Biography
In 2003 Charles Walker, a Milwaukee-based tenor saxophonist and keyboardist, launched the Charles Walker Band—earlier billed as the Charles Walker Blues Band—after completing jazz studies at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire and pursuing a lengthy career as a jazz saxophonist. Before forming the group he had played with Muddy Blue, whose album Low Down Dirty Blues appeared during that period. Milwaukee native Shanna Jackson, the lead vocalist, started singing at age five, trained at the city’s School of Fine Arts, and later performed with several female vocal ensembles. Lead guitarist Misha Siegfried, who took over for Emre Alp, grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota, relocated to Milwaukee in 2002, and had previously worked with Fire on Your Sleeve, the Genie Halliday Revue Band, the Mixx, Reverend Raven and the Chain Smoking Alter Boys, Blues Wagon, and Mississippi Gun & Gun Smoke. Bassist Kent Hamele, originally from Madison, Wisconsin, brought more than three decades of experience when he joined. Drummer Joey B. Banks, who succeeded Nic Fugate, began playing at age six, attended the Musicians Institute of Technology in Los Angeles, entered James Earl Tate and the Million-Dollar Blues Band in 1991, and in 1996 supported the Spinners and the Four Tops. The band issued Keep Takin and Hotel Room Blues in 2005, followed by Live and Low Down in 2007. The World and Things, first released in 2007 and later reissued by Lucky 13/BC Records on January 15, 2008, marked the first recording credited directly to the Charles Walker Band.
Albums
