World Party founder got start in The Waterboys

— Karl Wallinger, the multi-instrumentalist and solo force behind the band World Party and former member of The Waterboys, has died.

Wallinger, 66, passed away Sunday, his publicist said. No cause of death was announced.

Wallinger had worked as musical director for a production of The Rocky Horror Show in London when he was recruited on keyboards for The Waterboys in 1983, playing synthesizer and singing backup vocals on their most commercially successful song, The Whole of the Moon.

Waterboys founder Mike Scott called him “one of the finest musicians I’ve ever known” in a post Monday on X, formerly Twitter. “Travel on well my old friend,” he said.

Creative differences with Scott led Wallinger to go his own way in 1985 to start World Party, where he created a sound infused with influences of the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and Sly Stone.

World Party was better received critically than commercially and despite landing several tunes on the pop music charts, it was more embraced by alternative radio.

Ship of Fools reached No. 5 on Billboard’s mainstream rock chart in the U.S. in 1987. Way Down Now, went to No. 1 on the Billboard alternative chart in the U.S. in 1990. Is it Like Today was his biggest hit in the U.K., reaching No. 19 in 1993. Wallinger’s song

She’s the One became a No. 1 single for Robbie Williams in 1999.

Wallinger grew up in Prestatyn, Wales, where as a teen he played in PAX, a punk band with Nigel Twist and Dave Sharp, who would go on to form The Alarm. In 2001, Wallinger had a brain aneurysm and spent years learning how to speak again and play instruments. He returned to touring five years later but never released any more albums.

Wallinger is survived by his wife Suzie Zamit, son Louis Wallinger, daughter Nancy Zamit and two grandchildren.