[2][3] The reformed band achieved a top ten single with "No Regrets" in 1975, while their last album Nite Flights (1978) marked the beginning of Walker taking his music in a more avant-garde 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.

In between attending art school and furthering his interests in cinema and literature, Scott played bass guitar proficiently enough to get session work in Los Angeles as a teenager.

Initially, John served as guitarist and main lead singer of the trio, with Gary on drums and Scott playing bass guitar and mostly singing harmony vocals.

32 UK), the latter a co-write between Scott and Johnny Franz for the soundtrack of the film of the same name, while 1967 brought two more singles in "Stay With Me Baby" and "Walking in the Rain" (both of which reached No.

Scott served as effective co-producer of the band's records throughout this period, alongside their named producer Johnny Franz and engineer Peter Oliff.

[19] Artistic differences and the stresses stemming from overwhelming pop stardom led to the break-up of the Walker Brothers in the summer of 1967, although they reunited temporarily for a tour of Japan in 1968.

During this period, Walker combined his earlier teen appeal with a darker, more idiosyncratic approach (which had been hinted at in songs like "Orpheus" on the Images album).

Walker's own original songs of this period were influenced by Brel and Léo Ferré[21] as he explored European musical roots while expressing his own American experience and reaching a new maturity as a recording artist.

"[26] Walker then entered a period of self-confessed artistic decline, during which he spent five years making records "by rote, just to get out of contract"[2] and consoling himself with drink.

Subsequent releases saw Walker revert to cover versions of popular film tunes, easy listening standards and a serious flirtation with country music.

The resulting album, Nite Flights, was released in 1978 with each of the Brothers writing and singing their own compositions (the opening four songs by Scott, the middle two by Gary and the final four by John).

[16] In spite of a warm critical reception (with Scott's contributions particularly lauded), sales figures for Nite Flights were ultimately as poor as those of Lines.

Apparently now fated for a stagnant career on the revival circuit, the Walker Brothers lost heart and interest, compounded by Scott's increasing reluctance to sing live.

While based loosely within the field of 1980s rock music, and featuring guest appearances by contemporary stars Billy Ocean and Mark Knopfler, it had a fragmented and trance-like approach.

A second album for Virgin was begun in 1985, with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois producing and Robert Fripp on guitar, but was abandoned after early sessions.

[33] Walker spent the late 1980s away from music, with only a brief cameo appearance in a 1987 Britvic TV advert (alongside other 1960s pop icons) to maintain his profile.

In the meantime David Bowie covered Scott's song "Nite Flights" on his Black Tie White Noise album, which also contained the Walker inspired 'You've Been Around'.

Variously described as "an anti-matter collision of rock and modern classical music",[2] as "Samuel Beckett at La Scala" and as "indescribably barren and unutterably bleak... the wind that buffets the gothic cathedrals of everyone's favorite nightmares",[35] it was more consciously avant-garde than its predecessor with Walker now revealed as a fully-fledged modernist composer.

[36] Lyrically, subject matter included the life and murder of Pier Paolo Pasolini (and his relationship with Ninetto Davoli), cockfighting, the Holocaust, the First Gulf War, a conflation of the trials of Adolf Eichmann and Caroline of Brunswick, and a man talking to the corpse of Che Guevara.

The following year he served as producer on Pulp's 2001 album We Love Life (whose track "Bad Cover Version" includes a mocking reference to the poor quality of "the second side of 'Til The Band Comes In").

It featured jarring contrasts between loud and quiet sections; instrumentation was similar to Tilt in the use of rock instruments and a large orchestra, but the album also interpolated unnerving sound effects such as the distressed braying of a donkey, a demoniac Donald Duck impression, and (during a recording sequence captured on film) an orchestral percussionist punching a large cut of raw meat.

[40][41] In contemporary interviews, Walker appeared more at ease with media attention, revealing a wish to produce albums more frequently and hinting at significant changes in the nature of his own material if and when it suits him.

Interviews were recorded with David Bowie (executive producer of the film), Brian Eno, Radiohead, Sting, Gavin Friday, Jarvis Cocker, Richard Hawley, and many musicians associated with Walker over the years.

A documentary on Walker containing a substantial amount of footage from the film was shown on BBC1 in May 2007 as part of the Imagine... strand, presented by Alan Yentob.

It comprised eight songs, two from Tilt – "Farmer in the City" and "Patriot (a single)" – and the rest from The Drift: "Cossacks Are", "Jesse", "Clara (Benito's Dream)", "Buzzers", "Jolson and Jones" and "Cue".

Each song was presented in a music-theatre manner, with the vocal parts taken by a number of singers, including Jarvis Cocker, Damon Albarn and Dot Allison.

[50] As a record producer and guest performer, Walker worked with a number of artists and bands, including Pulp, Ute Lemper, Sunn O))), and Bat for Lashes.

[51] He was survived by his daughter, Nicola Lee, from his marriage to Mette Teglbjaerg, which ended in divorce, and his granddaughter, Emmi-Lee, who lives with her mother in Denmark.

[60] Many artists have expressed their admiration for Walker or cited him as an influence, including David Bowie,[61] Alex Turner,[61] Marc Almond,[61] Bauhaus,[62] Goldfrapp,[61] Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy,[61] Julian Cope (who compiled the Fire Escape in the Sky: The Godlike Genius of Scott Walker compilation in 1981),[63] Jarvis Cocker,[61] Anohni, Thom Yorke and Radiohead,[64] Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree,[65] and Mikael Åkerfeldt of Opeth[66] (particularly expressed in their joint project Storm Corrosion),[67] Tim Bowness of No-Man,[68] Leonard Cohen,[61] Efterklang,[69] East India Youth,[70] Kevin Hufnagel,[71] Ihsahn,[72] Russell Mills,[73] Dennis Rea,[74] John Baizley of Baroness[75] and Brian Eno.