Born in New Orleans, Walker earned a Bachelor of Music degree from
Occidental College in Los Angeles which he attended on a full vocal scholarship. He began his singing career as a member of the
United States Army Chorus in 1957. He made his professional opera debut portraying Tom Rakewell in ''
The Rake's Progress'' at the
Washington National Opera in 1959. He then became a soloist with the
Robert Shaw Chorale, with whom he toured the United States performing the tenor solos in
Johann Sebastian Bach's
Mass in B minor in 1960. He recorded the work under
Robert Shaw's baton for the
RCA Victor label. In 1971 he created the role of Jonathan Gilourin in the world premiere of
Dominick Argento's
Colonel Jonathan the Saint at the Denver Lyric Opera. In 1978 Walker made his debut at the
Metropolitan Opera in 1978, as Captain Vere in
Billy Budd. In the early 1980s his career hit a slump as he began to experience vocal difficulties. He took work anywhere he could get, including singing in opera choruses and as a church soloist. He attracted attention again at the
Mostly Mozart Festival in 1984 when he replaced an ailing
Jerry Hadley in the title role of Mozart's
Idomeneo. Walker had been a member of the opera chorus and stepped in with less than a day's notice to very positive reviews in
The New York Times. In 1985 he portrayed Kabuki in the world premiere of
Minoru Miki's
Joruri at the
Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. After this his performances with major companies were infrequent, although he remained active as a concert soloist, chorus singer and church singer until his death in
Anaheim, California, in 2014 at the age of 79. Some of the other roles Walker performed on stage during his career included Alfredo in
La traviata, Alwa in
Lulu, Don Ottavio in
Don Giovanni, Fenton in Verdi's
Falstaff, Nadir in
Les pêcheurs de perles, Rodolfo in
La bohème, and the title role in
Albert Herring. ==References==