Jimmy Walker obit

 Jimmy Walker, the drummer for 60s band The Knickerbockers, has passed away.

He was not on the list.

The Knickerbockers biggest hit was ‘Lies’ in 1965. It reached no 6 in Australia and no 20 in the USA.

Walker left The Knickerbockers in 1968 to replace Bill Medley in the Righteous Brothers. He also recorded three solo singles between 1968 and 1969 before retiring from music.

The Knickerbockers were a New Jersey band but ‘Lies’ sounded very British, mimicking a Lennonesque Beatles. Songwriter Beau Charles says he deliberately made the song to sound like the British Invasion. It was written by the band’s singer Beau Charles in 30 minutes, demoed in New York, recorded soon after at Sunset Sound in West Hollywood and tracked at Leon Russell’s house in the Hollywood Hills.

‘Lies’ has been covered by Lulu, Nancy Sinatra, Linda Ronstadt and Styx.

Born in The Bronx, New York, Walker learned the drums when he was around seven or eight. He was of Irish descent. His first group was in New York called The Castle Kings. They had signed to Atlantic Records after Ahmet Ertegun, the then president of the company, heard them:

I started singing on the neighborhood street corner, harmonizing acapella versions of radio hits with three friends and later adding drums and guitars, learning along the way, playing local events and parties. We called the group the Castle Kings after Castle Hill Ave., the street where we started singing. We recorded a demo of a couple of songs and peddled it to several record companies. Mickey Addey of Dot records wanted to sign us after a chance meeting in front of Dot records with Ahmet Ertegun of Atlantic records who was listening to the group singing harmony while waiting for a ride. Ahmet offered the band a meeting and within a week signed the group to a contract. After a year and several recordings with people like Tommy Dowd, Phil Ele, Phil Spector and with a wealth of experience and great memories, the group split up and went its own way.

When he was a young adult, he moved to Bergenfield, New Jersey, and worked as a truck driver.