Richard Walters (singer-songwriter)

Walters fronted a number of bands in his teens before signing to Warner Chappell Music Publishing as frontman of Theremin in 2001.[2] The band released one double A-side single—"In the Barn/Minor Planets"—through Oxford 'singles club' label Shifty Disco in 2001, before disbanding in late 2002.[3] Walters was then taken on as a solo artist by both Warner Chappell Music and Radiohead's Courtyard Management in 2003, recording the Umbrella Songs EP at the companies' Oxfordshire studios in 2004. The EP gained critical support on both sides of the Atlantic, catching the ear of KCRW presenter Nic Harcourt, who repeatedly played tracks from the EP on his Morning Becomes Eclectic show. "All at Sea", a short 2-minute piano-led track from the EP, was used in a closing scene of American television show CSI: Miami in 2005.[4]

Walters was diagnosed with epilepsy[5] in 2005 and took a break from writing and recording. He eventually returned to the studio in 2006 and released the resulting Guy Sigsworth (Frou Frou, Madonna, Björk) produced Pilotlights EP in 2007 on British label Big Scary Monsters.[6]

Walters has collaborated with The Cranberries guitarist and songwriter Noel Hogan a number of times since 2005, first appearing on Hogan's Mono Band album, and later as part of the Arkitekt project.

In 2007, Walters co-wrote and performed the track 'Cool is the Night' for the 'Between Voices' album by Anti Atlas, a studio project by Radiohead manager Chris Hufford and classical composer Ned Bigham.[15]

In 2010, Walters co-wrote several songs with Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Joe Henry, one of which – 'Eyes Out For You' – featured on Henry's 2011 album 'Reverie'.[16]

Walters collaborated with American house producer Morgan Page in 2011, two tracks 'The Actor' and 'Light Years', appearing on Page's 2012 'In the Air' album.[17]

In 2014, Walters launched a new band project called Liu Bei, releasing one single ('Infatuation' b/w 'Atlas World') on UK label Trangressive in July 2014.

Walters is a member of the UK band LYR, alongside current UK poet laureate Simon Armitage and producer Patrick Pearson. The band released their debut album 'Call in the Crash Team' in summer 2020 via Decca Records imprint Mercury KX.[18] During the Covid-19 UK lockdown in spring 2020, the band released a collaborative single with English actress Florence Pugh entitled 'Lockdown', raising funds for domestic abuse charity Refuge.[19] In 2021, the band released a single called "Winter Solstice" which featured Wendy Smith from Prefab Sprout.[20][21][22][23][24][25][26]

Since 2015, Walters has co-written songs with a number of artists, including Declan J. Donovan, 3LAU, Semisonic, Alison Moyet, Way Out West, Sultan + Shepard, Apocalyptica, and the Deadmau5 and Kaskade project Kx5.

In November 2022, Walters and Canadian electronic artist Jeff Hartford, better known as Attlas, debuted a collaborative project called Sun Lo. The duo released their first single "Factory Gates" later that month,[27][28] which was eventually followed by several other singles and a full album titled Shapes in My Head.[29]

• Official website