Doug Walker (born Chertsey, England) is a Manchester based singer-songwriter. After years of getting nowhere with his musical career, his planned self-released debut single The Mystery was played by BBC Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles after Walker turned up outside the Radio 1 studio on August 28th 2007. Walker turned up at BBC Radio 1 in London at 5.30am with copies of his single. He gave one to Moyles as he arrived for work — it was played at 7.20am and the station was inundated with emails and SMS texts resulting in Moyles playing the song 7 more times that week. As a result Walker met with 11 record labels and signed with Warner Bros. Records on October 12th 2007.
Walker’s debut album was produced by Danton Supple who was responsible for X&Y by Coldplay and Silence Is Easy by Starsailor. After recording, Walker flew out to New York to mix his album with legendary mixer Michael Brauer (Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Coldplay, Paul McCartney) and had completed his album 9 weeks to the day from when he signed his deal with Warner Bros. Records.
At the end of 2007 Walker was featured in Q magazine, The Guardian, The Sun, The Mirror, The Daily Star and The Red Pages - each publication tipping him for success in 2008.
The Mystery was released on Warner Bros. Records on March 3rd 2008 as a download, and it entered the UK Top 40 at number 36 on March 9th 2008. Walker has since featured in major articles in national newspapers including The Times, The Independent and The Mail On Sunday. The Album was due to be released in June 2008, however it remains unreleased with no explanation so far as to the reason. Walker toured extensively throughout 2007/2008 supporting artists including: The Wombats, Kate Nash, Craig David, Amy MacDonald, The Enemy, The Subways, Sam Beeton
Musical Influences:
ELO, Jeff Buckley,U2, Sting, Radiohead, Sergei Rachmaninov, The Divine Comedy, Coldplay, Aqualung, Regina Spektor.
Doug’s songs seem to be often influenced by his faith dealing in themes of hope and reconcilliation. For example- get past the football chant sing along ‘Na na na-ing’ of his first UK Top 40 single The Mystery and the lyrics deal with deep issues like eternity and seem to play host to an «is there-isn’t there a spritiual realm?» debate. However, Doug himself has stated that his songs all have links to the faith of Christianity, to which he belongs.
