Jim Walker
Also recorded as James Donat Walker
Jim Walker
- Full name
- James Donat Walker.
- Born
- 1955 · Edmonton.
- Nationality
- Canada · United Kingdom
- Occupation
- musician · songwriter · drummer
- Fields
- punk rock
- Education
- Berklee College of Music
- Languages
- English
In this article
Key facts
• Name — Jim Walker • Born — 1955 • Birthplace — Edmonton, Alberta, Canada • Genre — Punk rock, post-punk • Occupation — Drummer • Years Active — 1977–1984 • Past Member Of — Public Image Ltd. 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, Alberta. He first trained as a jazz drummer at the Berklee College of Music 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 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, he auditioned for and became a founding member of Public Image Ltd., with John Lydon, Keith Levene, and John Wardle (Jah Wobble). 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 of Theatre of Hate's first band, The Pack, and Stan Stammers' band The Straps, before forming the Human Condition 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. Walker was interviewed for the 2017 documentary film, The Public Image is Rotten.
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Jim Walker (drummer), revision 1356254942 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1."PiL: The Public Image Is Rotten (Songs From the Heart) review – how John Lydon bulldozed pop". The Guardian, Chal Ravens, 19 Jul 2018
- 2."Jim Walker". Allmusic, Biography by Eugene Chadbourne
- 3."The Furies". Bloodied but Unbowed, Scott Beadle and Les Wiseman | January 22, 2010
- 4."Record Bin: How Public Image Ltd escaped the shadow of its punk lineage on “Metal Box”". Nooga Today, May 16, 2017.
- 5.Steve Taylor. The A to X of Alternative Music. A&C Black. 196. 27 September 2006. 978-0-8264-8217-4.
- 6.Palgrave Macmillan UK. Historical Theory and Methods through Popular Music, 1970–2000: "Those are the New Saints". 161. 17 August 2017. 978-1-137-57072-7.
- 7."John Werner on the Furies, the Pack, Theatre of Hate, and the Vancouver–U.K. punk migration". Georgia Straight, by Allan MacInnis, January 15, 2019
- 8.Ian Glasper. Burning Britain: The History of UK Punk 1980–1984. PM Press. 308 Dead link. March 2023. 978-1-60486-989-7.
- 9.Simon Reynolds. Totally Wired: Postpunk Interviews and Overviews. Soft Skull Press. 32 Dead link. March 2023. 978-1-59376-394-7.
- 10."John Lydon resurrects his 'folk band'". The Globe and Mail, May 7, 2010, Joshua Ostroff
- 11."The Public Image Is Rotten". Chicago Reader, j. R. Jones.
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 31 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Music memorabilia
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