World Party

World Party is a British pop/rock band, which is essentially the solo project of its multi-talented only member, Karl Wallinger. The band was started in 1986 after Wallinger left

World Party is a British pop/rock band, which is essentially the solo project of its multi-talented only member, Karl Wallinger. The band was started in 1986 after Wallinger left The Waterboys, realising that The Waterboys was Mike Scott's band first & foremost. World Party was named after the very song that cause the split in the band in the first place.

After the events of Live Aid in 1985, both Wallinger & Scott wrote separate song about their feelings of the period of a world coming together. But Scott insisted that his song of that name would be on the next album, not Wallinger's. There were already tensions in the band over Mike Scott blowing the band's chances of appearing on BBC's "Top Of The Pops" (at that time the single most important music programme on British TV) when their single [i]The Whole Of The Moon[/i] entered the British Top 40 Chart by imposing a ridiculous list of "conditions" for them to play on the show - the BBC's response was to give their slot to another band, & the single swiftly dropped out of the charts. The affair strained their relationship with their record label, [i]Ensign[/i], whom - sensing Karl's discontent - offered Karl a deal to do an album of his own if he wished. Karl took the opportunity up, & left the band on sour terms (not least of all from a suspicion in the Waterboys camp that World Party were being created by the label as a replacement owing to their difficulties with Mike Scott). Part of the Waterboys at that time - Guy Chambers & Chris Whitten - were to leave with Wallinger for the new band, although both Anthony Thistlethwaite, Steve Wickham & Rufus Delahaye from the remaining Waterboys helped on the first World Party album.