About World Party
Karl Wallinger was born in Prestatyn, north Wales on 19 October 1957. His musical career has been wide-ranging, interesting and took him to the heights of critical and commercial acclaim in the early 1990s. These days, he's musically self-reliant and recovering from a serious aneurysm.
His formative years were spent listening to the hippy rockers of the 60s such as The Beatles, Bob Dylan and Love, as well as Motown and Merseybeat, all of which have echoes in the funky but folkily-hippy soul pop songs he went on to make.
Leaving the public school Charterhouse, Wallinger's first foray into the music business was in 1976 as a member of the group Quasimodo, who were much later to mutate into The Alarm.
He moved to London in the late 1970s to work as a clerk for ATV/Northern Songs music publishing company, but soon he became musical director of the Rocky Horror Show in the West End.
1983 found him joining a funk band called The Out and then The Waterboys as a keyboard player. Tensions between him and Mike Scott in the band were severe, coming to a particular head in 1985. Scott refused to lip-sync on Top Of The Pops, costing them a place on what was then the single most important method of publicising a single. Then Scott over-ruled Wallinger over the inclusion of songs written by each of them about Live Aid and its aftermath.
Wallinger left The Waterboys, along with his bandmates Guy Chambers and Chris Witten, in 1986, and worked on what would became World Party's debut album.
Private Revolution was released in 1987, and was a minor hit for Ensign, who'd kept Wallinger on contract after he'd left The Waterboys.
Private Revolution was also a minor critical success. Suffice to say although interest was there, it wasn't a breakthrough. That came with the 1990 album Goodbye Jumbo, released after Wallinger had contributed to Sinéad O'Connor's 1988 debut album The Lion And The Cobra.
Goodbye Jumbo was commercially successful, spawning the hits Message In The Box and Way Down Now, and becoming the very first Q magazine Album of the Year.
The follow-up, Bang!, was another big commercial success, reaching number two in the UK album charts and charting with the singles Is It Like Today and All I Gave. In 1994 he was the musical director for the film Reality Bites and also contributed to the soundtrack of 1996's Clueless.
In 1996 Karl wrote She's The One, for the film of the same name. Tom Petty, as musical director for the film, decided to perform the soundtrack himself. The song was eventually given to the soundtrack of the film Match Maker, but it was the start of a strange period in Wallinger's life.
Guy Chambers, who was in the band with Wallinger, begun working with EMI artist Robbie Williams, as they tried to develop him as a major solo artist.
Williams was a fan of World Party's Egyptology LP, which featured the song. He recorded the track with Chambers, and the rest of Wallinger's band, but not to his knowledge. The single went to number one, won a Brit, and its parent album, Escapology, was a massive seller.
While the royalties from the Robbie Williams version would prove useful, the farrago was the last straw for Wallinger, who left EMI. He was able to take back the rights to World Party's back catalogue and jumped to a label called Papillon, run by two former EMI executives.
In 2000 Dumbing Up was released by Papillon, but after a short period of touring, disaster struck when Karl suffered an aneurysm. Effectively taking him out of action for two years, it was largely royalties from She's The One which saw him through.
More legal manoeuvring and recuperations took him to 2005, when he decided to take World Party back on the road and into the public consciousness. Operating with his own label, Seaview, he has set about re-releasing his back catalogue in America.
Early 2006 saw him playing the South By South West festival in Austin, Texas. He told us, "It was very heartwarming when people sang material back to me, not only older material but newer.
"I've been away for so long; it's a crazy planet and I don't care [about the industry] anymore. I just want to go out and sing now."
Videos
Comments
Explore Nearby
-
1
Saul Subsidiary II Limited Partnership
Restaurants -
2
10th Street Grill
Restaurants -
3
Lotus Tours
Attractions -
4
National Aquarium
Attractions -
5
Four Points By Sheraton Washington D.c. Downtown
Hotels
-
1
Saul Subsidiary II Limited Partnership
601 Pennsylvania Ave NW -
2
10th Street Grill
518 10th St NW -
3
Bar Louie, Washington DC
701 7th Street NW -
4
Chinese Consolidated Bnvlnt
510 I St NW -
5
Stoneys Beef N Beer
1307 L St NW -
6
Tantra Lounge at indebleu
707 G St NW -
7
Bluepoint Fish Club
1299 Pennsylvania Ave NW -
8
Bistro Bis
15 E St NW -
9
Mio
1110 Vermont Ave NW -
10
Legal Sea Foods - 7th Street
704 7th Street NW -
11
Lima Restaurant & Lounge
1401 K St NW -
12
District Chophouse & Brewery
509 7th St NW -
13
Oya Restuarant & Lounge
777 9th St NW -
14
Carmine's
425 7th St NW -
15
Dc Coast
1401 K St NW -
16
Clyde's Of Gallery Place
707 7th St NW -
17
Ceiba
701 14th St NW -
18
Charlie Palmer Steak
101 Constitution Ave NW -
19
Capital Grille
601 Pennsylvania Ave NW -
20
Rasika
633 D St NW
-
1
Lotus Tours
610 I St NW -
2
National Aquarium
1401 Constitution Ave -
3
Korea Business Center
1225 I St NW -
4
Lafayette Park
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW -
5
White House
600 Pennsylvania Ave NW -
6
Insect Zoo at National Museum of Natural History
10th St and Constitution Ave NW -
7
Farragut Square Park
Farragut Square -
8
Lafayette Park
Pennsylvania Ave and Jackson Pl, NW -
9
Franklin Square Park
14th Street & K Street NW -
10
National Portrait Gallery
8th St & F St NW -
11
National Museum of Natural History
10th St & Constitution Ave Nw -
12
Madame Tussauds
1001 F St NW -
13
Ford's Theatre
511 10th St NW -
14
National Geographic Museum
1145 17th Street, NW -
15
National Museum Of Crime & Punishment
575 7th St NW -
16
Hard Rock Cafe - Washington DC
999 E Street, NW -
17
Washington DC Dinner Cruise
Book Tours Online! -
18
Gettysburg Day Trip from Washington DC
Book Tours Online! -
19
Lincoln Assassination Walking Tour in Washington DC
Book Tours Online! -
20
DC Newseum
555 Pennsylvania Avenue NW -
21
Admission to Washington DC Newseum
Book Tours Online! -
22
National Gallery of Art Small-Group Walking Tour
Book Tours Online!
-
1
Four Points By Sheraton Washington D.c. Downtown
1201 K St Nw -
2
Crowne Plaza Hamilton
1001 14th St NW -
3
Hyatt Regency Washington Dc
400 New Jersey Ave NW -
4
Westin Washington Dc
1400 M Street, NW -
5
The Liaison Capitol Hill, An Affinia Hotel
415 New Jersey Ave Nw -
6
Phoenix Park Hotel
520 N Capitol St NW -
7
Washington Court Hotel
525 New Jersey Ave Nw -
8
Hilton Garden Inn Washington Dc Downtown
815 14th St NW -
9
Renaissance Washington, Dc Downtown Hotel
999 9th St Nw -
10
Sofitel Washington Dc Lafayette Square
806 15th Street NW -
11
Bridgestreet City Center
825 Tenth Street NW -
12
Luxury Flat Downtown DC
300 Massachusetts Avenue NW -
13
Hyatt Place DC/Downtown/K Street
1522 K Street, NW -
14
W Washington D.c.
515 15th Street, NW -
15
The Hay-adams
800 16th Street NW -
16
Residence Inn By Marriott Washington, Dc Downtown
1199 Vermont Ave Nw -
17
Donovan House, A Kimpton Hotel
1155 14th St NW
© 2024 WashingtonDC.com: A City Guide by Boulevards. All Rights Reserved. Advertise with us | Contact us | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Site Map