Noel Scott Engel January 9, β March 22, , [ 1 ] better known by his stage name Scott Walker , was an American-British singer-songwriter and record producer who resided in England.
Walker was known for his emotive voice and his unorthodox stylistic path which took him from being a teen pop icon in the s to an avant-garde musician from the s to his death.
He lived in the UK from onward and became a UK citizen in After the Walker Brothers split in , he began a solo career with the album Scott later that year, moving toward an increasingly challenging style on lates baroque pop albums such as Scott 3 and Scott 4 both After a few years hiatus, Walker revived his solo career in the mids, progressing his work further towards the avant-garde; [ 6 ] [ 7 ] [ 8 ] of this period in his career, The Guardian said "imagine Andy Williams reinventing himself as Stockhausen ".
Walker continued to record until He was described by the BBC upon his death as "one of the most enigmatic and influential figures in rock history". Engel and his mother settled in California in Engel was interested in both music and performance and spent time as a child actor and singer in the mid to late s, including roles in two Broadway musicals, Pipe Dream and Plain and Fancy. Engel cut some records including one named "Misery", which saw him briefly promoted as a teen idol.
Upon his arrival in Los Angeles, Engel had already changed both his taste and his direction. Interested in the progressive jazz of Stan Kenton and Bill Evans , he was also a self-confessed "Continental suit-wearing natural enemy of the Californian surfer" [ 2 ] and a fan of European cinema in particular Ingmar Bergman , Federico Fellini , and Robert Bresson and the Beat poets.
