The Waterboys

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-flavoured 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.