Richard James Burgess
Encyclopedia
Richard James Burgess is a studio
drummer
, music-computer programmer, recording artist, record producer
, composer
, author
, manager, marketer and inventor. He was the producer for Spandau Ballet
's first two album
s.
in Boston and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
in London, and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Glamorgan
. He also studied music, privately, with Alan Dawson
, Peter Ind
, Tony Oxley
, James Blades
, and David Arnold
as well as movement with Bruno Tonioli
and drama with Uta Hagen
.
movement, producing Spandau Ballet's first two gold albums and first six hit single
s. He won a Music Week
magazine
sales award as a producer, and has created twenty four chart
singles
and fourteen hit albums.
Other productions included Adam Ant
, King
, New Edition
, Melba Moore
, Colonel Abrams
, America
, Kim Wilde
, Five Star
, Tony Banks
of Genesis
, and Fish
of Marillion
, Living in a Box
, Princess
, Virginia Astley
, Errol Brown
of Hot Chocolate, When In Rome
, Shriekback
, Shock
and Barbie Wilde
. He was also an ambient
pioneer in producing the British group Praise
. He produced, engineered and mixed albums by Rubicon
and X-CNN under the pseudonym Caleb Kadesh and did several mixes using the pseudonym Cadillac Jack.
group Landscape
, whose album From The Tea-rooms Of Mars … to the Hell-holes Of Uranus
yielded the international hits "Einstein A Go-Go" and "Norman Bates". His studio-drumming career includes albums such as Adam Ant
's Strip and The Buggles’ The Age of Plastic
. As a Capitol Records
solo artist he charted singles on the Billboard
Hot Dance Club Play
chart reaching No. 1 on the New York Dance Music Report chart
. He also recorded with the British National Youth Jazz Orchestra
and jazz
musician
s Neil Ardley
, Ian Carr
and Nucleus
and played with Graham Collier OBE
. He currently produces and plays drums for the blues band Electrofied
and plays with jazz pianist Mickey Basil.
es include tracks for the movies
9½ Weeks
, About Last Night... and artists Thomas Dolby
, Lou Reed
, Youssou N'Dour
, and Luba
.
's role in modern music via his work in the 1970s, creating the first computer driven hit, "Einstein A Go-Go", with the Roland MC-8 Microcomposer
and his first use of samples on commercial recordings with Fairlight CMI
firsts such as Kate Bush
's Never Forever
album and Visage
's single "Fade To Grey". He conceptualized and co-designed the first standalone electronic drum-set, the hexagonal shaped SDS5
. He appeared three times on the BBC Television
program Tomorrow's World
demonstrating his prototype of this invention; use of the Roland MC-8 Microcomposer
computer in pop music; and the world's first digital sampling machine the Fairlight CMI
. He coined the name for the New Romantic
movement of the early 1980s. His New York
productions of Colonel Abrams
' which yielded the gold
singles "Trapped
" and "I'm Not Gonna Let" are widely considered to have been the precursors to house music
.
programmes "Music In Our Time" and "Improvisation Workshop". He was selected to play in the British National Youth Jazz Orchestra
, won the Greater London Arts Association’s Young Jazz Musicians 1976 award, the Vitavox Live Sound award (the last two as a member of Landscape) and was chosen for the British Arts Council's Park Lane Group Purcell Room concert series. He is featured in The A to Z of Rock Drummers.
and in the United Kingdom
. He wrote and presented the BBC World Service
radio series "Let There Be Drums". He taught drums at the Annapolis Music School in Maryland
, and currently teaches classes on record production and the music business at The Omega Studios' School Of Applied Recording Arts And Sciences.
Burgess is the Director of Marketing and Sales for Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and Smithsonian Global Sound
, Director of Resource Development for the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and runs his own artist management company, Burgess Worldco in the Washington, D.C.
area. He has been a Governor for the Washington, D.C. Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
and is the co-chair for both the DC Chapter of the Producer and Engineer Wing, and the national Producer Compensation Committee.
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
, music-computer programmer, recording artist, record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, manager, marketer and inventor. He was the producer for Spandau Ballet
Spandau Ballet
Spandau Ballet are a British band formed in London in the late 1970s. Initially inspired by, and an integral part of, the New Romantic fashion, their music has featured a mixture of funk, jazz, soul and synthpop. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s, achieving ten Top Ten singles...
's first two album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s.
Education
He was educated at Berklee College of MusicBerklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
in Boston and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Guildhall School of Music and Drama is an independent music and dramatic arts school which was founded in 1880 in London, England. Students can pursue courses in Music, Opera, Drama and Technical Theatre Arts.-History:...
in London, and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Glamorgan
University of Glamorgan
The University of Glamorgan is a university based in Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales with campuses in Treforest, Glyntaff, Merthyr Tydfil, Tyn y Wern and Cardiff...
. He also studied music, privately, with Alan Dawson
Alan Dawson
Alan Dawson was a respected jazz drummer and widely influential percussion teacher based in Boston. He was born in Marietta, Pennsylvania and raised in Roxbury, MA. Serving in the Army for Korean War duty, Dawson played with the Army Dance Band while stationed at Fort Dix from 1951-1953...
, Peter Ind
Peter Ind
Peter Ind is a British jazz double-bassist and record producer.Ind began playing professionally in the late 1940s, including being part of the 'house band' on the ship Queen Mary from 1949 to 1951. He relocated to New York City in 1951, where he played with Lennie Tristano, Lee Konitz , Buddy...
, Tony Oxley
Tony Oxley
Tony Oxley is an English free-jazz drummer and one of the founders of Incus Records.-Biography:Tony Oxley was born in Sheffield, England. A self-taught pianist by age eight, he first began playing the drums at seventeen. While in the Black Watch military band from 1957 to 1960 he studied music...
, James Blades
James Blades
James "Jimmy" Blades OBE was an English percussionist.He was one of the most distinguished percussionists in Western music, with long and varied career. His book Percussion Instruments and their History is a standard reference work on the subject Blades was born in Peterborough, England in 1901...
, and David Arnold
David Arnold (conductor)
David Arnold is a British composer, conductor and music producer.Born in 1951, he began to play percussion at the age of 12 and went on to study at the Royal College of Music in London...
as well as movement with Bruno Tonioli
Bruno Tonioli
Bruno Tonioli is an Italian choreographer and TV personality who appears as a judge on the television dance competition Strictly Come Dancing for BBC TV in the UK, and its American adaptation Dancing with the Stars on ABC TV in the US, Tonioli co-created and appeared on the BBC talent show DanceX...
and drama with Uta Hagen
Uta Hagen
Uta Thyra Hagen was a German-born American actress and drama teacher. She originated the role of Martha in the 1963 Broadway premiere of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee...
.
Producer
In the early 1980s he emerged as the first producer of the New RomanticNew Romantic
New Romanticism , was a pop culture movement in the United Kingdom that began around 1979 and peaked around 1981. Developing in London nightclubs such as Billy's and The Blitz and spreading to other major cities in the UK, it was based around flamboyant, eccentric fashion and new wave music...
movement, producing Spandau Ballet's first two gold albums and first six hit single
Hit single
A hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...
s. He won a Music Week
Music Week
Music Week is a trade paper for the UK record industry.Founded in 1959 as Record Retailer, it was relaunched on 18 March 1972 as Music Week . On 17 January 1981 the title was again changed, owing to the increasing importance of sell-through videos, to Music & Video Week...
magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
sales award as a producer, and has created twenty four chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
singles
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
and fourteen hit albums.
Other productions included Adam Ant
Adam Ant
Adam Ant is an English musician who gained popularity as the lead singer of New Wave/post-punk group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring ten UK top ten hits between 1980 and 1983, including three No.1s...
, King
King (band)
King were a British New Wave pop band of the mid 1980s, from Coventry. Their name comes from the surname of lead singer Paul King. The band recorded two albums for CBS Records ; both were produced by Richard James Burgess and certified gold.-Overview:The band was formed from the remnants of...
, New Edition
New Edition
New Edition is an R&B group formed in Boston in 1978. The group reached its height of popularity during the 1980s. They were the progenitors of the boy band movement of the 1980s and 1990s and led the way for groups like New Kids on the Block, Boyz II Men, Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync...
, Melba Moore
Melba Moore
Beatrice Melba Smith , known by her stage name, Melba Moore is an American disco, R&B singer and actress. She is the daughter of saxophonist Teddy Hill and R&B singer Bonnie Davis.-Early life:...
, Colonel Abrams
Colonel Abrams
Colonel Abrams is a house and urban musician who was born in Detroit, Michigan and raised in New York City, New York. He graduated from Benjamin Franklin High School currently known as Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics which is in East Harlem section of Manhattan, there he met a fellow...
, America
America (band)
America is an English-American folk rock band that originally included members Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell and Dan Peek. The three members were barely out of their teens when they became a musical sensation during 1972, scoring #1 hits and winning a Grammy for best new musical artist...
, Kim Wilde
Kim Wilde
Kim Wilde is an English pop singer, author and television presenter who burst onto the music scene in 1981 with the number 2 UK Singles Chart new wave classic "Kids in America". In 1987 she had a major hit in the United States when her version of The Supremes' classic "You Keep Me Hangin' On"...
, Five Star
Five Star
Five Star are a British pop / R&B group, formed in 1983. Comprising siblings Stedman, Lorraine, Denise, Doris and Delroy Pearson, they were known for their flamboyant image, matching costumes and heavily choreographed dance routines...
, Tony Banks
Tony Banks (musician)
This article is about the musician. For other people named Tony Banks, see Tony BanksAnthony George "Tony" Banks is a British composer, and multi-instrumentalist, who performs as a keyboardist and a guitarist...
of 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...
, and Fish
Fish (singer)
Derek William Dick, better known as Fish, is a Scottish progressive rock singer, lyricist and occasional actor, best known as the former lead singer of Marillion.-Biography:...
of Marillion
Marillion
Marillion are a British rock band, formed in Aylesbury, England in 1979. Their recorded studio output comprises sixteen albums generally regarded in two distinct eras, delineated by the departure of original vocalist & frontman Fish in late 1988, and the subsequent arrival of replacement Steve...
, Living in a Box
Living in a Box
Living in a Box were a British band from the 1980s and early 1990s. They are best known for their eponymous debut single, produced by Richard James Burgess.-Formation and split up:...
, Princess
Desiree Heslop
Princess is a British singer who found chart success in the mid 1980s. In the late 1970s she worked with the group Osibisa....
, Virginia Astley
Virginia Astley
Virginia Astley is an English singer-songwriter most active during the 1980s and 1990s. From the start of her songwriting career in 1980, Astley took her inspiration from many sources. Her classical training influenced her as did a desire to be experimental with her music...
, Errol Brown
Errol Brown
Errol Brown MBE is a singer and songwriter, best known as the frontman of Hot Chocolate. He has British citizenship by marriage to Ginette and they live in The Bahamas...
of Hot Chocolate, When In Rome
When in Rome (band)
When in Rome are an English New Wave trio, originally consisting of vocalists Clive Farrington and Andrew Mann, and keyboards player Michael Floreale. They are best known for their 1988 single, "The Promise".-History:...
, Shriekback
Shriekback
Shriekback are an English rock band, formed in 1981 in Kentish Town by Barry Andrews, formerly of XTC and League of Gentlemen , and Dave Allen, formerly of the Gang of Four , with Carl Marsh, formerly of Out On Blue Six soon added to the line-up. They were joined by Martyn Barker on drums in 1983...
, Shock
Shock (troupe)
Shock is a music/mime/dance/pop group that was notable in the early 1980s for supporting English pop groups such as Gary Numan, Adam and the Ants, Depeche Mode and Famous Names, led by Steve Fairnie....
and Barbie Wilde
Barbie Wilde
Barbie Wilde is a Canadian actress and writer, perhaps best known for appearing as the Female Cenobite in Hellbound: Hellraiser II - the second of eight Hellraiser films based on Clive Barker's novella, The Hellbound Heart...
. He was also an ambient
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
pioneer in producing the British group Praise
Praise (band)
Praise, formed in 1991 in London, England, were a new-age music group, comprising Geoff MacCormack, Simon Goldenberg and Miriam Stockley. The group was considered to be foundational in the genre of Ethnic Electronica....
. He produced, engineered and mixed albums by Rubicon
Rubicon
The Rubicon is a shallow river in northeastern Italy, about 80 kilometres long, running from the Apennine Mountains to the Adriatic Sea through the southern Emilia-Romagna region, between the towns of Rimini and Cesena. The Latin word rubico comes from the adjective "rubeus", meaning "red"...
and X-CNN under the pseudonym Caleb Kadesh and did several mixes using the pseudonym Cadillac Jack.
Musician
Burgess co-produced, co-wrote, programmed, sang and played drums for the European electronicaElectronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
group Landscape
Landscape (band)
Landscape is a British band, best known for the 1981 hits, "Einstein A Go-Go" and "Norman Bates". Formed in 1974, they toured constantly during the mid- to late-1970s, playing rock, punk and jazz venues and releasing two instrumental EPs on their own Event Horizon label...
, whose album From The Tea-rooms Of Mars … to the Hell-holes Of Uranus
From the Tea-rooms of Mars ....
From the Tea-rooms of Mars .... is the second album from Landscape and was released in 1981. The album contains the band's only UK chart hits: "Einstein A Go-Go" which reached No. 5 in February 1981 and "Norman Bates" which reached No...
yielded the international hits "Einstein A Go-Go" and "Norman Bates". His studio-drumming career includes albums such as Adam Ant
Adam Ant
Adam Ant is an English musician who gained popularity as the lead singer of New Wave/post-punk group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring ten UK top ten hits between 1980 and 1983, including three No.1s...
's Strip and The Buggles’ The Age of Plastic
The Age of Plastic
-Chart performance:-Personnel:The Buggles*Geoff Downes – keyboards, drums, percussion*Trevor Horn – vocals, bass guitar, guitarAdditional musicians*Paul Robinson - drums*Richard James Burgess – drums...
. As a Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
solo artist he charted singles on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot Dance Club Play
Hot Dance Club Play
The Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs...
chart reaching No. 1 on the New York Dance Music Report chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
. He also recorded with the British National Youth Jazz Orchestra
National Youth Jazz Orchestra
The National Youth Jazz Orchestra is a British jazz orchestra founded in 1963 by Bill Ashton.Based in Westminster, London, NYJO started life as the London Schools' Jazz Orchestra and evolved into becoming the national orchestra...
and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
s Neil Ardley
Neil Ardley
Neil Richard Ardley was a prominent English jazz pianist and composer, who also made a name as the author of more than 100 popular books on science and technology, and on music.-Brief biography:...
, Ian Carr
Ian Carr
Ian Carr was a Scottish jazz musician, composer, writer, and educator.-Early years:Carr was born in Dumfries, Scotland, the elder brother of Mike Carr...
and Nucleus
Nucleus (band)
Nucleus were a pioneering jazz-rock band from Britain who continued in different forms from 1969 to 1989. In their first year they won first prize at the Montreux Jazz Festival, released the album Elastic Rock, and performed both at the Newport Jazz Festival and the Village Gate jazz club.They were...
and played with Graham Collier OBE
Graham Collier
James Graham Collier OBE was an English jazz bassist, bandleader and composer.-Life and career:Born in Tynemouth, Northumberland, on leaving school Collier joined the British Army as a musician, spending three years in Hong Kong...
. He currently produces and plays drums for the blues band Electrofied
Electrofied
Electrofied is a US based electric blues band featuring Tony Fazio on lead guitar, Rob Rusteberg on bass Richard James Burgess on drums and singer, Scott Taylor as lead vocalist....
and plays with jazz pianist Mickey Basil.
Mixes and compositions
Burgess’s mixes and remixRemix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
es include tracks for the movies
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
9½ Weeks
9½ Weeks
9½ Weeks is a 1986 erotic drama film directed by Adrian Lyne and starring Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger. It is based on the novel of the same name by Elizabeth McNeill....
, About Last Night... and artists Thomas Dolby
Thomas Dolby
Thomas Dolby is an English musician and producer. Best known for his 1982 hit "She Blinded Me with Science", and 1984 single "Hyperactive!", he has also worked extensively in production and as a session musician.-Early life:Dolby was born in London, England, contrary to information in early 1980s...
, Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
, Youssou N'Dour
Youssou N'Dour
Youssou N'Dour is a Senegalese singer, percussionist and occasional actor. In 2004, Rolling Stone described him as, in Senegal and much of Africa, "perhaps the most famous singer alive." He helped develop a style of popular music in Senegal, known in the Serer language as mbalax, a type of music...
, and Luba
Luba (singer)
Luba is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter and recording artist. She was commercially active from 1980 to 1990, 2000 to 2001 and is active again from 2007 to present. She was initially the vocalist for a band named Luba before signing as a solo artist under the one-name moniker...
.
Innovations
He defined the computer programmer's and samplerSampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
's role in modern music via his work in the 1970s, creating the first computer driven hit, "Einstein A Go-Go", with the Roland MC-8 Microcomposer
Roland MC-8 Microcomposer
The Roland MC-8 MicroComposer by the Roland Corporation, introduced in 1977 at a price of around US$8,000, was one of the earliest stand-alone microprocessor-driven CV/Gate music sequencer, following EMS Sequencer 256 in 1971 and New England Digital's ABLE computer in 1975...
and his first use of samples on commercial recordings with Fairlight CMI
Fairlight CMI
The Fairlight CMI is a digital sampling synthesizer. It was designed in 1979 by the founders of Fairlight, Peter Vogel and Kim Ryrie, and based on a dual-6800 microprocessor computer designed by Tony Furse in Sydney, Australia...
firsts such as Kate Bush
Kate Bush
Kate Bush is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic vocal style have made her one of the United Kingdom's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years.In 1978, at the age of 19, Bush topped the UK Singles Chart...
's Never Forever
Never Forever
Never Forever is a 2007 US/Korean movie written and directed by Gina Kim, released worldwide in December 2007...
album and Visage
Visage
Visage are a British New Wave rock band. Formed in 1978, the band became closely linked to the burgeoning New Romantic fashion movement of the early 1980s, and are best known for their 1980 hit "Fade to Grey".-New Wave years :...
's single "Fade To Grey". He conceptualized and co-designed the first standalone electronic drum-set, the hexagonal shaped SDS5
Simmons Drum
The Simmons SDSV, SDS5, or Simmons Drum Synthesizer was the first viable electronic replacement for acoustic drums. It was developed by Richard James Burgess and Dave Simmons, and manufactured initially by Musicaid in Hatfield, UK. After Musicaid went bankrupt, Simmons set up a new manufacturing...
. He appeared three times on the BBC Television
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
program Tomorrow's World
Tomorrow's World
Tomorrow's World was a long-running BBC television series, showcasing new developments in the world of science and technology. First aired on 7 July 1965 on BBC1, it ran for 38 years until it was cancelled at the beginning of 2003.- Content :...
demonstrating his prototype of this invention; use of the Roland MC-8 Microcomposer
Roland MC-8 Microcomposer
The Roland MC-8 MicroComposer by the Roland Corporation, introduced in 1977 at a price of around US$8,000, was one of the earliest stand-alone microprocessor-driven CV/Gate music sequencer, following EMS Sequencer 256 in 1971 and New England Digital's ABLE computer in 1975...
computer in pop music; and the world's first digital sampling machine the Fairlight CMI
Fairlight CMI
The Fairlight CMI is a digital sampling synthesizer. It was designed in 1979 by the founders of Fairlight, Peter Vogel and Kim Ryrie, and based on a dual-6800 microprocessor computer designed by Tony Furse in Sydney, Australia...
. He coined the name for the New Romantic
New Romantic
New Romanticism , was a pop culture movement in the United Kingdom that began around 1979 and peaked around 1981. Developing in London nightclubs such as Billy's and The Blitz and spreading to other major cities in the UK, it was based around flamboyant, eccentric fashion and new wave music...
movement of the early 1980s. His New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
productions of Colonel Abrams
Colonel Abrams
Colonel Abrams is a house and urban musician who was born in Detroit, Michigan and raised in New York City, New York. He graduated from Benjamin Franklin High School currently known as Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics which is in East Harlem section of Manhattan, there he met a fellow...
' which yielded the gold
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
singles "Trapped
Trapped (Colonel Abrams song)
- Chart positions :...
" and "I'm Not Gonna Let" are widely considered to have been the precursors to house music
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
.
Awards and achievements
With the avant-garde electronic group Accord (with Christopher Heaton and Roger Cawkwell) he was featured on BBC Radio 3BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
programmes "Music In Our Time" and "Improvisation Workshop". He was selected to play in the British National Youth Jazz Orchestra
National Youth Jazz Orchestra
The National Youth Jazz Orchestra is a British jazz orchestra founded in 1963 by Bill Ashton.Based in Westminster, London, NYJO started life as the London Schools' Jazz Orchestra and evolved into becoming the national orchestra...
, won the Greater London Arts Association’s Young Jazz Musicians 1976 award, the Vitavox Live Sound award (the last two as a member of Landscape) and was chosen for the British Arts Council's Park Lane Group Purcell Room concert series. He is featured in The A to Z of Rock Drummers.
Educator and marketer
His book The Art of Music Production, which was originally entitled The Art of Record Production, is now in its third edition. He has written many articles for technical and music magazines, as well as articles and papers for the academic journal of The Association for the Study of the Art of Record Production (ASARP) He has lectured on the subject of record production and the music business in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. He wrote and presented the BBC World Service
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
radio series "Let There Be Drums". He taught drums at the Annapolis Music School in Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, and currently teaches classes on record production and the music business at The Omega Studios' School Of Applied Recording Arts And Sciences.
Burgess is the Director of Marketing and Sales for Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and Smithsonian Global Sound
Smithsonian Global Sound
Smithsonian Global Sound is the digital archive project of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage , launched in 2005 by Smithsonian Folkways, the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. Its stated mission is to preserve and disseminate a wide range of the world's...
, Director of Resource Development for the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and runs his own artist management company, Burgess Worldco in the Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
area. He has been a Governor for the Washington, D.C. Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc., known variously as The Recording Academy or NARAS, is a U.S. organization of musicians, producers, recording engineers and other recording professionals dedicated to improving the quality of life and cultural condition for music and its...
and is the co-chair for both the DC Chapter of the Producer and Engineer Wing, and the national Producer Compensation Committee.