Jim Walker (born 1955) is a Canadian musician who was a founding director as well as the original drummer for the UK music group Public Image Ltd.

Early life and education

James Donat Walker was born in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

. He first trained as a jazz drummer at the

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

in Boston, where he was taught by Alan Dawson and Joe Hunt.

Career

In 1977, Walker, along with Malcolm Hasman and Chris Arnett, formed the Vancouver area punk band the Furies, the first

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

band in Western Canada. The band broke up after a few months, and Walker moved to London later that year. In early May 1978, after answering an ad placed in ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

'', he auditioned for and became a founding member of Public Image Ltd., with

John Lydon John Joseph Lydon ( ; born 31 January 1956), also known by his former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a British-born singer, songwriter, author, and television personality. He was the lead vocalist of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols, which was ...

Keith Levene Julian Keith Levene (18 July 1957 – 11 November 2022) was an English musician who was a founding member of both the Clash and Public Image Ltd (PiL). While Levene was in PiL, their 1978 debut album '' Public Image: First Issue'' reached No. 2 ...

, and John Wardle (

Jah Wobble John Joseph Wardle (born 11 August 1958), known by the stage name Jah Wobble, is an English bass guitarist and singer. He became known to a wider audience as the original bass player in Public Image Ltd (PiL) in the late 1970s and early 1980s; ...

). Dissatisfied with the band's direction, he left PiL as a player in February 1979, and as a director in January 1980. After PiL, he played for a few lesser known local London bands, including

Kirk Brandon Kirk Brandon (born 3 August 1956) is an English musician best known as the leader of the bands Theatre of Hate and Spear of Destiny. Musical career Brandon's music career started in 1978, in Clapham, south London, with the formation of punk g ...

Theatre of Hate Theatre of Hate are a British post-punk band formed in London, England, in 1980. Led by singer-songwriter and guitarist Kirk Brandon (formerly of The Pack), the original group also consisted of bassist Stan Stammers (formerly of The Straps ...

's first band, The Pack, and

Stan Stammers Stan Stammers (born 19 May 1961, England) is an English musician best known as the bass player for the bands Theatre of Hate, Spear of Destiny (band), Spear of Destiny and Plastic Eaters. Early life Stammers grew up in Saffron Walden, Essex. ...

' band The Straps, before forming the

Human Condition The human condition can be defined as the characteristics and key events of human life, including birth, learning, emotion, aspiration, reason, morality, conflict, and death. This is a very broad topic that has been and continues to be pondered ...

in 1981 with Jah Wobble and Dave "Animal" Maltby. The Human Condition were together for just over a year, playing to mixed reviews, before disbanding in 1982. In 1984, he left London for New York, and after playing that year left the

music industry The music industry are individuals and organizations that earn money by Songwriter, writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music and sheet music, presenting live music, concerts, ...

. Walker was interviewed for the 2017 documentary film, ''The Public Image is Rotten''."The Public Image Is Rotten"
''Chicago Reader'', j. R. Jones.

References

External links

Living people Berklee College of Music alumni Canadian punk rock drummers Canadian male drummers Musicians from Edmonton Public Image Ltd members 1955 births {{Punk-music-stub