Butch Walker

Bradley Glenn "Butch" Walker (born November 14, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer.

He was the lead guitarist for the glam metal band SouthGang from the late 1980s to early 1990s and the lead vocalist and guitarist for rock band Marvelous 3 from 1997 until 2001.

Walker grew up in Cartersville, Georgia, working as a guitarist and performer in several rock bands in the 1980s, including Bad Boys and Bite the Bullet.

In 1988, Bite the Bullet moved to Los Angeles and were signed to Virgin Records within the year.

SouthGang was one of the first bands to tour China in the early 1990s.

Following modifications to their record contract, they disbanded, still remaining on good terms.

After Southgang was disbanded, Walker formed a new band with ex-SouthGang members Jayce Fincher and Mitch McLee ( Doug Mitchell), calling themselves "Floyd's Funk Revival" after Walker's birthplace Floyd County, Georgia.

Walker shared lead vocals in the band with Fincher's wife and Chrystina Lloree.

They released one full-length album, Creamy.

The album contained thirteen original tracks with Lloree taking a large share of the lead vocals and heavy reliance on guitar.

The band then shortened their name to The Floyds.

They then released one self-titled album on the Deep South label, which contained ten original tracks along with a humorous intro piece.

Bonus tracks included a cover of Duran Duran's "Rio", and a live rendition of the Shasta soda jingle from the late seventies.

The style of both these albums was guitar-oriented, mainstream rock with mild funk influences and was a forerunner to the more basic guitar-oriented rock approach Walker took later with Marvelous 3.

Although the albums are highly regarded among fans, they were commercial failures at the time.

The band then changed their name to SouthGang and released two albums, Tainted Angel in 1991 and Group Therapy in 1992.

In 1997, Walker, Fincher, and McLee scaled back to a trio and adopted a power pop sound with Walker handling lead vocals.

Calling themselves Marvelous 3, they released the album Math and Other Problems in 1997.

They followed this in 1999 with Hey! Album and had a minor hit with the song "Freak of the Week."

The next year, they released their final album, ReadySexGo, which failed to continue the momentum created by the prior releases.

They disbanded the band in 2001.

Their final concert was on August 3, 2001, at Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park in front of their hometown fans.

On April 25, 2023, Butch Walker announced on Atlanta's 99X that the band was getting back together for a new album, a re-release of "Hey Album," and a show on October 27, 2023, at the Tabernacle in Atlanta.

Butch Walker then began a solo career, releasing the albums Left of Self-Centered in 2002, Letters in 2004 and The Rise and Fall of Butch Walker and the Let's-Go-Out-Tonites in 2006.

In 2005 he played over 200 live shows across both the U.S. and Japan, and he released his first DVD, Live at Budokan. Butch Walker was featured as a headlining artist on the MySpace-promoted Inaugural Hotel Cafe tour, supporting independent artists from the Los Angeles venue of the same name.

A music video was released for "Ships in a Bottle" featuring Walker walking on the grounds of his home on Sycamore Meadows Drive in Southern California after it was destroyed by the wildfires of November 2007.

Both Maya and Sycamore Meadows were released on a limited run of vinyl.

In 2008, Walker released the live album Leavin' the Game on Luckie Street.

He then collaborated with Michael Chislett of The Academy Is... and Darren Dodd of The Let's Go Out Tonites under the name 1969, releasing a full-length debut album titled Maya on April 1, 2008.

Walker played a series of sold-out acoustic live shows beginning in fall 2009, accompanied at various times by Pink, actor Jeremy Piven, Jim Bianco, the Chapin Sisters, Gregory Macdonald of Sloan (band) and more.

Out of the shows came a cover of Taylor Swift's single "You Belong with Me" on banjolin, which was later recorded as a video and audio version in his studio.

Swift blogged about the video and then invited Walker to appear with her at the winter 2010 Grammy Awards.

Walker began working on his next album in 2009, and ultimately released I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart on February 23, 2010, under the band name Butch Walker & the Black Widows.

Recording sessions were held at Ruby-Red Productions in Santa Monica, California.

Walker's support of the record included touring with Train beginning March 2010, a headlining tour of the US, and opening for Pink in Europe on her Stadium Festival Tour.

His 4th album, Sycamore Meadows, was released on November 11, with the first single being "The Weight of Her".

On August 30, 2011, Butch Walker released his second album with the Black Widows, titled The Spade.

On October 25, 2011, Walker released his first book, an autobiography entitled Drinking with Strangers: Music Lessons from a Teenage Bullet Belt.

In late 2012, Walker was featured on the show Live from Daryl's House on MTV Live (then Palladia).

Following the release of two EPs in 2013 and 2014, Walker released his seventh full-length album, Afraid of Ghosts, on February 3, 2015.