[1] Of Ngāi Te Rangi descent,[2] Walters was born and raised in Katikati, a town on the North Island of New Zealand.
[3] In 1969, he competed against Tui Fox at Joe Brown's at the Rotorua Soundshell during the Search for Stars event held there.
The New Zealand Herald reported that he may have also appeared on the Rolf Harris show in London.
[5] It was reported in the edition of 4 May of The New Zealand Herald that due to the big success Walters had with "Brandy" that the song was to be produced in sheet music form.
[12][13] In 1974, Walters had a hit with a song originally recorded by Ben Thomas, written by Gary Sulsh, Stuart Leathwood, and Tony Macaulay.
Then as a result of falling foul of influential people he was virtually blacklisted from TV and radio.
According to an article in AudioCulture by Steven Shaw, The New Zealand Herald reported in August 1986 that 80% of the advertising jingles heard in New Zealand, featuring male and female voices were by Walters and singer Annie Crummer.
[20][23] Among these projects was a verse from a version of the New Zealand national anthem that was recorded for World Expo 88, which also aired during TVNZ's daily opening transmission during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
It is featured during the closing credits of the 1988 film Never Say Die which starred Temuera Morrison and Lisa Eilbacher.
In a 1999 interview, he told The Sunday Star-Times that his conversion came about as a result of a pastor inviting him to church.
[34] It was announced in Stuff that a tribute concert for Walters was to be held at the Tokoroa Cosmopolitan Club on 4 February 2017.