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Wally Badarou

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Wally Badarou
Wally Badarou in 2016
Wally Badarou in 2016
Background information
Birth nameWaliou Jacques Daniel Isheola Badarou
Born (1955-03-22) 22 March 1955 (age 69)
Paris, France
GenresSynthpop, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, progressive rock, African music, neoclassical, minimalist
Occupation(s)Composer, songwriter, musician, record producer
Instrument(s)Keyboards, guitar, programming
Years active1978–present
LabelsBarclay Records (1978–1982)
Island Records (1982–1995)
Blue Mountain Music (1995–2002)
Ishe Music (2002–present)
Websitehttp://www.wallybadarou.com/

Waliou Jacques Daniel Isheola "Wally" Badarou (born 22 March 1955) is a French musician. Born in France with ancestry from Benin, West Africa, Badarou is known for his close association with the English group Level 42, and for his prolific work as a session musician with a wide variety of performers from around the world.

Biography

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Badarou was the long-time associate of the British band Level 42, 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's founder Chris Blackwell, and he was one of the Compass Point All Stars (with Sly and Robbie, Barry Reynolds, Mikey Chung and Uziah "Sticky" Thompson), the in-house recording team of Compass Point Studios responsible for a long series of albums of the 1980s recorded by Grace Jones, Tom Tom Club, Joe Cocker, Mick Jagger, Black Uhuru, Gwen Guthrie, Jimmy Cliff and Gregory Isaacs.[1]

Badarou's keyboard playing could also be heard on albums by Robert Palmer, Marianne Faithfull,[2] Herbie Hancock, M (Pop Muzik), Talking Heads, Foreigner, Power Station, Melissa Etheridge, Manu Dibango, Miriam Makeba, and Lizzy Mercier Descloux.

He produced albums by Fela Kuti, Salif Keita, Wasis Diop, Trilok Gurtu, Carlinhos Brown; wrote for the films Countryman, and Kiss of the Spider Woman; plus directed and wrote for Jean-Paul Goude's French Bicentennial parade, Bastille Day 1989.[3] So integral was his involvement on Lizzy Mercier Descloux's classic second album, Mambo Nassau, that he is tantamount to uncredited co-producer and unacknowledged co-songwriter.

His solo instrumental work includes two albums: Echoes (1984) and Words of a Mountain (1989). The former included "Chief Inspector", "Mambo" (sampled for Massive Attack's "Daydreaming" (Blue Lines album)), and "Hi-Life". "Chief Inspector" peaked at #46 in the UK Singles Chart in October 1985.[4]

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 Synclavier, and custom voice-controlled Yamaha digital mixers.[5][citation needed]

Badarou also helped organise the Kora All Africa Music Awards in 1997, while co-writing and producing So Why, a charity album for the ICRC, conceived as a call against ethnic cleansing in Africa, featuring Youssou N'Dour and Papa Wemba.

He has embraced stage acting since the early 2000s, showing interest in aviation, movies, science-fiction and philosophy.[citation needed]

By the end of 2009, starting with Fisherman, a 15-minute long "marathon in afro-beat territory",[6] Badarou releases his albums—including his latest, The Unnamed Trilogy—exclusively online, 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".[6]

Discography

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Solo

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  • 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

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Producer (and co-producer)

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Session player

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Bibliography

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  • Melissa Chemam, "Massive Attack: Out of the Comfort Zone", Tangent Books, ISBN 1910089729, ISBN 978-1910089729 (2019).

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Chris Salewicz's "Keep on running: The story of Island Records", Universe, p. 120 & 135.
  2. ^ David Dalton's "Faithfull: An Autobiography", Little Brown & Co, p. 242 & 245.
  3. ^ Alain Gardinier "365 jours de l'histoire du rock" Ed. de la Martinière, p.154.
  4. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 39. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  5. ^ Keyboard Magazine, May 1986, p. 69.
  6. ^ a b Official Wally Badarou web site http://www.wallybadarou.com
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