Waliou Jacques Daniel Isheola "Wally" Badarou (born 22 March 1955) is a French musician. Born in France with ancestry from

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the nort ...

, West Africa, Badarou is known for his close association with the English group

Level 42 Level 42 is an English jazz-funk band formed on the Isle of Wight in 1979. They had a number of UK and worldwide hits during the 1980s and 1990s. Their highest-charting single in the UK was " Lessons in Love", which reached number three on th ...

, and for his prolific work as a

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

with a wide variety of performers from around the world.

Biography

Badarou was the long-time associate of the British band

, contributing on keyboards, synthesizers and programming. He has co-written and performed on a number of the band's tracks since their recording début in 1980, later co-producing them. Though never an official member of Level 42, he could be considered a ''de facto'' "fifth member" of the band's classic line-up from 1980 through 1994, as he played keyboards and synths on all their studio albums, and co-wrote and/or co-produced much of their material. However, Badarou did not play with Level 42 on concert dates, and he has not been involved with the revived version of the group, which reunited in the early 2000s. Badarou was close to

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anothe ...

's founder

Chris Blackwell Christopher Percy Gordon Blackwell (born 22 June 1937) is an English businessman and former record producer, and the founder of Island Records, which has been called "one of Britain's great independent labels". According to the Rock and Roll ...

, and he was one of the Compass Point All Stars (with

Sly and Robbie Sly and Robbie were a prolific Jamaican rhythm section and production duo, associated primarily with the reggae and dub genres. Drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare teamed up in the mid-1970s after establishing themselves separa ...

Barry Reynolds Barry Reynolds (born 27 October 1949, in Bolton, Lancashire) is a British guitar player, songwriter, composer and producer, best known for his long-lasting collaboration with Marianne Faithfull. Reynolds first emerged with the band Pacific Drift ...

, Mikey Chung and Uziah "Sticky" Thompson), the in-house recording team of

Compass Point Studios Compass Point Studios was a music recording studio in the Bahamas, founded in 1977 by Chris Blackwell, the owner of Island Records. The concept of the studio was of a recording facility supported by in-house sets of artists, musicians, producer ...

responsible for a long series of

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

s of the 1980s recorded by

Grace Jones Grace Beverly Jones (born 19 May 1948) is a model, singer and actress. Born in Jamaica, she and her family moved to Syracuse, New York, when she was a teenager. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for ...

Tom Tom Club Tom Tom Club is an American new wave band founded in 1981 by husband-and-wife team Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth and as a side project from Talking Heads. Their best known songs include " Wordy Rappinghood", " Genius of Love", and a cover ...

Joe Cocker John Robert "Joe" Cocker (20 May 1944 – 22 December 2014) was an English singer known for his gritty, bluesy voice and dynamic stage performances that featured expressive body movements. Most of his best known singles were recordings of son ...

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...

Black Uhuru Black Uhuru is a Jamaican reggae group formed in 1972, initially as Uhuru ( Swahili for 'freedom'). The group has undergone several line-up changes over the years, with Derrick "Duckie" Simpson as the mainstay. They had their most successful pe ...

, Gwen Guthrie,

Jimmy Cliff James Chambers OM (born 30 July 1944), known professionally as Jimmy Cliff, is a Jamaican ska, rocksteady, reggae and soul musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and actor. He is the only living reggae musician to hold the Order of Merit, t ...

and Gregory Isaacs. Badarou's keyboard playing could also be heard on albums by Robert Palmer,

Marianne Faithfull Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull (born 29 December 1946) is an English singer and actress. She achieved popularity in the 1960s with the release of her hit single " As Tears Go By" and became one of the lead female artists during the British I ...

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he hel ...

, M (

Pop Muzik "Pop Muzik" is a 1979 song by M, a project by English musician Robin Scott, from the debut album '' New York • London • Paris • Munich''. The single, first released in the UK in early 1979, was bolstered by a music video (directed by B ...

Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.Talki ...

, Foreigner,

Power Station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many ...

, Melissa Etheridge, Manu Dibango and

Miriam Makeba Zenzile Miriam Makeba (4 March 1932 – 9 November 2008), nicknamed Mama Africa, was a South African singer, songwriter, actress, and civil rights activist. Associated with musical genres including Afropop, jazz, and world music, she w ...

. He produced albums by

Fela Kuti Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti (born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti; 15 October 1938 – 2 August 1997), also known as Abami Eda, was a Nigerian musician, bandleader, composer, political activist, and Pan-Africanist. He is regarded as the pi ...

Salif Keita Salif Keïta () (born 25 August 1949) is a Malian singer-songwriter, referred to as the "Golden Voice of Africa". He is a member of the Keita royal family of Mali. Biography Early life Salif Keita was born a traditional prince in the village o ...

Wasis Diop Wasis Diop (born 1950 in Dakar, Senegal) is a Senegalese musician of international renown, known for blending traditional Senegalese folk music with modern pop and jazz. Early life The son of a Senegalese high official and member of the Lebou eth ...

, Trilok Gurtu,

Carlinhos Brown Antônio Carlos Santos de Freitas, known professionally as Carlinhos Brown (Brazilian Portuguese: /kaʁˈlĩɲus bɾaw̃, -iɲuʃ/, 23 November 1962), is a Brazilian singer, percussionist, and record producer from Salvador, Bahia. His musical ...

; wrote for the

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

s '' Countryman'', and '' Kiss of the Spider Woman''; plus directed and wrote for Jean-Paul Goude's French Bicentennial parade, Bastille Day 1989. His solo

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...

work includes two albums: ''Echoes'' (1984) and ''Words Of A Mountain'' (1989). The former included "Chief Inspector", "Mambo" ( sampled for

Massive Attack Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol by Robert "3D" Del Naja, Adrian "Tricky" Thaws, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. The debut Massive Attack album '' Blue Lines'' was releas ...

's "

Daydreaming Daydreaming is the stream of consciousness that detaches from current, external tasks when attention drifts to a more personal and internal direction. This phenomenon is common in people's daily life shown by a large-scale study in which partici ...

" ('' Blue Lines'' album)), and "Hi-Life". "Chief Inspector" peaked at #46 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in October 1985. The ''Words Of A Mountain'' album is believed to be one of the first fully tapeless recordings in contemporary/new-age history: co-pioneering the computerised home studio concept with other electronic musicians of his generation, Badarou established a reputation on the field with his extensive use of Sequential Circuits Prophet 5,

New England Digital New England Digital Corporation (1976–1993) was founded in Norwich, Vermont, and relocated to White River Junction, Vermont. It was best known for its signature product, the Synclavier Synthesizer System, which evolved into the Synclavier Digit ...

Synclavier The Synclavier is an early digital synthesizer, polyphonic digital sampling system, and music workstation manufactured by New England Digital Corporation of Norwich, Vermont. It was produced in various forms from the late 1970s into the earl ...

, and custom voice-controlled Yamaha digital mixers.Keyboard Magazine, May 1986, p. 69. Badarou also helped organise the

Kora All Africa Music Awards The KORA All Africa Music Awards are music awards given annually for musical achievement in sub-Saharan Africa. The awards were founded in 1994 by Benin born businessman, Ernest Adjovi, after a discussion in Namibia with the country's President Ha ...

in 1997, while co-writing and producing ''So Why'', a charity album for the

ICRC The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...

, conceived as a call against

ethnic cleansing Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, and religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making a region ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal, extermination, deportation or population transfer ...

in Africa, featuring

Youssou N'Dour Youssou N'Dour (, wo, Yuusu Nduur; also known as Youssou Madjiguène Ndour; born 1 October 1959) is a Senegalese singer, songwriter, musician, composer, occasional actor, businessman, and politician. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine describe ...

and

Papa Wemba Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba (14 June 1949 – 24 April 2016), known professionally as Papa Wemba (), was a Congolese singer and musician who played Congolese rumba, soukous, and ndombolo. Dubbed the "King of Rumba Rock", he was one of t ...

. He has embraced stage acting since the early 2000s, showing interest in aviation, movies, science-fiction and philosophy. By the end of 2009, starting with ''Fisherman'', a 15 mn long "''marathon in afro-beat territory'' ",Official Wally Badarou web site http://www.wallybadarou.com . Badarou released his latest album (''The Unnamed Trilogy''): online exclusively, one single at a time, via the JukeSticker, a direct and sharable transaction tool: "''At very long last, my fans are to receive the music that never stopped haunting me all these years. The whole of it will be available as a physical collector set, once the three albums are fully revealed'' ".

Discography

Solo

*1979: ''Back to Scales Tonight'' *1984: ''Echoes'' *1985: ''Chief Inspector'' (EP) *1989: ''Words of a Mountain'' *1997: ''So Why'' *2001: ''Colors of Silence : Musical poetry for Yoga'' *2009: ''The Unnamed Trilogy''

Movie scores

*1981: Dickie Jobson: ''Countryman'' *1982:

Nathalie Delon Nathalie Delon (born Francine Canovas, also known as Nathalie Barthélémy; 1 August 194121 January 2021) was a French actress, model, film director and writer. In the 1960s, Nathalie was regarded as one of the most beautiful women in the world ...

& Yves Deschamps: ''They Call It an Accident'' *1985:

Hector Babenco In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...

: ''Kiss Of The SpiderWoman'' (additional music) *1991:

Lol Creme Laurence Neil "Lol" Creme (born 19 September 1947) is an English musician and music video director, best known for his work in 10cc. He sings and plays guitar, bass and keyboards. Biography Creme was born in Prestwich, Lancashire, England. L ...

: ''The Lunatic'' *1997:

Idrissa Ouedraogo Idrissa is a masculine given name. Notable people with the name include: * Idrissa Adam (born 1984), Cameroonian sprinter * Idrissa Camara, Guinean-born dancer and choreographer * Idrissa Camará (born 1992), Bissau-Guinean footballer * Idrissa Cou ...

: ''Kini & Adams'' *1997:

Don Letts Donovan "Don" Letts (born 10 January 1956) is a British film director, disc jockey (DJ) and musician. Letts first came to prominence as the videographer for the Clash, directing several of their music videos. In 1984, Letts co-founded the band B ...

& Rick Elgood: ''DanceHall Queen'' *1999:

Chris Browne Christopher Kelly Browne (May 16, 1952 – February 5, 2023) was an American comic strip artist and cartoonist. He was the son of cartoonist Dik Browne and brother of cartoonist Chance Browne. From 1989 to 2023, Browne wrote and drew the comic s ...

: ''Third World Cop'' *2000: John Berry: ''Boesman & Lena''

Producer (and co-producer)

*1979: Janic Prévost - ''J'veux d'la Tendresse'' *1981:

Alain Chamfort Alain Chamfort (born Alain Joseph Yves Le Govic; 2 March 1949) is a French singer of Breton origin. Life and career Chamfort was a promising pianist in his youth, and the piano became his instrument of choice. His first band The Dreamers h ...

- ''Amour Année Zéro'' *1983:

- ''A Child's Adventure'' (& co-writer) *1985:

- ''World Machine'' (& co-writer) *1986:

- ''Tendres Fièvres'' (& co-writer) *1986:

Fela Anikulapo Kuti Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti (born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti; 15 October 1938 – 2 August 1997), also known as Abami Eda, was a Nigerian musician, bandleader, composer, political activist, and Pan-Africanist. He is regarded as the pio ...

- ''Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense'' *1987: Level 42 - ''

Running in the Family ''Running in the Family'' is the seventh studio album by British band Level 42, released in 1987. It features the UK hit singles: "Lessons in Love" (which reached No. 3 in May 1986), "Running in the Family" (No. 6 in February 1987), "To Be wit ...

'' (& co-writer) *1988: Level 42 - '' Staring at the Sun'' (& co-writer) *1990: Level 42 - '' Guaranteed'' (& co-writer) *1993: Level 42 - '' Forever Now'' (& co-writer) *1995:

- ''Folon'' *1996: Carlinhos Brown - ''AlfaGamaBetizado'' *1998:

Yannick Noah Yannick Noah (; born 18 May 1960) is a French former professional tennis player and singer. Noah won the French Open in 1983, and is currently the captain of both France's Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup teams. During his nearly two-decade ...

& Zam Zam - ''Zam Zam'' *1998: Wasis Diop - ''Toxu'' *2000: Trilok Gurtu -''The Beat Of Love'' (& co-writer) *2001:

i Muvrini I Muvrini is a Corsican folk music group, who sing traditional Corsican music in their native Corsican language. History The group was formed in the early 1980s by the brothers Jean-François Bernardini and Alain Bernardini both born in the vil ...

- ''Umani''

Session player

*1979: M - ''New-York, London, Paris, Munich'' ("

") *1979:

- '' Comme une symphonie d'amour'' *1980: Bernie Lyon - ''Bernie Lyon'' *1980:

- ''Warm Leatherette'' *1980: M - ''The Official Secrets Act'' *1980: Lizzy Mercier Descloux - ''Mambo Nassau'' *1980:

- ''The Early Tapes'' (& co-writer) *1981:

- ''Nightclubbing'' *1981:

- ''Level 42'' (& co-writer) *1981: Bernie Lyon - ''I'm Living In The Sunshine'' *1981: Gibson Brothers - ''Quartier Latin'' *1981: Barry Reynolds - ''I Scare Myself'' *1981: Will Tura - ''Tura 81'' *1981:

- ''Give The People What They Want'' *1982:

Charlélie Couture Charlélie Couture (born Bertrand Charles Elie Couture, 26 February 1956) is a French & American musician and multi-disciplinary artist, who has recorded over 25 albums and 17 film soundtracks, and has held a number of exhibitions of paintings and ...

- ''Pochette Surprise'' *1982:

- ''Sheffield Steel'' *1982:

- ''Chill Out'' *1982: Gregory Isaacs - ''Night Nurse'' *1982:

- ''Living My Life'' *1982:

Gwen Guthrie Gwendolyn Guthrie (July 9, 1950 – February 3, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter and pianist who also sang backing vocals for Aretha Franklin, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, Peter Tosh, and Madonna, among others, and who wrote songs made f ...

- ''Gwen Guthrie'' *1982: Robin Scott & Shikisha - ''Jive Shikisha !'' *1982:

- ''The Pursuit Of Accidents'' (& co-writer) *1983:

- ''Standing In The Light'' (& co-writer) *1983:

Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.Talki ...

- ''Speaking In Tongues'' *1983:

Tom-Tom Club Tom Tom Club is an American New wave music, new wave band founded in 1981 by husband-and-wife team Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth and as a side project from Talking Heads. Their best known songs include "Wordy Rappinghood", "Genius of Love", a ...

- ''Close To The Bone'' *1984:

- ''True Colours'' (& co-writer) *1984: Foreigner - ''Agent Provocateur'' *1985:

- ''She's The Boss'' *1985:

- ''Some Like It Hot'' *1985:

- ''World Machine'' *1985:

- ''Just For You'' *1985:

Sly & Robbie Sly and Robbie were a prolific Jamaican rhythm section and production duo, associated primarily with the reggae and dub genres. Drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare teamed up in the mid-1970s after establishing themselves separa ...

- ''Language Barrier'' *1985: Robert Palmer - ''Riptide'' *1988: Manu Dibango - ''Electric Africa'' *1988: Melissa Etheridge - ''Melissa Etheridge'' *1988:

Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.Talki ...

- ''Naked'' *1988:

Julio Iglesias Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva (; born 23 September 1943) is a Spanish singer, songwriter and former professional footballer. Iglesias is recognized as the most commercially successful Spanish singer in the world and one of the top record ...

- ''Libra'' *1994:

- ''Living In Fear'' *2008:

- ''Hurricane'' *2009: Phil Gould - ''Watertight''

Bibliography

* Melissa Chemam, ''"Massive Attack: Out of the Comfort Zone"'', Tangent Books, , (2019).

References

External links

Official websiteWally Badarou discographywww.cosmicdisco.co.uk 'The Prophet Speaks' Exclusive Wally Badarou InterviewWally Badarou RBMA video lecture session
{{DEFAULTSORT:Badarou, Wally 1955 births Living people Level 42 members Tom Tom Club members Beninese musicians French keyboardists French people of Beninese descent Island Records artists

Biography

Discography

Solo

Movie scores

Producer (and co-producer)

Session player

Bibliography

See also

References

External links