Butch Walker

After a brief taste of major-label success with his former band Marvelous 3 during the late '90s, Butch Walker traded his bandmates for a solo career and made his second bid for rock & roll success in the early 2000s, doing a lot of production work on the side. The singer/songwriter/guitarist/producer's three-album run with Marvelous 3 peaked in 1998 when the song "Freak of the Week" became a sizable hit. However, the band didn't last long, recording only two albums for Elektra before Walker grew frustrated with the label. He broke up his band and spent a year producing albums for such bands as Injected and SR-71. This production work increased his reputation within the industry, and he quickly signed a solo contract with Arista, resulting in his solo debut album, Left of Self Centered (2002), and single, "My Way." Much like his work with Marvelous 3, Walker's solo work embodied his anti-conformist attitude and playful rock & roll swagger. Unfortunately, neither that album or the excellent follow-up, 2004's Letters, caught on with the public. Walker increasingly turned to production work, and over the next two years, he helmed and played on records by big-name artists like Avril Lavigne (Under My Skin), Pink (I'm Not Dead), and Tommy Lee (Tommyland: The Ride) as well as pop stars like Lindsay Lohan (A Little More Personal [Raw]). The experience brought him credibility as a music business player and also informed his next solo album, 2006's The Rise and Fall of Butch Walker and the Let's-Go-Out-Tonites. The album tells tales of drugged-out starlets, struggling wannabes, late nights, and wild parties in L.A. and was Walker's most fully realized album to date.