John Burns is a British recording engineer best known for his credits with noted bands of the 1970s including Jethro Tull

Jethro Tull (band)

Jethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967. Their music is characterised by the vocals, acoustic guitar, and flute playing of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and the guitar work of Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969.Initially playing blues rock with...

, Clouds

Clouds (60s rock band)

Clouds were a 1960s Scottish rock band that disbanded in October 1971. The band consisted of Ian Ellis , Harry Hughes and Billy Ritchie .- Early days: The Premiers :...

, Genesis

Genesis (band)

Genesis are an English rock band that formed in 1967. The band currently comprises the longest-tenured members Tony Banks , Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins . Past members Peter Gabriel , Steve Hackett and Anthony Phillips , also played major roles in the band in its early years...

, John Martyn

John Martyn

John Martyn, OBE , born Iain David McGeachy, was a British singer-songwriter and guitarist. Over a forty-year career he released twenty studio albums, working with artists such as Eric Clapton and David Gilmour...

 and reggae

Reggae

Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...

 acts Burning Spear

Burning Spear

Winston Rodney, OD , also known as Burning Spear, is a Jamaican roots reggae singer and musician. Burning Spear is known for his Rastafari movement messages.-History:...

, Jimmy Cliff

Jimmy Cliff

Jimmy Cliff, OM is a Jamaican musician, singer and actor. He is the only currently living musician to hold the Order of Merit, the highest honour that can be granted by the Jamaican government for achievement in the arts and sciences...

 and Toots & The Maytals

Toots & the Maytals

Toots and the Maytals, originally called simply The Maytals, are a Jamaican musical group and one of the best known ska and reggae vocal groups. According to Sandra Brennan at Allmusic, "The Maytals were key figures in reggae music...

.

Burns (who is also a guitarist) played in a teenage band with Andy Johns

Andy Johns

Andy Johns is an engineer and producer who worked on well-known rock albums such as Led Zeppelin's IV and The Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street. His sound is exemplified by Free's album Highway, which he engineered and produced....

, the engineer and younger brother of Glyn Johns

Glyn Johns

Glyn Johns is a musician, recording engineer and record producer.-Career:He has worked with such artists as Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Easybeats, The Band, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Eagles, Eric Clapton, The Clash, The Steve Miller Band, Small Faces, Spooky Tooth, The Ozark...

, and Andy Johns got Burns his first job in the industry, as tea-boy and tape operator at Morgan Studios

Morgan Studios

Morgan Studios, also known as Morgan Sound Studios, were recording studios in Willesden, North London. The studios were notable for many recordings of the 1960s and 1970s by many British bands and artists such as Ten Years After, Yes, The Kinks, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Joan Armatrading, Cat...

 in 1965, at the time when Morgan were doing all of the recordings for Chris Blackwell

Chris Blackwell

Christopher Percy Gordon "Chris" Blackwell is a British record producer and businessman, who was the founder of Island Records, acknowledged as the most successful and groundbreaking independent record company in history. Blackwell has been a music industry mogul for over fifty years...

's Island Records

Island Records

Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...

.

Burns graduated to assistant engineer with the Jethro Tull

Jethro Tull (band)

Jethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967. Their music is characterised by the vocals, acoustic guitar, and flute playing of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and the guitar work of Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969.Initially playing blues rock with...

 albums Stand Up

Stand Up (Jethro Tull album)

2010 Deluxe EditionCD 1: Stand Up# "A New Day Yesterday" [2001 Digital Remaster]# "Jeffrey Goes to Leicester Square" [2001 Digital Remaster]# "Bourée" [2001 Digital Remaster]# "Back to the Family" [2001 Digital Remaster]...

and Benefit

Benefit (album)

Benefit is the third album by Jethro Tull. It was released in April 1970. It was the first album to include pianist and organist John Evan , and the last to include bass guitarist Glenn Cornick. It reached #3 in the UK album charts.The album has more hard rock than its predecessor, Stand Up...

; his credits in this period include the self-titled album by Blind Faith

Blind Faith

Blind Faith were an English blues-rock band that consisted of Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, Steve Winwood and Ric Grech. The band, which was one of the first "super-groups", released their only album, Blind Faith, in August 1969...

 (1969), Humble Pie

Humble Pie (band)

Humble Pie was a rock band from England, finding success both in the UK and the US. They are remembered for songs such as "Black Coffee" "30 Days in the Hole", "I Don't Need No Doctor", and "Natural Born Bugie"...

, Jethro Tull, Spooky Tooth

Spooky Tooth

Spooky Tooth are an English rock band principally active, with intermittent breakups, between 1967 to 1974. In recent years, the band has been reconstituted at various points, and continues to perform occasionally.-Career:...

, Blodwyn Pig

Blodwyn Pig

Blodwyn Pig were a British blues–rock group founded by guitarist–vocalist–songwriter Mick Abrahams, after he left Jethro Tull in 1968 due to a falling-out with Tull leader Ian Anderson.-Career:...

, Ten Years After

Ten Years After

Ten Years After is an English blues-rock band, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Between 1968 and 1973, Ten Years After scored eight Top 40 albums on the UK Albums Chart...

, Quintessence, David Bowie

David Bowie

David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

, King Crimson

King Crimson

King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...

 and Donovan

Donovan

Donovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...

. During 1970 he worked as a live engineer for acts including Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix

James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...

, The Who

The Who

The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...

 and Johnny Winter

Johnny Winter

John Dawson "Johnny" Winter III is an American blues guitarist, singer, and producer. Best known for his late 1960s and 1970s high-energy blues-rock albums and live performances, Winter also produced three Grammy Award-winning albums for blues legend Muddy Waters...

. He was a live sound engineer at the Isle of Wight Festival

Isle of Wight Festival

The Isle of Wight Festival is a music festival which takes place every year on the Isle of Wight in England. It was originally held from 1968 to 1970. These original events were promoted and organised by the Foulk brothers under the banner of their company Fiery Creations Limited...

 in 1969. and toured extensively with Jethro Tull.

He returned to studio work after touring with Tull and Clouds

Clouds (60s rock band)

Clouds were a 1960s Scottish rock band that disbanded in October 1971. The band consisted of Ian Ellis , Harry Hughes and Billy Ritchie .- Early days: The Premiers :...

 over a period of eighteen months, and engineered their breakthrough Aqualung album (1970). During a period as freelance engineer with Island Records

Island Records

Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...

, when he often stood in for other engineers on sessions, he worked with major acts including Traffic

Traffic (band)

Traffic were an English rock band whose members came from the West Midlands. The group formed in April 1967 by Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason...

, Mott the Hoople

Mott the Hoople

Mott the Hoople were a British rock band with strong R&B roots, popular in the glam rock era of the early to mid 1970s. They are popularly known for the song "All the Young Dudes", written for them by David Bowie and appearing on their 1972 album of the same name.-The early years:Mott The Hoople...

, Fairport Convention

Fairport Convention

Fairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...

, Free

Free (band)

Free were an English rock band, formed in London in 1968, best known for their 1970 signature song "All Right Now". They disbanded in 1973 and lead singer Paul Rodgers went on to become a frontman of the band Bad Company along with Simon Kirke on drums; lead guitarist Paul Kossoff died from a...

, Curved Air

Curved Air

Curved Air are a pioneering British progressive rock group formed in 1970 by musicians from mixed artistic backgrounds, including classic, folk, and electronic sound. The resulting sound of the band was a mixture of progressive rock, folk rock, and fusion with classical elements...

, Deep Purple

Deep Purple

Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...

, Marc Bolan

Marc Bolan

Marc Bolan was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist and poet. He is best known as the founder, frontman, lead singer & guitarist for T. Rex, but also a successful solo artist...

 and T.Rex, Jeff Beck

Jeff Beck

Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...

, Alexis Corner, Jimmy Cliff

Jimmy Cliff

Jimmy Cliff, OM is a Jamaican musician, singer and actor. He is the only currently living musician to hold the Order of Merit, the highest honour that can be granted by the Jamaican government for achievement in the arts and sciences...

, Toots & the Maytals

Toots & the Maytals

Toots and the Maytals, originally called simply The Maytals, are a Jamaican musical group and one of the best known ska and reggae vocal groups. According to Sandra Brennan at Allmusic, "The Maytals were key figures in reggae music...

 and John Martyn

John Martyn

John Martyn, OBE , born Iain David McGeachy, was a British singer-songwriter and guitarist. Over a forty-year career he released twenty studio albums, working with artists such as Eric Clapton and David Gilmour...

, on the sessions that became Martyn's classic Solid Air

Solid Air

Solid Air is a folk jazz album released in 1973 by John Martyn on Island Records.Contemporary reviews were favourable with music paper Sounds declaring that Solid Air flows beautifully and shows the entire spectrum of music that John Martyn has at his fingertips." The album has continued to...

album. He also produced and engineered the now much-heralded Watercolour Days by Clouds

Clouds (60s rock band)

Clouds were a 1960s Scottish rock band that disbanded in October 1971. The band consisted of Ian Ellis , Harry Hughes and Billy Ritchie .- Early days: The Premiers :...

.

In 1972 he began a successful collaboration with progressive rock band Genesis

Genesis (band)

Genesis are an English rock band that formed in 1967. The band currently comprises the longest-tenured members Tony Banks , Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins . Past members Peter Gabriel , Steve Hackett and Anthony Phillips , also played major roles in the band in its early years...

  on their Foxtrot

Foxtrot (album)

Foxtrot is the fourth studio album by English progressive rock band Genesis and the second from the band line-up which included Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, Phil Collins, and Steve Hackett.-History:...

album replacing two previous engineers had been brought in and then quit. Genesis were impressed with his work and he went on to co-produced (with the band) their next three albums -- Selling England by the Pound

Selling England by the Pound

- Sound and live performance :The piano introduction to "Firth of Fifth" has not been included in a performance since 1974, in a Drury Lane Theatre concert, when Banks misplayed and Collins covered by starting the song from after the intro...

(1973), which included their first charting single, "I Know What I Like

I Know What I Like

"I Know What I Like" is a song performed by Huey Lewis and the News and released as a single from the album Fore! in 1987. The single peaked at number nine on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100...

", Genesis Live

Genesis Live

Genesis Live is the first live album released by rock group Genesis in 1973. It was the band's first top 10 hit in the UK reaching No.9 and remaining on the charts for 10 weeks.-History:...

(1973) and their ambitious 2LP concept album

Concept album

In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...

 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

The Lamb Lies down on Broadway

The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is a double concept album recorded and released in 1974 by the British rock band Genesis. It was their sixth studio album and the last album by the group to feature the involvement of lead singer Peter Gabriel.-Premise:...

(1974), the last Genesis studio album with original lead singer Peter Gabriel

Peter Gabriel

Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...

.

Later in 1974 he worked at Ginger Baker's studio in Lagos

Lagos

Lagos is a port and the most populous conurbation in Nigeria. With a population of 7,937,932, it is currently the third most populous city in Africa after Cairo and Kinshasa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa...

, Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

 with the late Fela Ransome-Kuti. In 1975 Burns mixed a dub version of Burning Spear

Burning Spear

Winston Rodney, OD , also known as Burning Spear, is a Jamaican roots reggae singer and musician. Burning Spear is known for his Rastafari movement messages.-History:...

's "Garvey's Ghost

Garvey's Ghost

Garvey's Ghost is the fourth album by the reggae singer Burning Spear, released in 1976 on Island Records, ILPS 9382. Each track is a dub version of its correspondent song on the group's third album, Marcus Garvey.-Content:...

". During a brief period as owner of Escape Studios

Escape Studios

Escape Studios was founded in April 2002 by Dominic Davenport and fully supported by Oscar winning director Ridley Scott. Based in Shepherds Bush, London and now New York, United States Escape was originally setup as a computer graphics training school but now provides recruitment, hardware and...

 in Kent in the late 1970s, he recorded artists including Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton

Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...

 and Ginger Baker

Ginger Baker

Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker is an English drummer, best known for his work with Cream and Blind Faith. He is also known for his numerous associations with World music, mainly the use of African influences...

 and engineered Motörhead's 1977 self-titled album

Motörhead (album)

Motörhead is the debut album by the British heavy metal band Motörhead, released in 1977.-History:On April 1, 1977, after nearly two years of toiling in obscurity hoping for a record deal, Motörhead decided to perform their last show at the Marquee Club in London. They asked Ted Carroll, head of...

 with producer John "Speedy" Keen (ex Thunderclap Newman

Thunderclap Newman

Thunderclap Newman were a British one-hit wonder band that Pete Townshend of The Who and Kit Lambert had formed circa December 1968 - January 1969 in a bid to showcase the talents of John "Speedy" Keen, Andy "Thunderclap" Newman and Jimmy McCulloch....

).

Burns had few major credits after the end of the '70s but has recently begun recording again, working with US singer Lisa Doby and the band JEBO. He is credited as remastering engineer for the reissue of the 1998 Gary Numan

Gary Numan

Gary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...

 album Exile

External links

• http://www.johnnieburns.co.uk John Burns official website