| Intro | French / Beninese musician |
| Is | Musician |
| From | Benin |
| Type | Music |
| Gender | male |
| Birth | 22 March 1955, Paris |
| Age: | 65 years |
Waliou Jacques Daniel Isheola “Wally” Badarou (born 22 March 1955) is a French-born musician.
Biography
A synthesizer specialist, Badarou was the long-time associate of the British band Level 42, known for its blend of funk, pop, soul and rock. He has co-written and performed on a number of the band’s tracks since their recording début in 1980, later co-producing them.
Though not an official member of Level 42, he has long been considered an informal “fifth member” of what has otherwise usually been a quartet with bassist Mark King, drummer Phil Gould, keyboardist Mike Lindup and guitarist Boon Gould.
All the while close to Island Records’s founder Chris Blackwell, he was one of the Compass Point All Stars (with Sly and Robbie, Barry Reynolds, Mikey Chung and Uziah “Sticky” Thompson), the in-house recording team of Compass Point Studios responsible for a long series of albums of the 1980s recorded by Grace Jones, Tom Tom Club, Joe Cocker, Mick Jagger, Black Uhuru, Gwen Guthrie, Jimmy Cliff and Gregory Isaacs.
Badarou’s keyboard playing could also be heard on albums by Robert Palmer, Marianne Faithfull, Herbie Hancock, M (Pop Muzik), Talking Heads, Foreigner, Power Station, Melissa Etheridge, Manu Dibango and Miriam Makeba.
He produced albums by Fela Kuti, Salif Keita, Wasis Diop, Trilok Gurtu, Carlinhos Brown; wrote for the films Countryman, and Kiss of the Spider Woman; plus directed and wrote for Jean-Paul Goude’s French Bicentennial parade, Bastille Day 1989.
His solo instrumental work includes two albums: Echoes (1983) and Words Of A Mountain (1988). The former included “Chief Inspector”, “Mambo” (sampled for Massive Attack’s “Daydreaming” (Blue Lines album)), and “Hi-Life”. “Chief Inspector” peaked at #46 in the UK Singles Chart in October 1985.
The Words Of A Mountain album is believed to be one of the first fully tapeless recordings in contemporary/new-age history: co-pioneering the computerised home studio concept with other electronic musicians of his generation, Badarou established a reputation on the field with his extensive use of Sequential Circuits Prophet 5, New England Digital Synclavier, and custom voice-controlled Yamaha digital mixers.
Badarou also helped organise the Kora All Africa Music Awards in 1997, while co-writing and producing So Why, a charity album for the ICRC, conceived as a call against ethnic cleansing in Africa, featuring Youssou N’Dour and Papa Wemba.
He has embraced stage acting since the early 2000s, showing interest in aviation, movies, science-fiction and philosophy.
By the end of 2009, starting with Fisherman, a 15 mn long “marathon in afro-beat territory “, Badarou released his latest album (The Unnamed Trilogy): online exclusively, one single at a time, via the JukeSticker, a direct and sharable transaction tool: “At very long last, my fans are to receive the music that never stopped haunting me all these years. The whole of it will be available as a physical collector set, once the three albums are fully revealed “.
Discography
Solo
- 1979: Back to Scales Tonight
- 1984: Echoes
- 1985: Chief Inspector (EP)
- 1989: Words of a Mountain
- 1997: So Why
- 2001: Colors of Silence : Musical poetry for Yoga
- 2009: The Unnamed Trilogy
Movie scores
- 1981: Dickie Jobson: Countryman
- 1982: Nathalie Delon & Yves Deschamps: They Called It an Accident
- 1985: Hector Babenco: Kiss Of The SpiderWoman (additional music)
- 1991: Lol Creme: The Lunatic
- 1997: Idrissa Ouedraogo: Kini & Adams
- 1997: Don Letts & Rick Elgood: DanceHall Queen
- 1999: Chris Browne: Third World Cop
- 2000: John Berry: Boesman & Lena
Producer (and co-producer)
- 1979: Janic Prévost – J’veux d’la Tendresse
- 1981: Alain Chamfort – Amour Année Zéro
- 1983: Marianne Faithfull – A Child’s Adventure (& co-writer)
- 1985: Level 42 – World Machine (& co-writer)
- 1986: Alain Chamfort – Tendres Fièvres (& co-writer)
- 1986: Fela Anikulapo Kuti – Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense
- 1987: Level 42 – Running in the Family (& co-writer)
- 1988: Level 42 – Staring at the Sun (& co-writer)
- 1990: Level 42 – Guaranteed (& co-writer)
- 1993: Level 42 – Forever Now (& co-writer)
- 1995: Salif Keita – Folon
- 1996: Carlinhos Brown – AlfaGamaBetizado
- 1998: Yannick Noah & Zam Zam – Zam Zam
- 1998: Wasis Diop – Toxu
- 2000: Trilok Gurtu –The Beat Of Love (& co-writer)
- 2001: i Muvrini – Umani
Session player
- 1979: M – New-York, London, Paris, Munich (“Pop Muzik”)
- 1979: Myriam Makeba – Comme une symphonie d’amour
- 1980: Bernie Lyon – Bernie Lyon
- 1980: Grace Jones – Warm Leatherette
- 1980: Grace Jones – Nightclubbing
- 1980: M – The Official Secrets Act
- 1980: Lizzy Mercier Descloux – Mambo Nassau
- 1980: Level 42 – The Early Tapes (& co-writer)
- 1981: Level 42 – Level 42 (& co-writer)
- 1981: Bernie Lyon – I’m Living In The Sunshine
- 1981: Gibson Brothers – Quartier Latin
- 1981: Barry Reynolds – I Scare Myself
- 1981: Jimmy Cliff – Give The People What They Want
- 1982: Charlélie Couture – Pochette Surprise
- 1982: Joe Cocker – Sheffield Steel
- 1982: Black Uhuru – Chill Out
- 1982: Gregory Isaacs – Night Nurse
- 1982: Grace Jones – Living My Life
- 1982: Gwen Guthrie – Gwen Guthrie
- 1982: Robin Scott & Shikisha – Jive Shikisha !
- 1982: Level 42 – The Pursuit Of Accidents (& co-writer)
- 1983: Level 42 – Standing In The Light (& co-writer)
- 1983: Talking Heads – Speaking In Tongues
- 1983: Tom-Tom Club – Close To The Bone
- 1984: Level 42 – True Colours (& co-writer)
- 1984: Foreigner – Agent Provocateur
- 1985: Mick Jagger – She’s The Boss
- 1985: Power Station – Some Like It Hot
- 1985: Gwen Guthrie – Just For You
- 1985: Sly & Robbie – Language Barrier
- 1985: Robert Palmer – Riptide
- 1988: Manu Dibango – Electric Africa
- 1988: Melissa Etheridge – Melissa Etheridge
- 1988: Talking Heads – Naked
- 1988: Julio Iglesias – Libra
- 1994: Power Station – Living In Fear
- 2008: Grace Jones – Hurricane
- 2009: Phil Gould – Watertight