{"id":227035,"date":"2019-08-16T01:45:35","date_gmt":"2019-08-16T05:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=227035"},"modified":"2019-08-16T01:45:35","modified_gmt":"2019-08-16T05:45:35","slug":"frank-walker-sets-aside-stronach-family-empire-to-chase-dj-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/08\/16\/frank-walker-sets-aside-stronach-family-empire-to-chase-dj-dreams\/","title":{"rendered":"Frank Walker sets aside Stronach family empire to chase DJ dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u2060\u2060\u2060”I’m willing to do whatever I’ve got to do to make this happen,\u2060\u2060\u2060” Shear says Walker told him. (File Photo<\/a>: frankwalker\/Instagram<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO \u2060\u2060\u2060\u2014\u00a0Life can lead to the most extraordinary of crossroads when you’re the grandson of a billionaire auto industry magnate.<\/p>\n

That’s where Frank Walker found himself three years ago when he faced a rare career quandary: should he settle into a comfortable job at Magna International, the auto parts giant his grandfather Frank Stronach built, or pursue his dream of becoming a globally respected DJ and producer?<\/p>\n

Split between two worlds, Walker turned to someone he trusted \u2060\u2060\u2060\u2014\u00a0his mother Belinda Stronach. As a business woman and former member of parliament, she’d weighed tough options herself.<\/p>\n

\u2060\u2060\u2060”Her exact words were: ‘You can’t start DJ’ing when you’re 40,\u2060\u2060\u2060”‘ the 27-year-old remembers.<\/p>\n

\u2060\u2060\u2060”It was her kind of saying, ‘You need to take your shot at this now.\u2060\u2060\u2060”‘<\/p>\n

Walker is already reaping considerable dividends from her advice.<\/p>\n

His melancholic dance single \u2060\u2060\u2060”Heartbreak Back\u2060\u2060\u2060”\u00a0burst onto pop radio earlier this year, peaking at No. 8 on Billboard’s mainstream Canadian airplay chart. He followed that up with \u2060\u2060\u2060”Only When It Rains,\u2060\u2060\u2060”\u00a0featuring warmly inviting vocals by Norway’s Astrid S, which found a solid audience on streaming platforms.<\/p>\n

Building his reputation as a DJ wasn’t a lifetime goal for the heir to the Magna fortune. He \u2060\u2060\u2060”fell into\u2060\u2060\u2060”\u00a0the role when most people saw him as someone else.<\/p>\n

Walker grew up in a family of corporate strategists who respected musicality, but didn’t pursue it seriously. His grandmother casually played an accordion when he was a child, he remembers, and he picked up the trombone at a private arts school in King City, Ont.<\/p>\n

\u2060\u2060\u2060”I was never really focused on it,\u2060\u2060\u2060”\u00a0he admits.<\/p>\n

Instead, Walker says he was \u2060\u2060\u2060”kind of always groomed to work\u2060\u2060\u2060”\u00a0in the boardroom of Magna’s headquarters in Aurora, Ont., where his father, Don Walker, held various roles, including chief executive officer.<\/p>\n

Starting in elementary school, his parents encouraged him to play hooky for the company’s annual meetings. He remembers watching his grandfather and parents field shareholders’ questions: \u2060\u2060\u2060”I had no idea what was going on.\u2060\u2060\u2060”<\/p>\n

As Walker matured, he dedicated summers to working at a Magna facility \u2060\u2060\u2060\u2014\u00a0one year in the research and development department, another year at one of the Ontario plants.<\/p>\n

And once he enrolled at Laurier University’s business school in Waterloo, Ont., Walker’s corporate trajectory seemed etched in stone, until he started to work as a DJ on the side.<\/p>\n

Something clicked when he was invited to play a house party for his university rugby team in 2012, he says, and before long, he was playing sets at the local pub, which led to more bookings.<\/p>\n

By graduation, Walker had amassed a small collection of original songs on Soundcloud, as the rift between his two lives widened.<\/p>\n

On weekdays, he worked in the marketing department at Magna, but at night he was mixing tracks at home. On weekends, he’d drive to nearby Ontario cities to DJ.<\/p>\n

After that pivotal conversation with his mother, Belinda Stronach rung up a family friend whose son Myles Shear was a successful music manager. Barely into his 20s, Shear was instrumental in making Norwegian DJ Kygo a gale force act on the club scene. Kygo has collaborated with megastars Selena Gomez and John Legend.<\/p>\n

Walker arranged to visit Shear at his Miami home office.<\/p>\n

Showing up with his mother in tow, Walker remembers stepping into Shear’s condo for the first time. The young powerbroker was chilling on his couch in a Miami Heat jersey while spinning a basketball on his finger. Two assistants tapped away on computers nearby.<\/p>\n

Walker pitched himself as a hopeful artist who wanted to make an impact \u2060\u2060\u2060\u2014\u00a0but Shear says one comment made all the difference.<\/p>\n

\u2060\u2060\u2060”I’m willing to do whatever I’ve got to do to make this happen,\u2060\u2060\u2060” Shear says Walker told him.<\/p>\n

\u2060\u2060\u2060”When I heard those words it really struck me.\u2060\u2060\u2060”<\/p>\n

Walker returned to Toronto and awaited word on whether Shear would manage him. Instead, he got another invite from Shear, this time to join him alongside a dozen of his friends for a Halloween horror night at Universal Studios.<\/p>\n

\u2060\u2060\u2060”I definitely need to take this opportunity,\u2060\u2060\u2060”\u00a0Walker remembers thinking. \u2060\u2060\u2060”So I ended up flying back to Miami.\u2060\u2060\u2060”<\/p>\n

The group partied the night away inside the theme park, and Shear said he \u2060\u2060\u2060”immediately felt this brotherhood\u2060\u2060\u2060”\u00a0with Walker. Shear offered to sign him the following week.<\/p>\n

Since then, the 26-year-old manager has invested big in making Walker a household name in electronic music. He’s booked him shows at Miami’s prestigious Ultra Music Festival, and brokered deals for Walker to remix a considerable roster of pop acts including Kesha, Alessia Cara and Tyler Shaw.<\/p>\n

Along the way, Walker says his family has been supportive, especially his mother.<\/p>\n

\u2060\u2060\u2060”If I’m playing somewhere fun like Mykonos she’ll be like, ‘Maybe I should take a vacation, pop by Mykonos for a day or two to support my son,\u2060\u2060\u2060”‘ he says.<\/p>\n

Lingering in the background of Walker’s success is an uncertain future with Magna.<\/p>\n

He doesn’t talk about the messy legal battle that’s captured national headlines in recent months. Frank Stronach is suing Belinda over control of the family fortune, alleging a misappropriation of family assets. Walker and his sister are part of a countersuit his mother filed against their grandparents and her brother.<\/p>\n

The most he’ll say is that the family business is \u2060\u2060\u2060”a fallback.\u2060\u2060\u2060”<\/p>\n

\u2060\u2060\u2060”Not that I need a fallback right now,\u2060\u2060\u2060”\u00a0he adds.<\/p>\n

\u2060\u2060\u2060”I keep an eye on what my family is doing… It’s always in the back of my mind,\u2060\u2060\u2060”\u00a0he added.<\/p>\n

\u2060\u2060\u2060”But I don’t think I’ll ever have to choose one or the other \u2060\u2060\u2060\u2014\u00a0hopefully.\u2060\u2060\u2060”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2060\u2060\u2060\u2014\u00a0Life can lead to the most extraordinary of crossroads when you’re the grandson of a billionaire auto industry magnate. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-227035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-entertainment","mauthors-david-friend","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227035"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":227048,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227035\/revisions\/227048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}