Yahoo Finance Anthony 'Baby Gap' Walker, former member of The Gap Band, dies at 60
Walker performed with the legendary funk band for 23 years.
Anthony Walker, known as "Baby Gap," a former member of the legendary funk group The Gap Band —as well as a dancer and choreographer in his own right — died March 4 at age 60.
TMZ, who first reported Walker's death, said that he died from "complications from a neck surgery." Walker had been performing with the group GapX, comprised of former Gap Band members, and the group acknowledged his death in an Instagram post.
"The Band will miss our friend, brother, and band mate Anthony 'Baby Gap' Walker," the post read. "Gone too soon. We will never forget you!!!"
Raymond Boyd/Getty
Anthony 'Baby Gap' WalkerThe Gap Band was formed in 1967 in Tulsa with brothers Charlie, Ronnie, and Robert Wilson at its center. The group, however, didn't take off until signing with Mercury Records in 1979. That same year, Anthony Walker, hailing from Chicago, joined The Gap Band as a dancer and choreographer, and eventually contributing as a songwriter. He performed and toured with the group for 23 years.
Walker co-wrote two tracks on the group's 1985 album The Gap Band V, "Automatic Brain" and "L'il Red Funkin' Hood." Also in 1985, Gap Band lead singer Charlie Wilson produced an album with Walker and fellow band member Billy Young, Billy & Baby Gap, which produced the hit "Rock the Nation."
As a dancer, Walker formed the award-winning breakdancing group Tidal Wave in the 1970s, and taught breakdancing and moonwalking in the early '80s at John Travolta’s dance studio. Walker also worked as a choreographer for Disney.
Besides The Gap Band, Walker collaborated with artists such as Rick James, George Clinton, and Pebbles, and played percussion on Snoop Dogg's 1996 single “Snoop's Upside Ya Head." In his later years, Walker performed with former members of The Gap Band in GapX as a dancer, hype-man, and rapper.
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