Karl Wallinger, who left the band The Waterboys to form World Party, died on March 10, and now, his former band has paid tribute to him on their official website.
“Karl was an integral part of The Waterboys from 1983 to the end of 1985, and was one of the original touring line-up. He made many powerful contributions to the band during his membership,” the band writes. “Among his great Waterboy moments were the synthesizers on ‘The Whole Of The Moon‘ … and [he] played unique synth bass on half the This Is The Sea album.”
“The Whole of the Moon” is The Waterboys’ most successful song; it got plenty of rotation on MTV in 1985 and was also played on U.S. rock radio at the time. During U2‘s 2017 tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of The Joshua Tree, the band took the stage to perform “The Whole of the Moon” each night.
“The demos he and [Waterboys frontman] Mike Scott recorded at Karl’s home studio, Seaview, were integral to the development of the band’s sound during that era,” the message noted.
Scott also wrote on Twitter, “Travel on well, my old friend. You are one of the finest musicians I’ve ever known.”‘
With World Party, Wallinger recorded popular tracks like “Way Down Now,” “Ship of Fools,” “Is It Like Today?” and “Put the Message In the Box.”
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