songwriting and production for other artists.

Walker continued to record until 2018, the year before his death. His 1960s recordings were highly regarded by the 1980s UK underground music scene, and gained a cult following. He was described by the BBC as "one of the most enigmatic and influential figures in rock history".

Noel Scott Engel was born on January 9, 1943, in Hamilton, Ohio, United States, the son of Elizabeth Marie (Fortier), who was from Montreal, Quebec, and Noel Walter Engel. His father was an oil industry manager whose work led the family to successive homes in Ohio, Texas, Colorado, and New York. Engel and his mother settled in California in 1956. Engel was interested in both music and performance and spent time as a child actor and singer in the mid to late 1950s, including roles in the Broadway musicals Pipe Dream and Plain and Fancy. Championed by singer and TV host Eddie Fisher, he appeared several times on Fisher's TV program. Engel cut some records including one named "Misery", which saw him briefly promoted as a teen idol.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.