{{Short description|English singer, songwriter and artist/producer}} {{Multiple issues| {{More footnotes needed|date=July 2020}} {{One source|date=September 2021}} }} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}} {{Use British English|date=April 2011}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Caroline K | image = | caption = | birth_place = | birth_date = 1957 | birth_name = Caroline Kaye Walters | death_date = {{Death date and age|2008|7|12|1957|10|9|df=yes}} | death_place = Pisa, Italy | instrument = Vocals, tape loops, keyboards, bass guitar | genre = Experimental | occupation = Singer-songwriter, musician, artist | years_active = 1979–2008 | label = Sterile Records, Earthly Delights, Klanggalerie | past_member_of = Nocturnal Emissions<br>Class War }}

'''Caroline Kaye Walters''' (1957 – 12 July 2008), known as '''Caroline K''', was an English singer, songwriter, and artist/producer. She was a founding member of the UK based experimental/industrial music group Nocturnal Emissions in the 1980s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Worley |first1=Matthew |title=No Future Punk, Politics and British Youth Culture, 1976-1984 |date=2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781107176898 |page=185}}</ref><ref name="de Jongh">{{cite web |last1=de Jongh |first1=Daniel |title=Remembering Caroline K – Now Wait For Last Year: Forgotten Industrial Ambient Masterpiece |url=https://disciplinemag.com/features/remembering-caroline-k-now-wait-for-last-year-forgotten-industrial-ambient-masterpiece/#google_vignette |website=Discipline Mag |access-date=13 October 2025}}</ref> She co-founded Sterile Records with Nigel Ayers in London in 1980.<ref name="ransom" />

In 1986 she played piano on the Class War 7&nbsp;inch EP single ''Better Dead Than Wed!'' released on Mortarhate Records.<ref>{{Citation|title=Class War - Better Dead Than Wed!|date=26 October 1986 |url=https://www.discogs.com/master/241268-Class-War-Better-Dead-Than-Wed|language=de|access-date=2022-02-25}}</ref>

She released her solo LP ''Now Wait for Last Year''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.earthlydelights.co.uk/discog/carolinelp.html|title=Nocturnal Emissions Discography – Caroline K now wait for last year|website=Earthlydelights.co.uk|accessdate=3 July 2020}}</ref> in 1987 (the first release on the Earthly Delights label). The album's title was taken from a Philip K. Dick book of the same name.<ref name=ransom>{{cite web |title=Caroline K’S Lost Cult Lp “Now Wait For Last Year” To Be Re-Issued |url=https://www.theransomnote.com/music/news/caroline-ks-lost-cult-lp-now-wait-for-last-year-to-be-re-issued/ |website=Ransom Note |access-date=13 October 2025}}</ref> She also performed as SM Andrews.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sterile Records: cassettes |url=https://www.earthlydelights.co.uk/archive/sterile/cassettes.html |website=earthlydelights.co.uk |access-date=13 October 2025}}</ref> She lived in Garfagnana, Italy.

Caroline K died on 12 July 2008 in Pisa, Italy, from leukemia complications.<ref name="de Jongh" />

==Reception and legacy== In 2019, Mannequin Records released "Don't Believe It's Over" (a Caroline K track which originally appeared on the Nocturnal Emissions cassette ''Duty Experiment'' in 1988) as a 12" single with additional remixes.<ref>{{cite web |last1=McDermott |first1=Matt |title=Caroline K - Don't Believe It's Over |url=https://ra.co/reviews/24167 |website=Resident Advisor |access-date=13 October 2025}}</ref>

In 2021, a previously unreleased Caroline K track "Mirrorball" recorded in 1983 was released as a 12" picture disc by Mannequin Records.<ref>{{cite web |title=Caroline K 80s HITS #94 |url=https://www.recordturnover.com/2021/07/16/caroline-k/ |website=Record Turnover |access-date=13 October 2025}}</ref> In the same year, the NoiseExtra podcast dedicated an episode to Caroline K and her ''Now Wait for Last Year'' album.<ref>{{cite web |title=Caroline K – Now Wait For Last Year |url=https://www.noisextra.com/2021/04/14/caroline-k-now-wait-for-last-year/ |website=NoiseExtra |access-date=13 October 2025}}</ref>

A 2025 review of ''Now Wait for Last Year'' for the ''Discipline Mag'' website stated: "The album’s enduring power lies in its ability to create genuine psychological transformation through sustained listening—a reminder that music’s highest purpose involves changing how we perceive our relationship with time, space, and consciousness itself. In remembering Caroline K and her remarkable achievement, we acknowledge not only a lost artist but also alternative futures for electronic music that await rediscovery."<ref name="de Jongh" />

==Discography==

===Solo=== * S.M. Andrews - "In a Box" on ''Standard Response'' (cassette tapezine) Sterile Records, 1979. * ''Now Wait for Last Year'' (LP, Album) Earthly Delights 1987 (re-released in 2010 in CD format by Klanggalerie with bonus tracks) * "Tracking with Close-Ups" on ''Funky Alternatives Three'' (CD, various artists compilation) Concrete Productions, Pinpoint Records 1989 * Don't Believe It's Over" (12") Mannequin Records 2019 * Mirrorball (12" picture disc) Mannequin Records 2021

===Production/Co-production=== * Nocturnal Emissions - ''Tissue of Lies'' (LP) Sterile Records 1980 * "Di Lui Non Si Sa Più Nulla", "Fanfare For The Meat Generation" and "Live Blister Bump" on Various Artists - ''Traxtra'' (LP, Album) Trax 1982 * Nocturnal Emissions - ''Shake those Chains Rattle those Cages'' (LP) Sterile Records 1985 * Nocturnal Emissions - ''Songs of Love and Revolution'' (LP) Sterile Records 1985 (re-released in CD format by Dark Vinyl Records in 1992, and by Klanggalerie in 2007) * "Shankini Nadi" credited to Nocturnal Emissions on Various Artists - ''Project One'' (LP) The Produkt Korps 1987 * Nocturnal Emissions - ''Beyond Logic, Beyond Belief'' (LP) Earthly Delights 1990 * Nocturnal Emissions - ''Tissue of Lies: Revised'' (CD) Dark Vinyl Records 1990 (re-released by Klanggalerie in 2008) * Nocturnal Emissions - ''Befehlsnotstand'' (CD) Dark Vinyl Records 1992 * "Never Give Up" credited to Nocturnal Emissions on Various Artists - ''Must Be Musique 2'' (CD) Dark Vinyl Records 1993 * Nocturnal Emissions - ''Befehlsnotstand / Shake those Chains'' (CD, Album, Ltd) Klanggalerie 2007

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.discogs.com/artist/Caroline+K Discography at Discogs] * [http://www.earthlydelights.co.uk/archive/sounds.html Interview (with Nigel Ayers)] in ''Sounds'' Magazine 1983

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{{DEFAULTSORT:K, Caroline}} Category:1957 births Category:2008 deaths Category:English experimental musicians Category:English women singer-songwriters Category:English singer-songwriters Category:20th-century English women singers Category:20th-century English singers Category:Deaths from leukemia in Italy Category:Deaths from cancer in Tuscany