When Walsh was aged 12 he started to play the piano and by the time he was 14 he wrote his own songs; he enjoyed listening to groups like The Charlatans, Oasis and Jeff Buckley. A shy and lonely personality, he looked for artists that had, or have, an influence on the musicians of his generation.

Eventually he got attracted to artists and bands such as Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Nick Drake and The Beatles. Walsh was so impressed by the music of Tim Buckley, that he decided to name his own band after the title of Buckley’s 1970 album Starsailor. He met fellow band members, James Stelfox and Ben Byrne, when he studied music at the Wigan and Leigh College in Wigan.

Some rumours said that Starsailor members Ben Byrne and James Stelfox were in another band. One day,when their vocalist didn’t turn up, Walsh asked them if he could sit in with them and sing for this rehearsing. This was the first incarnation of Starsailor as a band. James decided to play the guitars for the band after the “frustration over not finding a musician right for the group”.