Colin Walker (born 8 July 1949) is an English

cellist The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

who played with

Electric Light Orchestra The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood and drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop and classical arrangement ...

(ELO) from 1972 to 1973. He was born in

Minchinhampton Minchinhampton is a Cotswold Hills, Cotswolds market town and a civil parish in the Stroud District of Gloucestershire, South West England. The town is located on a hilltop, south-east of Stroud. The common offers wide views over the Severn Est ...

, Gloucestershire, and was educated at Marling School in

Stroud Stroud is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021. Sited below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the ...

and the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

in London. By his own admission, his greatest regret was not playing on

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

' "

Eleanor Rigby "Eleanor Rigby" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1966 album ''Revolver''. It was also issued on a double A-side single, paired with " Yellow Submarine". Credited to the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership, the s ...

". Walker was recruited into ELO after founding member

Roy Wood Roy Wood (born 8 November 1946) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He was particularly successful in the 1960s and 1970s as member and co-founder of the Move, Electric Light Orchestra and Wizzard. Wood formed the Move in 1965, and ...

quit the band and took cellist

Hugh McDowell Hugh Alexander McDowell (31 July 1953 – 6 November 2018) was an English cellist and member of the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) and related acts. Career McDowell started playing the cello at the age of four-and-a-half; by the age of 10, he ...

and horn player/keyboardist Bill Hunt with him and also joining at the time on bass was

Mike de Albuquerque Mike de Albuquerque (born 24 June 1947, Wimbledon, Surrey) is an English musician, who was a member of the progressive rock band Electric Light Orchestra from 1972 to 1974. Biography In 1971, in partnership with percussionist Frank Ricotti, A ...

. Their new bandmates were singer/songwriter/guitarist/bandleader

Jeff Lynne Jeffrey Lynne (born 30 December 1947) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He is the co-founder and, latterly, sole member of the rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) which was formed in 1970. He has written all of ...

, drummer

Bev Bevan Beverley Bevan (born 25 November 1944) is an English rock musician who was the drummer and one of the original members of the Move and Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). After the end of ELO in 1986, he founded ELO Part II. Bevan also was a drum ...

, keyboardist

Richard Tandy Richard Tandy (26 March 1948 – 1 May 2024) was an English musician. He was the full-time keyboardist in the band Electric Light Orchestra ("ELO"). His palette of keyboards (including Minimoog, Clavinet, Mellotron, and piano) was an important ...

(who had previously played bass, but switched to keyboards), violinist Wilf Gibson and cellist Mike Edwards and, at the time, Walker lived in a

bachelor flat ''Bachelor Flat'' is a 1962 American DeLuxe Color comedy film directed by Frank Tashlin and starring Tuesday Weld, Richard Beymer, Terry-Thomas, and Celeste Holm. Filmed in CinemaScope in Malibu, California, the film is a revised version of Tas ...

in the London suburb of Queen's Park. During his time in ELO, Walker played cello on two of their albums – ''

ELO 2 ''ELO 2'' is the second studio album by the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), released in 1973. In the US, the album was released as ''Electric Light Orchestra II''. It was the band's last album to be released by the Harvest label, the last (in ...

'' and side two of ''

On the Third Day ''On the Third Day'' is the third studio album by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), and the first to be recorded without input from Roy Wood. It was released in the United States in November 1973 by United Artists Records, and in the United Ki ...

'' – and he used a German-made cello with steel strings. He also contributed cello to the single '' Showdown''. After leaving ELO, Walker joined the orchestra at the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

in Covent Garden, London. He played cello on "Fool's Gold", a track on the album ''Thought Talk'' by the rock band Starry Eyed and Laughing Walker has also worked as a teacher.

References

Sources * * 1949 births Living people Electric Light Orchestra members British rock cellists People from Minchinhampton People educated at Marling School English cellists British pop cellists Players of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House English classical cellists {{Cellist-stub