Karl Wallinger, World Party and former Waterboys member, dead at 66
Karl Wallinger, the founding member of World Party and former member of folk-rock outfit The Waterboys, has died aged 66. His publicist announced the news that he passed away on March 10th, but no cause of death has been given.
Wallinger was born in the seaside town of Prestatyn, Wales, in 1957. His musical career commenced in his hometown in 1977, where he played keys in Pax before forming the group Quasimodo alongside Dave Sharp and Nigel Twist, who would go on to be in 1980s rock band The Alarm, known for their song ’68 Guns’.
In 1983, Wallinger was recruited into Scottish songwriter Mike Scott’s London-based outfit, The Waterboys, initially as the piano and organ player. While his tenure in the band would be short, he was instrumental in them establishing their widely influential ‘Big Music’ sound.
At first, he was a touring member for the group’s 1983 self-titled debut but then appeared as an official member on the two subsequent releases, 1984’s A Pagan Place and the following year’s This Is the Sea, the latter of which remains one of their most lauded releases, featuring the title track and their definitive song, ‘The Whole of The Moon’. Notably, Wallinger impressed Scott with his multi-instrumentalism and production skills, and he had a prominent role in this era, which included writing This Is the Sea opener ‘Don’t Bang the Drum’ with the frontman.
As he developed as an artist and was aware that his ambitions would cause conflict with Scott, Wallinger decided to leave The Waterboys in late 1985, as the tour for This Is the Sea neared its end. He was replaced by his future collaborator Guy Chambers, and in 1986, he founded the neo-psychedelic group World Party, known for their minor UK hits, ‘Private Revolution’ and ‘Ship of Fools’, spawned from their 1987 debut album, Private Revolution.
World Party’s debut album features several famous names, including Anthony Thistlethwaite, Steve Wickham and the late Sinéad O’Connor. The Irish icon would sing backing vocals on World Party’s second effort, Goodbye Jumbo, with him returning the favour, providing vocals on her song ‘The Lion and the Cobra’. Later, the Welsh musician was the musical director for the cult 1994 movie Reality Bites and contributed to the Clueless soundtrack in 1995.
In February 2001, Wallinger suffered a brain aneurysm. This required surgeons to block a nerve near the optic nerve, and although he appeared to make a full recovery, he lost peripheral vision on the right side of both eyes. This led to him suspending all work for nearly five years before resuming in 2006.
Speaking Big Takeover in 2023, Wallinger was asked how he stayed so prolific in the ensuing years, to which he replied: “It’s just fascination with music. You can always do something better. It’s fun. It’s amazing to have playing music as what you do in life, which is something that you love. There’s nothing better than doing that, so you just carry on doing it.”
Wallinger leaves behind his wife Suzie Zamit, son Louis, daughter Nancy and two grandchildren.
Listen to World Party’s ‘Private Revolution’ below.
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