Paul Walker


Paul Walker has long had a reputation as go-to man, a musician and songwriter whose career is better-known on the business side of the New Zealand music industry. Well-travelled, he has operated in Hamilton, Auckland and Takaka, and as far afield as Sydney and Singapore.

He was born in New Plymouth on 3 January 1949, the third of six children, and raised in the small Northern Taranaki township of Urenui. The family later shifted to Taumarunui and then Putaruru. In the late 1960s he was at Hamilton Teachers College; it was in Hamilton where he began to take a greater interest in music.

Paul Walker with Mike Knapp, early 1980s
Paul Walker
All-Stars Play the Blues end of tour dinner at Christchurch, 1984. Rear, left to right, Dennis Ryan, Hammond Gamble, Beaver, Wilko Johnson, Jane West, Neil Edwards, Paul Walker, Midge Marsden, Mike Farrell. Front, Walter Bianco, Sonny Day, Paul Hewson.
Photo credit: Photo by Wiiliam West. Courtesy of Paul Walker.
Josie Rika and Beaver, backstage, c. 1990. On the right are Nikki Walker, Paul Walker and Graham Brazier
Paul Walker was delighted to support Tony Joe White in 1999 with his own band the Lapsed Catholics – he’d finally got back to performing and not just promoting.
Paul Walker
Poster for a 2016 gig at the Grey Lynn RSC by Paul Walker and the Lapsed Catholics. Photo by Garry Brandon
Photo credit: Garry Brandon
Stuart Pearce, Paul Woolright, Paul Walker, Sonny Day, and Beaver in 1983 after an All-Stars gig.
Paul Walker and his son William, Powerstation, Auckland, c2012. Photo by Garry Brandon
Photo credit: Garry Brandon
Paul Walker, c2000 - Photo by Garry Brandon
Photo credit: Garry Brandon
Paul Walker and friend.
Paul Walker and Johnny "Big Moose" Walker, 1983
'It's a Long Way to Tipperary' - 2000 album by Paul Walker's Lapsed Catholics. All the songs were written and sung by Walker, and the musicians included Gary Verberne, Gordon Joll, Stuart Pearce, Rick Poole, and Jono Lonie.
Paul Walker, 1990s - photo by Garry Brandon
Photo credit: Garry Brandon
The All-Stars and friends outside the Gluepot, Auckland, c. 1985.
Paul Walker on bass with Mike Knapp on drums, at the Gluepot, 1991, for a BFM recording session. They were backing Chris Coe, an Irishman from Melbourne. Knapp would later drum for the Warratahs. Photo by Garry Brandon
Photo credit: Garry Brandon
Java Jive Café country nights, 1993. Left to right, Rob Galley, Jono Lonie (obscured), Paul Walker, Glen Moffatt, Jeremy Dart. 
Photo credit: Photo by Billy Lawry
Paul Walker at an early Lapsed Catholics gig, 1990s. Photo by Garry Brandon
Photo credit: Garry Brandon
Paul Walker at his house on Waiheke Island, 1990s. Photo by Garry Brandon
Photo credit: Garry Brandon
Backstage after a charity gig in the mid-1980s. From left: Dave Dobbyn, Jenny Morris, Paul Walker, and Peter Rowley. 
Photo credit: Nikki Walker collection
Paul Walker in a session by Garry Brandon for the cover of the It's a Long Way to Tipperary CD, by Paul Walker's Lapsed Catholics, 2000
Photo credit: Garry Brandon
Paul Walker and the Lapsed Catholics play a Gluepot reunion at the Powerstation, Auckland, c2012. From left are Rick Poole, Dennis Ryan, Paul Walker, his son William Walker, and Herb. Photo by Garry Brandon
Photo credit: Garry Brandon

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