Baby Gap dead: Gap band member Anthony Walker dies aged 60 after complications during neck surgery

Gap Band member Anthony Walker, who was nicknamed "Baby Gap", has died at the age of 60.

Doctor Eric Walker, Anthony’s younger brother, told US publication TMZ that the singer and musician died at an Ohio hospital last Monday (March 4) after he experienced complications from neck surgery he was undergoing.

Further details have not been released about the reasons behind the surgery, or exactly what complications happened which caused the star to die. A celebration of his life will be held for family and friends on Friday (March 15).

Walker, who was born on August 12 1963, joined the famed R&B/Funk band in 1979 as a dancer, choreographer and songwriter. He went on to perform with Gap Band for the next 23 years as a core member. He was given the nickname "Baby Gap" because the band had actually formed in 1967, when he was still a child.

The Gap Band notably appeared on "Dick Clark's American Bandstand," "Don Cornelius' Soul Train" and "Solid Gold." Anthony performed a moonwalk while appearing on Clark's show and he even showed he popular TV host how to do the dance move that Michael Jackson made famous.

The group mainly consisted of three brothers; Charlie, Ronnie, and Robert Wilson, but it frequently included other members, including Walker and Billy Young. Their band name was an acronym for Greenwood, Archer, and Pine streets, site of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre and the section of the Oklahoma city where the brothers grew up.

Their songs include  “I Don’t Believe You Want to Get Up and Dance (Oops!)", “Burn Rubber on Me (Why You Wanna Hurt Me),” “Early in the Morning”, "Outstanding", Party Train" and “You Dropped a Bomb on Me".

In 1985, Walker had a major music win thanks to a collaboration with Gap Band's lead singer Charlie Wilson and bandmate Billy Young as they produced the album "Billy & Baby Gap." It was the first album released as part of a band member collaboration, and their single "Rock the Nation" reached number three in the charts.

During his lengthy career, Walker also collaborated with music legends Rick James, George Clinton and Snoop Dogg. Before his death, he was performing with GapX, a group formed by other former members of the Gap Band.

Walker also had career success outside of Gap Band. He famously formed a break-dancing group, known as "Tidal Wave," in the 1970s and went on to win several awards with them. He also taught at John Travolta's dance studio in the early 1980s and also worked as a choreographer for Disney.

Charlie Wilson is the only surviving main member of the Gap Band. He is now 71 years old. His elder brother Ronnie died in November 2021 at the age of 73. TMZ reported at the time that he died at his home in the band’s native Tulsa, Oklahoma, a week after suffering a stroke that he never regained consciousness from. Younger brother Robert died, age 53, of a heart attack in his Palmdale, California home in August 2010.