Val Haller

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Val Haller, born Adrian Osborne on February 12, 1952 in England, was a British musician best known as a bass guitarist. He also sang, played keyboards, and wrote music. Haller performed with Wayne County & the Electric Chairs, The Flying Lizards, The Lords of the New Church, Paint, and Savage Republic, and he formed the duo Autumnfair with Thom Fuhrmann.

He grew up in the west of England as an orphan raised by a minister and his wife. His first step in the music world was promoting a Roxy Music concert in Chippenham in July 1972, booking the band when they were still little known, and it was a success. In 1975 he moved to London and formed the Rockets.

Haller was a founding member of Wayne County & the Electric Chairs and stayed with them as the only constant member. The band faced the hazards of the punk era, including an incident of gobbing, and Haller even contracted hepatitis from a direct hit to his mouth. They released several records, including the Electric Chairs EP (1977) and a self-titled album in 1978, and they contributed the song “Paranoia Paradise” to the Derek Jarman film Jubilee.

As the band progressed, Haller learned to play synthesizer and sometimes swapped bass for keyboards. After their third album, County left the group, which then continued as a trio before eventually dissolving. The former members formed Mystere Five's and released a couple of singles on Flicknife Records.

Haller later played with various artists, contributed to Paint, joined The Lords of the New Church on tour, and played bass on two tracks with The Flying Lizards on their album The Fourth Wall. He moved to Los Angeles in 1983 and later formed Autumnfair with Savage Republic’s Thom Fuhrmann. Autumnfair released a 1989 album and a 1991 EP, with a retrospective CD issued in 2002.

In 2007 he joined a reformed Savage Republic, releasing new material and touring in the United States and Europe. There were talks in 2010 of AutumnFair returning to the studio. Val Haller died on December 16, 2012, in Claremont, California, at the age of 60.