Southbank Centre

SIGN UP FOR MELTDOWN UPDATES

• Twitter[follow @meltdownfest]

  Sorry there is a problem with twitter and we could not load the tweets

Scott Walker may have a reputation as the mystery man of rock’n’roll, but in 2000 he gave Meltdown audiences an insight into what has made him one of the most respected songwriters and musicians of the past 50 years.

The legend is well known: Walker was born in America but found his biggest success in Britain in the 1960s, before seeming to disappear.

He initially became famous in Britain during a period of intense creativity in the mid-1960s with his group the Walker Brothers, resulting in pin-up status for Walker and smash hits that remain popular to this day, including ‘The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore’ and ‘Make It Easy On Yourself’.

Walker then turned away from pop, going solo and looking to the likes of Jacques Brel, whose song ‘Jackie’ Walker covered with huge success, and Frank Sinatra for inspiration, just at the time the rock world was going psychedelic.

Bucking current music fashions has proven to be a pattern throughout Walker’s career. He who went on to study many kinds of music and has continued to reinvent himself, winning him high profile fans along the way including David Bowie, Brian Eno and Jarvis Cocker, who appeared in the line-up for Meltdown 2000.

Scott Walker is signed to 4AD records, home to artists like Bon Iver and Camera Obscura, and was the subject of the 2006 documentary Scott Walker: 30 Century Man, which was executive produced by David Bowie and featured interviews with fans including Radiohead, Sting and Gavin Friday.

As the eighth Meltdown curator, he invited some of the best-known rock outfits of our time to perform – Blur, Radiohead and Clinic – as well as fellow experimentalists like Jim O’Rourke and Mark-Anthony Turnage, the jazz musicians Evan Parker and Cicala Mvta and, proving he is not just about the music, acclaimed director Luc Bondy and the Richard Alston Dance Company.

www.4ad.com/scottwalker
www.myspace.com/thegodlikegeniusofscottwalker