I’m sure many of you know this great old one-hit wonder. Walter Scott was the lead singer for this song by Bob Kuban & The In-Men.
But did you know this story? It’s taken from a longer article you can find here. A real case of life imitating art.
In early 1983, Walter Scott and Bob Kuban performed together for a television appearance and planned to reunite the band for their twentieth anniversary in June 23, 1984, at the Fox Theatre. After one rehearsal in October 1983, Walter Scott disappeared. In late December his wife, Jo Ann, reported to police that her husband was missing. According to Jo Ann Scott, Walter went out to buy a part for his car and never came home. On December 28th, Walter Scott’s car was found by the St. Louis police, abandoned at the airport.
The St Louis police looked for Walter Scott for over a year, but all the leads led to dead ends. Jo Ann Scott filed for divorce, alleging she’d been abandoned. She was granted a divorce and was remarried in 1986. It happened that the groom at the wedding, Jim Williams, had tragically lost his wife, Sharon, when she reportedly died in a car crash in October 1983.
Meanwhile, Scott’s parents never accepted the official story. They urged the police to keep searching for their son. In 1987, the police uncovered a new lead after Jim Williams’ son informed them that his mom, Sharon, had been having an affair with Walter Scott, and his father found out. Subsequently, the police found Walter Scott floating face down in a cistern ten feet from Jim Williams’ house. Walter Scott’s body been there for about three years. Sharon Williams body was exhumed for a new autopsy. The coroner found that Sharon Williams had died from a “blunt force trauma,” not injuries suffered from a car crash – as the first death certificate stated. Jim Williams was arrested and charged with killing both Scott and his former spouse. Walter Scott had been hog-tied by Jim Williams and then shot.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported later that “Sharon Williams died Oct. 20, 1983, and [Walter] Notheis jr. disappeared on Dec. 27, 1983. His body was found in 1987 in a cistern on property James Williams owned in St. Charles County.” It took about two days for the police to catch up with Jo Ann Scott to charge her with the same two counts of murder. But since Jo Ann was offered a plea bargain, she got a $5,000 fine and spent only 18 months in prison. But Jim Williams spent the rest of his life in prison. As the song lyrics recount: “Tough luck for The Cheater.” Indeed. And Jim Williams got his “baby” (Sharon Williams) back from Walter Scott (The Cheater), only to murder her.
Do you know any interesting rock & roll stories like this that you think the rest of RTH won’t know?
Man, I’ve been trying, but I’m not sure that I can think of a weirder story tied into rock ‘n roll let alone the rest of everyday life. I mean, rock ‘n roll has its killers – and stories like Jim Gordon killing his Mom and Marvin Gaye being killed by his Dad come to mind – but I can’t think yet of one with so prescient a song.
The Felix Pappalardi story doesn’t have the tie back to a song that The Cheater does but it is pretty tock & roll.
https://www.loudersound.com/features/felix-pappalardi-meets-a-tragic-end
At the present time, I don’t have any unearthed heroes of rock and roll stories to share. That said, y’all should have been there at Silk City when the Carousel were dressed up in their baker’s outfits rocking out “Soul Blossom” when an incredibly bombed but beautiful blonde charged through the crowd, wrapped her arms around the Moderator’s neck, and waited for something that would have made no longer with us Hustler founder Larry Flynt proud. You should have seen the Moderator’s wife watching all this going on. You talk about a woman scorned. God only know how that got resolved the next day!
I’m currently going through a nice record collection I bought over the weekend. A very clean The Who Sings My Generation was in there. As I’ve stated before, I keep every clean copy I find because, in my opinion, it’s one of rock’s holy grails. Super powerful shit. Daltrey can really belt out a song. I especially like his vocals on “Much Too Much.” Love that beginning, “Your love is hard and fast.” Which leads me to the following question: Have you ever held your woman tight, looked directly in her eyes, and slobbered out, “Your love is hard and fast!”? I have and have been rewarded for my honesty countless times.
One another note- it looks like our Rock Town Hall Zoom get together will be this Friday at 7:00 p.m. To those who’ve already sent your email addresses, God bless! To those who haven’t, feel free to send it to me at jurgenvolllmer1961@gmail.com. I look forward to seeing everyone Friday!
Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead tells the story of the night he hung out with Joe Strummer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsfIrizFBkQ&ab_channel=ChicoHarris
BigSteve, that story was so believable: musicians partying and bonding so intently that they blew off the chance to get laid. Thanks for unearthing that gem.
Apparently there is a tv show called Forensic Files, the reruns of which fill up hours a day on some cable station and one of the episodes is all about Walter Scott so “The Cheater” has a big after life on cable tv.
Just came across another stange music stoory. Not rock & roll but I like it
The story of the Singing Nun
https://thepostmortempost.wordpress.com/tag/glory-be-to-god-for-the-golden-pill/