Black Sabbath: The Dave Walker Era
Black Sabbath was a mess in 1977. Drug and alcohol abuse were rampant. The band was mired in financial and legal troubles. Ozzy Osbourne’s father passed away. At the conclusion of the Technical Ecstasy tour, Ozzy did the unthinkable and quit Black Sabbath.
Determined to carry on, Sabbath brought in vocalist Dave Walker. Best known for brief tenures in Savoy Brown and Fleetwood Mac, Walker immediately began writing new material. The new union was not meant to be.
Three months after his exit, Ozzy returned to Black Sabbath. Walker was dismissed. Walker had never entered the recording studio with Sabbath or embarked on a tour. Fortunately, there IS documentation of Dave Walker fronting Black Sabbath.
On January 6th, 1978, Black Sabbath appeared on the British TV show “Look Hear.” After performing “War Pigs,” the band unveiled an early version of “Junior’s Eyes.” The lyrics, however, are entirely different from what appeared on Never Say Die. The track offers a fascinating glimpse of what Sabbath would have sounded like if Osbourne never returned.
After returning, Ozzy refused to sing material written by Dave Walker. Geezer resumed his role as lyricist. “Junior’s Eyes” was reborn as an emotional elegy to Osbourne’s fallen father.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge9czKRAuVI
Ozzy may have returned but dysfunction was still rampant. The title Never Say Die was an internal joke, not a declaration of unity. Ozzy was already toying with the idea of a solo career and even wore a “Blizzard of Ozz” t-shirt in band photos. That solo career became a reality when Ozzy was fired from Black Sabbath.
Sabbath carried on with Ronnie James Dio. Ozzy formed a new band. Dave Walker, however, did not fare well. After a short-lived attempt at his own solo career, the singer retired from music until 1986. Walker then played in assorted bands, yet never found the commercial success enjoyed by Black Sabbath.
Dave Walker was also in The Idle Race briefly when he and Mick Hopkins (who went on to play in QUARTZ with future Black Sabbath 5th member Geoff Nicholls whose debut album was produced by Tony Iommi in 1977) joined the group after jeff Lynne left ….. small world
I once borrowed a book from my local library as a kid entitled “Heavy metal quiz book” and one of the questions was “who replaced ozzy Osbourne as singer of black sabbath ?” Like the majority I said RJD (who at this time was out of rainbow and approached by sweet to sing with them by Andy Scott – not sure how he wold tackle blockbuster and wig wam bam though!) The book gave the answer “Dave Wwaler” so intrigued I went to search more. Tony knew dave from Walsall and his previoudx ventures and that version of “juniors eyes” is amazing ! Great strong voice and in my opinion a worthty successor to the throne ! Dio sounded just too much like rainbow for me and loved him in thar band and his solo too but imagine if this had taken off (or by strange twist of fate tony had stayed with jethro Tull ? Alternative history indeed !
Does anyone have a copy of Dave Walker’s lyrics for Junior’s Eyes? He sang the song with full passion but I’m lucky to make out only 1/2 the words.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bvwMUBFAT8
If Robert Draina still wants the lyrics to Dave walker’s ‘Junior eyes’ Dave now lives in Virginia City and his post goes to the post office there. You could write and ask him for a copy.