On Tour
The Waterboys
Rock
The next The Waterboys concert is scheduled for Friday, July 4, 2025 at Anfiteatro Fonte Mazzola in Peccioli, Italy. See all 50 upcoming concerts
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![Watch Letter From An Unknown Girlfriend (feat. Fiona Apple) [Lyric Video] music video by The Waterboys](/mkimage/image/thumb/Video211/v4/31/9c/4b/319c4ba1-fc2d-7021-0da0-d6555e91a691/25UMGIM41725.crop.jpg/575x575mv.webp "Watch Letter From An Unknown Girlfriend (feat. Fiona Apple) [Lyric Video] music video by The Waterboys")
About The Waterboys
Hometown
Edinburgh, Scotland
Formed
1983
Genre
Rock
Scottish singer/songwriter Mike Scott started The Waterboys in 1983 in London, where they grew out of a band called The Red and the Black. Their self-titled debut album revealed epic ideas and a larger-than-life sound that blended the scale of U2 with a folk-rock sensibility for what came to be dubbed The Big Music. Shortly after, The Waterboys were joined by keyboardist Karl Wallinger, who later led World Party, and success came with their third album, This Is the Sea, largely due to the cinematic-sounding single “The Whole of the Moon.” A major shift followed on 1988’s Fisherman’s Blues toward a more scaled-down, Celtic folk feel, best evinced on its mandolin-flavored title track. The band split in 1993; Scott went solo for a while but convened an almost all-new lineup (except for returning fiddler Steve Wickham) in the early 2000s. Through changing lineups, The Waterboys have continued to mix folk with a rocky edge and a strong dose of spirituality.
Members of The Waterboys include, or have included, Guy Chambers, Mike Scott, Steve Wickham, John Baggott, Paul Brennan, Sharon Shannon, Carla Azar, Karl Wallinger, Ralph Salmins, Eddi Reader, Adrian Johnston, Ian McNabb, Liam Ó Maonlaí, Lu Edmonds, Livingstone Brown, Jay Dee Daugherty, Kevin Wilkinson, Ash Soan, Katie Kim, Joe Chester, Trevor Hutchinson, Geoff Dugmore, Noel Bridgeman, John McCullough, Dave Ruffy, Vinnie Kilduff, Tim Sanders, Chris Whitten, Kate St. John, Simon Wallace, Kenneth Blevins, Gordon Davis, Anthony Thistlethwaite, Tomas Mac Eoin, Blaise Margail, Scott Thunes, and Roddy Lorimer.
Musical InfluencesThe Waterboys's musical influences include The Chieftains, The Watersons, Bruce Springsteen and more.
Influenced by The WaterboysThe Waterboys has influenced the music of D:Ream, Hothouse Flowers, Caedmon's Call and more.
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