Steve Wall in County Clare, Ireland, April 2021 while recording the 'Rise with the Sun' single with composer and video artist Simon O'Reilly.[1][2][3]

Stephen Wall
Born
Stephen Patrick Wall

(1962-02-08) 8 February 1962[4]
Occupations
  • Actor
  • musician
Years active1984–present
Children1

Steve Wall is a musician, singer, songwriter and actor. He is a founder member of the multi-platinum selling Irish band The Stunning and also The Walls.

As an actor Steve is known for roles in the western mini TV series The English (2022); Ridley Scott's Raised by Wolves (2020); The Witcher (2020); Vikings; Moone Boy; The South Westerlies (2020); and also Rebellion (2016). He played the jazz musician Chet Baker in My Foolish Heart (2018), a Dutch feature film about the trumpeter's last days in Amsterdam.

Early life

Stephen Patrick Wall was born in Kingsbury Hospital, Honeypot Lane,[5] the first of five children of Patricia (née Keogh) of the Liberties, Dublin and Vincent Wall of Ennistymon, County Clare.[6] Four of the children were born in London and while still young, the family moved back to Ireland, living first with the Keogh family in Harolds Cross.[7][8] He has two brothers Joseph and Vincent (born in County Clare) and two sisters Anna and Helen. His mother's family home was full of records and sing-songs were regular, with uncles and aunts singing everything from Cole Porter to The Beatles and Ella Fitzgerald. This is where Wall says he discovered his love of music.[8][9]

Education

Wall attended several schools in Dublin - St. Louis Junior School, Rathmines, St. Joseph's National School Terenure and Templeogue College Secondary School, where he left after the first year as the family moved to Ennistymon, County Clare when he was thirteen.[8][9] He spent his teenage years in Ennistymon and attended the Christian Brothers school there.[10] Following that he went to the Galway Regional Technical College,[8] where he joined a new wave band called New Testament as guitarist.[8]

Career

Taking a break between takes on the set of 'My Foolish Heart'. Filmed on location around Amsterdam in 2016, the film was released in early 2018. A lot of prosthetic make-up was involved to age Steve, as Chet looked much older than his 58 years when he died in 1988.
Steve Wall as Chet Baker on the set of 'My Foolish Heart'.

Acting

While still at school in the west of Ireland Wall developed an interest in acting and cinema in particular and applied unsuccessfully to the main London drama schools.[11][12] When college band New Testament went their separate ways in 1984[13] Wall approached the Druid Theatre Company, Galway for work.[14] He had a small walk-on part in the 1984 production of Tom Murphy’s On the Outside directed by Paul Brennan.[15] He spent two years at Druid working as a trainee actor, stage assistant and sound operator, working on shows Conversations on a Homecoming and ‘Tis Pity She's a Whore[16][17][18] He then moved to Dublin to pursue an acting career but after an unsuccessful year of finding work he decided to turn back to music and formed The Stunning in 1987.[14][18][12] He still performs today with The Stunning and The Walls.[11][17]

He returned to acting in 2010 by attending acting workshops in The Factory, Dublin, now known as Bow Street Acting Academy.[14] He scored his first role as Uncle Danny in the series Moone Boy for Sky TV and then went on to land parts in other TV series such as Vikings, Warrior, The Witcher, Raised by Wolves, Tin Star, The South Westerlies.[8][14] He landed the role of Chet Baker in the Dutch arthouse feature film My Foolish Heart about the jazz legends final days in Amsterdam where he died in 1988.[19][20] Wall's most recent credit is the 2022 western mini-series The English featuring Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer, in which he plays the cowboy Thin Kelly.[21]

He has also done voiceover work.[22]

Music

Wall formed The Stunning in Galway in 1987.[23] The band was hugely successful in Ireland with number one albums and top ten singles.[23][24][25] Frustrated at not getting their music released internationally despite success at home, the band broke up in 1994.[8][25][24] The following year, Wall and his brother Joe formed The Walls. They signed to Columbia Records in 1996 and relocated to London,[26] spending two years there before moving to Dublin in 1998 and starting their own label Earshot Records later changing it to Dirtbird Records.[27][28] They released three critically acclaimed albums on their own label -  Hi-Lo (2000),[28] New Dawn Breaking (2005), Stop the Lights (2012) as well as EP's and singles including the top ten hit To the Bright and Shining Sun and Drowning Pool [29][24] which featured in the movie Begin Again.[30] The band toured extensively and opened for acts such as U2, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Bob Dylan, Crowded House.[27][24]

In 2003 The Stunning reformed in order to promote the re-issue of the bands debut album Paradise in the Picturehouse on their own Dirtbird Records label. The resulting tour was a huge success, sending the album to the top of the charts again almost ten years later.[23][24] In 2017 they released Brighten up my Life, their first new single in 24 years.[26][31] This was followed by the album ‘Twice Around the World’ which peaked at number ten in the Irish mainstream album charts [32][26] and number one in the independent charts on 23 March 2018.[33] The Stunning continue to play live today, while Steve and Joe sometimes perform as a two-piece as The Walls.[24]

In April 2021 Wall collaborated with Clare-based musician Simon O’Reilly on a song called Rise with the Sun. During the pandemic, the two collaborated on the song by sharing files online, with O'Reilly recording the music and mixing the song in his studio near Lahinch, County Clare and Steve recording vocals and some extra instrumentation in Dublin.[34][2]

Filmography

Narration

  • The Irish Mob (TV mini series) 2000

References

  1. ↑ "Steve Wall and Simon O'Reilly Release Brand New Single". The Journal of Music. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
  2. 1 2 Buddie, Indie (7 May 2021). "Steve Wall and Simon O'Reilly 'Rise with the Sun'". Indie Buddie. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
  3. ↑ "JOE's Song Of The Day #896 – Steve Wall & Simon O'Reilly 'Rise With The Sun'". JOE.ie. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
  4. ↑ 8/2 Imdb. Druid Theatre 1984 (see article) was age 22 https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/steve-wall-on-his-family-s-tragedy-it-was-a-year-from-hell-1.4345693
  5. ↑ "The National Archives | Search the archives | Hospital Records| Details".
  6. ↑ "Steve Wall: 'When I was 15, I placed my guitar amp in the bedroom window, turned the volume up full, and banged out Led Zeppelin'". Independent.ie. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  7. ↑ Wall, Steve (23 March 2018). "Steve Wall: Episode 236" (podcast). An Irishman Abroad (Interview). No. 236. Interviewed by Jarlath Regan – via Podbeam.com.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Steve Wall on his family's tragedy: 'It was a year from hell'". The Irish Times. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  9. 1 2 "Life lessons with Steve Wall: 'Moving to the west of Ireland completely changed me as a person'". Independent.ie. 24 April 2016.
  10. ↑ "Steve Wall Promotes CBS Ennistymon Open Night". 5 November 2020.
  11. 1 2 "Steve Wall: Episode 236". anirishmanabroad.podbean.com. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  12. 1 2 "Talking music and acting with Steve Wall of The Stunning". Listen Notes. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  13. ↑ "Irish Rock Discography: New Testament". www.irishrock.org. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  14. 1 2 3 4 "Steve Wall on 30 years of 'Paradise in the Picturehouse'". GoldenPlec. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  15. ↑ "On the Outside by Tom Murphy with Noel O'Donoghue – An Educational Resource for Secondary School Students and Teachers" (PDF). Druid.ie. 2020.
  16. ↑ McBride, Charlie (4 July 2019). "'The acting muscle is very different to being onstage with a band'". Galway Advertiser. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  17. 1 2 "Steve Wall on his family's tragedy: 'It was a year from hell'". The Irish Times. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  18. 1 2 "Life lessons with Steve Wall: 'Moving to the west of Ireland completely changed me as a person'". independent. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  19. ↑ Hutton, Brian. "Steve Wall's blowing his own trumpet". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  20. ↑ "Steve Wall". IMDb. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  21. ↑ Newsdesk, The Hot Press. "Ciarán Hinds, Stephen Rea, Steve Wall to join Emily Blunt for BBC western series The English". Hotpress. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  22. ↑ Barry, Aoife (19 November 2017). "The truth about being a musician: 'They see you on the Late Late and think you're making a fortune'". TheJournal.ie.
  23. 1 2 3 "Live Report: The Stunning, A Galway Shindig at Leisureland, Galway". Hot Press Magazine.
  24. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "The Walls". independent. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  25. 1 2 "Irish Rock Discography: The Stunning". www.irishrock.org. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  26. 1 2 3 "The craic was '90". TheIrishWorld.com. 19 October 2021.
  27. 1 2 "The Walls". irishrockers.com. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  28. 1 2 Cummins, Steve (22 September 2020). "The Walls - taking the Hi with the Lo". Steve Cummins. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  29. ↑ "The Walls". Discogs. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  30. ↑ "Soundtrack: Begin Again - listen to all 29 songs with scene description". Soundtrackradar.com. 28 September 2019. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  31. ↑ "JOE's New Song of the Day #417: The Stunning – 'Brighten Up My Life'". JOE.ie. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  32. ↑ "The biggest singles and albums of 2018 by Irish acts". www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  33. ↑ "IRMA – Irish Recorded Music Association". www.irma.ie. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  34. ↑ Newsdesk, The Hot Press. "LISTEN: Composer/musician duo Steve Wall and Simon O'Reilly share '70s-tinged track 'Rise with the Sun'". Hotpress. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
  35. ↑ D'Arcy, Ray (15 February 2019). "My Foolish Heart" (radio). The Ray D'Arcy Show.
  36. ↑ Fitzpatrick, Richard. "An Klondike is a golden opportunity for Irish actors". IrishExaminer.com.
  37. ↑ Murphy, Eoin (23 April 2019). "Vikings actor Steve Wall's new Netflix series stars Hollywood royalty". Extra.ie.
  38. ↑ "Watch Rebellion | Netflix Official Site". Netflix.
  39. ↑ "The Stunning in session, new material, early days & a tribute to Bowie!". TodayFM.com. 13 January 2016.
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