Walter Powers III (born August 4, 1946) is an American bass guitarist.
Before joining the Velvet Underground, he played with future co-Velvet Willie Alexander in Boston-based band the Lost from 1964 until 1967, during which time they toured with the Beach Boys, and from 1967 with Alexander and another future fellow Velvet, Doug Yule, in the Grass Menagerie.
He was also the bass player for another Boston-based band called Listening (only album released by Vanguard in 1968 under the same name).
[2] Also in late 1970, the band, which at that time consisted of Yule, Powers, Sterling Morrison and Maureen Tucker, recorded two songs for Atlantic Records, the Doug Yule compositions "Friends" and "She'll Make You Cry", which remain unreleased (both songs would later be re-recorded with different personnel for the controversial 1973 Polydor album Squeeze).
[3] During 1971, the Velvet Underground extensively toured the north and northeast of the United States and subsequently embarked on a short autumn tour of Europe in support of current album Loaded, playing gigs in England, Scotland, and the Netherlands.