Leslie Francis WALKER (1918-2013)

Les Walker was a farmer.. He was a harmonica player and fan of Larry Adler and his son Don Walker said, "He was always very keen on gospel and blues music, and 30s swing. I was familiar with that before I could talk."[9] He said his father was in, "the AIF in Palestine and Syria in WW2 and in what was then Ceylon and three tours of New Guinea."[10][11] He owned a cane farm on Rita Island on the Burdekin River, where Walker lived until the age of 4.[12] His family later moved to Grafton, where a local piano teacher, Dot Morris, taught him, "a little bit of Chopin.....a lot of Fats Waller repertoire, and also Winifred Atwell."[6] Later, he, "got into organ and the main influences were Stevie Winwood's 60s stuff and Ray Manzarek."[13]