Walter Egan

Walter Egan came into the world on July 12, 1948, in Jamaica, New York, and achieved his chief renown as a pop singer and songwriter through the sleek 1978 single “Magnet and Steel.” He and guitarist John Zambetti made their first appearance together in the surf-rock group the Malibooz, which developed a loyal regional audience and played at the 1964 New York World’s Fair. After shifting to Washington, D.C., the two musicians formed the folk-rock band Sageworth and Drums, part of the same active local circuit that also nurtured the careers of Emmylou Harris, Roy Buchanan, and Nils Lofgren. Sageworth and Drums moved to Boston in 1971 and dissolved when a Warner Bros. contract failed to materialize; Egan then followed Emmylou Harris to Los Angeles, where she cut his composition “Hearts on Fire” with Gram Parsons for the country-rock legend’s 1973 album Grievous Angel.

While in Los Angeles, Egan lent support to an array of artists that included Jackson Browne and David Lindley until Columbia executives discovered him at a 1976 Hoot Night performance at the Troubadour. His debut album Fundamental Roll appeared in 1977, and the next year he released Not Shy, produced by Lindsey Buckingham and Richard Dashut, which delivered a major hit with “Magnet and Steel.” Follow-up records such as 1979’s Hi-Fi and 1980’s The Last Stroll enjoyed less success, leading him to rejoin Zambetti in 1981 to revive the Malibooz and issue Malibooz Rule on Rhino. Apart from the 1983 solo outing Wild Exhibitions, Egan maintained a lower musical profile for the balance of the decade while directing increasing attention to graphic art.

He returned to recording in 1992 on the Malibooz holiday set Malibooz Yule: A Malibu Kind of Christmas and issued the solo album Walternative in 1999. The Lost Album, first tracked in 1985 and released in 2000, featured guest turns by Jackson Browne, Christine McVie, and Randy California. Apocalypso Now followed in 2002 with another collection of polished pop and rock. In 2005 the Acadia label reissued Egan’s first four albums across two double-disc packages. He resurfaced in 2014 with the ambitious Myth America and has continued to make occasional live appearances while also showing his visual art.