Growing up in Camberley, Surrey, Doug Walker couldn’t afford many CDs so got his musical education instead from listening to daytime radio. That love affair with the wireless explains both the music he makes now – frantically upbeat, ultra-commercial piano-pop – and also the way he got his big break: by standing outside Radio 1 and pressing a copy of his self-released debut single The Mystery into the hand of DJ Chris Moyles.
Plenty of unsigned hopefuls have attempted the same trick. The difference is, in Walker’s case, it worked: Moyles played the track three times in a row, and raved about it for 30 minutes, launching a campaign to get the song into the charts. The result? The Manchester-based singer-songwriter was signed by Warners and dispatched to New York to record his debut album, due for release in early 2008.
A fairy-tale story, then, although Walker’s lightning-fast ascent was preceded by a series of dispiriting jobs, including a stint in a touring “educational theatre” troupe (“a bit like Legz Akimbo from The League Of Gentlemen”, he admits) and as a youth worker in Manchester’s deprived Benchill area.
Such varied experiences offer an insight into Walker’s personality: he comes across, not as some tormented troubadour, but rather a chipper soul who’ll throw himself cheerfully into any activity that comes his way. Indeed, his Myspace blogs demonstrate a puppyish enthusiasm that’s either endearing or maddening, depending on, well, your tolerance for frantically upbeat piano-pop. Next year’s Scouting For Girls? Now there’s a prospect.
11:42 AM | 06/12/2007
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top song top vid top hat
Posted by john leneghan at 1:08 PM | 06/12/2007 | Report Abuse
Stunning stuff!
Posted by nick Redfern at 9:57 PM | 07/12/2007 | Report Abuse
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