About: Eric Burdon
Eric Victor Burdon (born 11 May 1941) is an English
singer-songwriter best known as a member and vocalist of rock band the Animals
and the funk band, War and for his aggressive stage performance. He was ranked
57th in Rolling Stone's list The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.
The Animals
Burdon was lead singer of the Animals, formed during 1962 in
Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The original band was the Alan Price Rhythm and
Blues Combo, which formed in 1958; they became The Animals shortly after Burdon
joined the band. The Animals combined electric blues with rock and in the USA
were one of the leading bands of the British Invasion. Along with the Beatles,
the Rolling Stones, the Hollies, the Dave Clark Five, and the Kinks, the group
introduced British music and fashion. Burdon's powerful voice can be heard on
the Animals' singles "The House of the Rising Sun", "Sky
Pilot", "Monterey", "I'm Crying", "Boom
Boom", "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", "Bring It On Home
to Me", "Baby Let Me Take You Home", "It's My Life",
"We Gotta Get out of This Place", "Don't Bring Me Down",
and "See See Rider".
By late 1966, the other original members, including
keyboardist Alan Price, had left. Burdon has often attributed the
disintegration of the band to conflict with Price, specifically that Price had
claimed sole rights and ownership to “House of the Rising Sun.” Burdon and
drummer Barry Jenkins reformed the group as Eric Burdon and The Animals. This
more psychedelic incarnation featured future Family member John Weider and was
sometimes called Eric Burdon and the New Animals. Keyboardist Zoot Money joined
during 1968 until they split up in 1969. This group's hits included the ballad
"San Franciscan Nights", the grunge–heavy metal-pioneering "When
I Was Young", "Monterey", the anti-Vietnam anthem "Sky
Pilot", and the progressive cover of "Ring of Fire".
In 1975, the original Animals reunited and recorded an album
called Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted, released in 1977 and overlooked
due to the dawning of punk. In May 1983, The Animals reunited with their
original line-up and released the album Ark on 16 June 1983, along with the
singles "The Night" and "Love Is For All Time". A world
tour followed, and the concert at Wembley Arena, London, recorded on 31
December 1983, was released in 1984 as Rip it to Shreds. Their concert at the
Royal Oak Theatre in April 1984 was released in 2008 as Last Live Show; the
band members were augmented by Zoot Money, Nippy Noya, Steve Gregory, and Steve
Grant. The original Animals broke up for the last time at the end of 1984.
WAR
During 1969, while living in San Francisco, Burdon joined
forces with Californian funk rock band War. In April 1970, the resulting album
created was entitled, Eric Burdon Declares "War", which produced the
singles "Spill the Wine" and "Tobacco Road".
A two-disc set entitled “The Black-Man's Burdon”, was
released later in September 1970. The singles from the double album,
"Paint It, Black" and "They Can't Take Away Our Music", had
moderate success during 1971. During this time Burdon collapsed on the stage
during a concert caused by an asthma attack, and War continued the tour without
him.
In 1976, a compilation album, Love Is All Around, released
by ABC Records, included recordings of Eric Burdon with War doing a live
version of "Paint it, Black" and a cover of The Beatles song "A
Day in the Life." The band also featured ex-NFL star Deacon Jones who
coined the term "quarterback sack" and sang on the band's 1975 song
"Why Can't We Be Friends?"
Eric Burdon and War were reunited for the first time in 37
years, to perform an Eric Burdon & War reunion at the concert at the Royal
Albert Hall London on 21 April 2008. The concert coincided with a major reissue
campaign by Rhino Records (UK), which released all the War albums including
Eric Burdon Declares "War" and The Black-Man's Burdon.
Solo Career
Burdon began a solo career in 1971 with the Eric Burdon
Band, continuing with a hard rock–heavy metal–funk style. In August 1971, he
recorded the album Guilty! which featured the blues shouter Jimmy Witherspoon,
and also Ike White of the San Quentin Prison Band. In 1973, the band performed
at the Reading Festival and in 1974 they travelled to New York City. At the end
of 1974, the band released the album Sun Secrets and this was followed by the
album Stop in 1975. Burdon moved to Germany in 1977 and recorded the album
Survivor with a line-up including guitarist Alexis Korner and keyboardist Zoot
Money; the album also had a line-up of four guitarists and three keyboard
players and is known for its interesting album cover, which depicts Burdon
screaming. The album was produced by former Animal's bassist Chas Chandler. The
original release included a booklet of illustrated lyrics done in ink by Burdon
himself.
In May 1978, he recorded the album Darkness Darkness at the
Roundwood House in County Laois, Republic of Ireland, using Ronnie Lane's
Mobile Studio and featuring guitarist and vocalist Bobby Tench from the Jeff
Beck Group, who had left Streetwalkers a few months before. The album was
eventually released in 1980. During January 1979, Burdon changed his band for a
tour taking in Hamburg, Germany, and the Netherlands.
On 28 August 1982, "The Eric Burdon Band" including
Red Young (keyboards) performed at the Rockpalast Open Air Concert in Lorelei,
Germany. Following this Burdon toured heavily with his solo project from March
1984 to March 1985, taking in UK, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Canada and Australia.
In 1986, Burdon published his autobiography entitled I Used To Be An Animal,
But I'm Alright Now.
In March 1979, he played a concert in Cologne and changed
the band's name to "Eric Burdon's Fire Department", whose line-up
included backing vocalist Jackie Carter of Silver Convention, Bertram Engel of
Udo Lindenberg's "Panik Orchester" and Jean-Jaques Kravetz. In mid
1980, they recorded the album The Last Drive. "Eric Burdon's Fire
Department" toured Europe with this line-up and Paul Millins and Louisiana
Red made special appearances in Spain and Italy. By December 1980, the band had
broken up.
In April 1981, Christine Buschmann began to film Comeback
with Burdon as the star. They created a new "Eric Burdon Band" whose
line-up included Louisiana Red, Tony Braunagle, John Sterling and Snuffy
Walden. This band recorded live tracks in Los Angeles. They also recorded in
Berlin with another line-up, the only remaining member being John Sterling. In
September 1981, the final scenes of Comeback were shot in the Berlin Metropole
and Burdon and his band continued to tour through Australia and North America.
A studio album titled Comeback was released in 1982. The 1983 album Power
Company also included songs recorded during the Comeback project.
In 1988, he put together a band with 15 musicians including
Andrew Giddings – keyboards, Steve Stroud – bass, Adrian Sheppard – drums,
Jamie Moses – guitar and four backing vocalists to record the album I Used To
Be An Animal in Malibu, in the United States. In 1990, Eric Burdon's cover version
of "Sixteen Tons" was used for the film Joe Versus the Volcano. The
song, which played at the beginning of the film, was also released as a single.
He also recorded the singles "We Gotta Get out of this Place" with
Katrina & The Waves and "No Man's Land" with Tony Carey and Anne
Haigis. Later in 1990, he had a small line-up of an Eric Burdon Band featuring
Jimmy Zavala (sax and harmonica), Dave Meros(bass), Jeff Naideau (keyboards),
Thom Mooney (drums) and John Sterling (guitar) before he began a tour with The
Doors guitarist Robby Krieger and they appeared at a concert from Ventura
Beach, California, which was released as a DVD on 20 June 2008.
On 13 April 2004, he released a "comeback" album,
My Secret Life, which was his first album with new recordings for 16 years.
When John Lee Hooker died in 2001, Burdon had written the song "Can't Kill
the Boogieman" the co-writers of the songs, on the album, were Tony
Braunagel and Marcelo Nova. In 2005, they released a live album, Athens Traffic
Live, with special DVD bonus material and a bonus studio track and disbanded in
November 2005. He began a short touring as "The Blues Knights".
On 27 January 2006, he released his blues–R&B album Soul
of a Man. This album was dedicated to Ray Charles and John Lee Hooker. The
cover of the album was a picture which was sent to Burdon a few years before.
Burdon then formed a new band, with the following members: Red Young
(keyboards), Paula O'Rourke (bass), Eric McFadden (guitar), Carl Carlton
(guitar), and Wally Ingram (drums). They also performed at the Lugano Festival
and in 2007 he toured as the headlining act of the "Hippiefest"
line-up, produced and hosted by Country Joe McDonald.
Burdon, at 71, recorded an E.P. with Cincinnati garage band
the Greenhornes called, simply, Eric Burdon & the Greenhornes. The album
was recorded at an all-analogue recording studio, and released on 23 November
2012 as part of Record Store Day's "Black Friday."
In 2013, Eric Burdon came out with a new album called, “Til
Your River Runs Dry”. The lead single off the album was called,
"Water" and was inspired by a conversation he had with former Soviet
premier Mikhail Gorbachev.
Other Associations:
In 1991, Burdon and Brian Auger formed the "Eric Burdon
– Brian Auger Band" with the following line-up: Eric Burdon – vocals,
Brian Auger – keyboards, vocals, Dave Meros – bass, vocals, Don Kirkpatrick –
guitar, vocals, and Paul Crowder – drums, vocals. By 1992, Larry Wilkins
replaced Kirkpatrick and Karma Auger (Brian's son) replaced Crowder and in 1993
they added Richard Reguria (percussion). The live album Access All Areas was
then released. In 1994 the "Eric Burdon – Brian Auger Band"
disbanded. Burdon then formed the "Eric Burdon's i Band". The line-up
included Larry Wilkins, Dean Restum (guitar), Dave Meros (bass) and Mark Craney
(drums).
In 1995, Burdon made a guest appearance with Bon Jovi,
singing "It's My Life"/"We Gotta Get out of This Place"
medley at the Hall of Fame. He also released the album Lost Within the Halls of
Fame, with past tracks and re-recordings of some songs from I Used to be an
Animal. In October 1996, Aynsley Dunbar replaced Craney on drums. The Official
Live Bootleg was recorded in 1997 and in May that year Larry Wilkins died of
cancer. He also released the compilations Soldier of Fortune and I'm Ready
which featured recordings from the 1970s and 1980s.
In 2000, he recorded the song "Power to the
People" together with Ringo Starr and Billy Preston for the motion picture
“Steal This Movie!”. On 11 May 2001, the Animals were inducted into the Rock
Walk of Fame on Burdon's 60th birthday. On 3 March 2002, the live album Live in
Seattle was recorded. Ex-War member Lee Oskar made a guest appearance on the
album. In 2003 he made a guest appearance on the album Joyous in the City of
Fools by the Greek rock band Pyx Lax, singing lead vocal on "Someone Wrote
'Save me' On a Wall".
In 2001, his second critically acclaimed memoir, "Don't
Let Me Be Misunderstood," written with author/filmmaker J. Marshall Craig,
was released in the US, followed by editions in Greece, Germany and Australia;
it covers the British Invasion, moving to Los Angeles and Palm Springs, and
various anecdotes about Rock and Roll stardom.
On 7 June 2008, Burdon performed at the memorial service of
Bo Diddley in Gainesville, Florida. During July and August 2008, Burdon
appeared as the headline act of the "Hippiefest". He also recorded
the single "For What It's Worth" with Carl Carlton and Max Buskohl.
On 12 November 2008, Rolling Stone ranked Eric Burdon No. 57
on the list of the 100 Greatest Singers of all Time. On 22 January 2009 he
first performed with his new band, including keyboardist Red Young, guitarist
Rick Hirsch, bass player Jack Bryant and drummer Ed Friedland. For a few months
he was sick and did not perform except in the United States. On 26 June, he
began his European tour. The band included Red Young (keyboards), Billy Watts
(guitar), Terry Wilson (bass), Brannen Temple (drums) and Georgia Dagaki
(cretan lyra). The tour ended on 7 August.
On Monday 28 January 2013, Eric Burdon made a rare
appearance performing on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, backed by the Roots.
Fallon hyped Burdon's current album, 'Til Your River Runs Dry.
On Tuesday 23 July 2013, Eric was a guest on stage with
Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band at Cardiff Millennium Stadium,
performing "We Gotta Get Out of This Place."
In August 2013, he toured with Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo.
Influences:
The sound of The Animals influenced many Britpop,
alternative rock and power pop groups as well as the bands Deep Purple, The
Black Crowes, The Hives, Grand Funk Railroad, MC5, The White Stripes and
his voice has been highly respected by many singers such as Jim Morrison,
Robert Plant, Tom Petty, David Johansen, Joe Cocker, Bruce Springsteen, Ian
Hunter, Ryan Adams, Julian Thome, Jack White, John Mellencamp and Dan Zanes.
Discography:
The Animals
1964 - The Animals
1965 - The Animals on Tour
1965 - Animal Tracks
1966 - Animalisms
1977 - Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted
1983 - Ark
Eric Burdon & The Animals
1967 - Eric Burdon & The Animals
1967 - Winds of Change
1968 - The Twain Shall Meet
1968 - Every One of Us
1968 - Love Is
Eric Burdon & War
1970 - Eric Burdon Declares "War"
1970 - The Black-Man's Burdon (double album)
1976 - Love Is All Around – 1976, No. 140 US
Eric Burdon & Jimmy Witherspoon
1971 - Guilty! (Re-released in 1976 as "Black &
White Blues")
The Eric Burdon Band
1974 - Sun Secrets
1975 - Stop
1982 - Comeback
Eric Burdon
1977 - Survivor
1980 - Darkness Darkness
1980 - The Last Drive
1983 - Power Company
1988 - I Used To Be An Animal
1995 - Lost Within the Halls of Fame
2004 - My Secret Life
2006 - Soul of a Man
2008 - Mirage
2012 - Eric Burdon & The Greenhornes
2013 - 'Til Your River Runs Dry
Live Albums:
1965 – In The Beginning
1973 – The Animals with Sonny Boy Williamson
1984 – Rip It To Shreds: Greatest Hits Live, No. 195 in US
1985 – That's Live
1993 – Access All Areas
1996 – Eric Burdon Live
1998 – Live at the Roxy
2000 – The Official Live Bootleg #1
2000 – The Official Live Bootleg #2
2001 – The Official Live Bootleg 2000
2002 – Live in Seattle 2002
2005 – Athens Traffic Live
2009 – Live 17th October 1974
CONTACT: http://www.ericburdon.com/inquires
Eric Burdon – 2000 to 2019
Eric Burdon – 1980 to 1999
Eric Burdon – 1960 to 1979
Eric Burdon through the
Years – (Live)
Eric Burdon Interviews
through the Years
Official Website
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