Biography
Ian Walker is now based in Bo´ness in East Central Scotland but he was raised three stairs up in a Glasgow tenement with his deeper family roots stretching back to the bothies of Banffshire and the Ayrshire of Robert Burns´ time.
As a youngster, Ian Walker had a fascinating introduction to the wider world of music, the theatre and entertainment through contact with the acclaimed Scottish actor and entertainer Jimmy Logan.
In the early 1960´s, Ian Walker regularly visited The Glasgow Folk Centre where he first sang and where he was introduced to the unsurpassable delights of the five-string banjo.
In the 1970s, Ian Walker found success singing in one of well-known Scottish impresario, Archie McCulloch´s, "Stars of Tomorrow" talent shows in Kilmarnock.
At this time Ian Walker also attended the Kilmarnock Traditional Folk Club where he took part in their travelling road shows and where he received his first solo booking.
The late 1970s saw Ian Walker getting awards for singing at, for example, the Kinross Festival (Bothy Ballad) and at the Thurso Festival (Jeannie Robertson Memorial Trophy).
Song writing started in the late 1970s and by the mid 1980s, Ian Walker's writing had become more prolific and songs like "Some Hae Meat", "Roses in December" and "Hawks and Eagles" were being picked up by other singers.
In 1985, Ian Walker's first album, "Roses in December", was recorded by Gavin Livingstone (of the band "Tonight at Noon"). This was followed in 1987 by "Flying High" on Fellside Recordings. The Music Retailers Association (MRA) in London voted "Flying High" the outright winner in their Folk and Country music award category in 1988. Ian Walker collected the award, on behalf of Fellside, from TV astronomer Sir Patrick Moore at their awards ceremony in the Café Royale, London.
From 1987 to 1991, Ian Walker had the privilege of singing and song writing with Glasgow singer/songwriter Ian Bruce. During this period they wrote about a dozen songs together many of which have since been recorded. In 2004, they briefly got together once again to write songs and to sing in concert at Rutherglen, Glasgow (for The New Makars Trust) and at the Crocketford Folk Festival, Dumfries.
Since 1993, Ian Walker has jointly recorded "Crossing the Borderlines" (Fellside) and sung in concert with the Lanarkshire based Scots/Irish band Setanta. Ian Walker has also sung and recorded with the Country Gospel singer Jimmy Scott at a wide range events in diverse venues throughout the UK.
Since 2003, under the auspices of The New Makars Trust, Ian Walker has become involved with schools and with older people developing new songs in communities throughout Scotland. Ian Walker's book/CD "Washdays" contains many of the new songs written in schools during this period.
Ian Walker's songs have proved popular with the public and have been sung and/or recorded by many other artists including: - Roy Bailey, Ronnie Browne - of the Corries (a co write with Ian Bruce), Cilla Fisher and Artie Trezise, Bruce Davies, Eurydice, The Fisher Family, Tich Frier, Dick Gaughan, The McCalmans, Alastair McDonald, North Sea Gas, Ben Sands, The Sands Family, Bram Taylor, Tryst, The Wilsons and The Yetties.
Ian Walker's songs have also been published in The Red and Green Song Book and in America´s "Sing Out!" magazine and have been recognised by Unisong International in California.
