Eric Burdon

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Eric Burdon, 1973

Eric Victor Burdon (born May 11, 1941 in Newcastle upon Tyne , England ) is a British rock musician . He was the singer of the bands The Animals and War . His best-known songs include We Gotta Get out of This Place, San Franciscan Nights , Monterey , Spill the Wine , as well as cover versions of House of the Rising Sun and Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood .

Burdon repeatedly experimented successfully with new styles of music. Strongly influenced by the blues of Bo Diddley and the soul of Ray Charles , he has released almost 50 albums since the 1960s, some of which reached high chart positions worldwide. He has performed with Chuck Berry , Jimi Hendrix , Jimmy Witherspoon and Otis Redding and was named as one of their ten favorite musicians by Patti Smith and Iggy Pop . The music magazine Rolling Stone lists Burdon at number 57 of the greatest singers of all time ( Greatest Singers of all time ).

Life

1958 to 1971

Eric Burdon (1967)

Burdon's first band was The Pagan Jazz in 1958, in which he played with John Steel. In the following years both changed the band several times. In 1961 Burdon also sang for Alexis Korner and then joined Blues Incorporated , where he met Alan Price .

In 1962 Burdon and Price formed the band Alan Price Rhythm & Blues Combo, which in 1964 became Animals . With this formation, Burdon was very successful for years, with the number one hit House of the Rising Sun and several other top 10 hits. In an arte documentary from 2015, Burdon mentioned that he had sung the song House of the Rising Sun since he was 16 years old, but did not explain it in detail.

After Price left the band in May 1965, Burdon took over the leadership role in the group. Other hits followed such as We Gotta Get out of this Place, It's my life, Inside Looking out and Don't Bring Me down . In 1966, the single See See Rider was released under the name Eric Burdon and the Animals . After three members left the band, Burdon recorded his first solo album entitled Eric Is Here . It contained the song Help Me Girl , which was used in the movie The Platinum Gang and was very successful commercially. During the recording he was supported by the drummer Barry Jenkins, who remained in the band, and other studio musicians; these were also carried under the name The Animals.

From the end of 1966 a stable line-up formed under Burdon. Until 1969 the band toured under the name Eric Burdon and the Animals, partly also as Eric Burdon and the New Animals and produced several successful songs such as San Franciscan Nights and When I Was Young from 1967. After the Animals broke up in 1969, the singer Burdon wanted to concentrate on a solo career, but initially did not find the support of a label or a producer.

At the Newport Festival in California in March 1969, he met Lee Oskar from the funk band Nightshift. Burdon soon joined the band under the name Eric Burdon & War . A tour followed, which in July 1969 was commented by the New Musical Express critic as "The best live band I have ever seen". Later the commercially successful album Eric Burdon Declares “War” was released, followed by the production of the album The Black-Man's Burdon.

After Burdon had suffered an asthma attack with the band on a European tour in 1971 , he had to get out; the following appearances as well as the later career of War continued without him. Later that year, Guilty! some joint recordings of Burdon with the band; it was published as a joint effort by Burdon and Jimmy Witherspoon .

From 1973

Eric Burdon, 1973

In mid-1973 Burdon gave concerts with guitarist Aalon Butler, drummer Alvin Taylor and bassist Randy Rice. With appearances in smaller halls and at festivals, he appeared more and more on the music scene. In 1974 the album Sun Secrets was released under the band name The Eric Burdon Band. Both this production and the later album Stop (1975) made it into the American album charts. In the same year Burdon formed with his colleagues from the original line-up of Animals. In 1977 the album Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted was a production of both new songs and a compilation of previously unreleased recordings and B-sides of pieces that Burdon had previously sung with the band War.

In 1977 Burdon moved to Germany with his wife Rosie Marks and their daughter. The result was the rock album Survivor , which he recorded with, among others, Alexis Korner, Frank Diez and Zoot Money as accompanying musicians. After its publication, he toured Holland and met Udo Lindenberg , with whom he went on tour in Germany. In 1980 he released two albums, the solo album Darkness, Darkness and The Last Drive , a project with, among others, Bertram Engel from Lindenberg's Panikorchester, Frank Diez and Jean-Jacques Kravetz , under the name Eric Burdon's Fire Department.

After Burdon gained experience as an actor through participation in smaller film appearances in this area, he took on the leading role in Christel Buschmann's film Comeback in 1981 . The film, about the return of a former rock star to show business, was released in 1982 together with the album of the same name. A world tour followed with a newly formed Eric Burdon Band. After the tour, the Power Company album was completed and released in 1983.

Shortly thereafter, the reunited Animals produced the second album, which sold well. On September 7, 1983, the Animals band appeared publicly - for the first time in years - when they gave a concert at the Hudson Civic Center in New York. The 1983 New Year's Eve concert was recorded at London's Wembley Stadium and released in 1984 under the name Rip it to Shreds - Greatest Hits Live ; then the band broke up. The following years were musically calmer for Burdon. After a few concerts he published his autobiography I Used to Be an Animal in 1986 (German title: In the beginning it was animal ... ). In 1988 an album with this title was released.

After touring with Robby Krieger in 1990/91 , Burdon met keyboardist Brian Auger in 1992 . With him he founded a new band, released the double live album Access All Areas (1993) and toured until the end of 1994. Then he gave concerts as Eric Burdon's I Band, which split in late 1997 to put together a completely new formation that he named Eric Burdon & the New Animals. This lasted until 2002. In between, his second autobiography Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood was published. From 2003 to 2005 he toured worldwide as Eric Burdon & the Animals.

In 2004 Burdon released the studio album My Secret Life , in 2005 the live album Athens Traffic Live and in January 2006 the album Soul of a Man . At the same time he put together a new band. With this he toured with changing members, together with Red Young , who played with Burdon since 2004. In April 2008 Burdon performed with the band War at the Royal Albert Hall in London (no longer with the original line-up in the early 1970s). In January 2013 Burdon released the album 'Til Your River Runs Dry on ABKCO Records.

Discography

Studio albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE UK UK US US
The Animals
1964 The Animals - UK6 (20 weeks)
UK 		US7 (27 weeks)
US
1965 The Animals on Tour - - US99 (9 weeks)
US
Animal tracks - UK6 (26 weeks)
UK 		US57 (25 weeks)
US
1966 Animalization - - US20 (30 weeks)
US
Animalism - UK4 (17 weeks)
UK 		US33 (22 weeks)
US
Eric Burdon & the Animals
1967 Eric is here - - US121 (13 weeks)
US
Winds of Change - - US42 (20 weeks)
US
1968 The Twain Shall Meet - - US79 (29 weeks)
US
Every One of Us - - US152 (8 weeks)
US
1969 Love Is - - US123 (10 weeks)
US
1977 Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted - - US70 (11 weeks)
US
first reunion
1983 Ark - - US66 (10 weeks)
US
second reunion
The Eric Burdon Band
1974 Sun Secrets - - US51 (16 weeks)
US
1975 stop - - US171 (5 weeks)
US
Eric Burdon
2004 My Secret Life DE93 (1 week)
DE 		- -
2006 Soul of a Man DE43 (4 weeks)
DE 		- -
2013 'Til Your River Runs Dry DE57 (1 week)
DE 		- -

More albums

  • 1971: Guilty! (Eric Burdon & Jimmy Witherspoon )
  • 1977: Survivor (Eric Burdon)
  • 1980: Darkness Darkness (Eric Burdon)
  • 1980: The Last Drive (Eric Burdon)
  • 1982: Comeback (The Eric Burdon Band)
  • 1983: Power Company (Eric Burdon)
  • 1988: I Used To Be An Animal (Eric Burdon)
  • 1995: Lost Within the Halls of Fame (Eric Burdon)
  • 2008: Mirage (Eric Burdon)
  • 2012: Eric Burdon & the Greenhornes (Eric Burdon & the Greenhornes)

Filmography (selection)

Books

  • 1966: Wild Animals
  • 1986: I Used to Be an Animal, but I'm Alright Now (German edition: In the beginning it was animal , 1988) - autobiography
  • 1989: The Last Poet
  • 1991: Good times: the ultimate Eric Burdon audio-videography, 1963-1991
  • 2001: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood (My Secret Life, 2004) - autobiography
  • 2015: Rebel Without a Pause

Web links

Commons : Eric Burdon  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eric Burdon - Number 57 on the Greatest Singers of All Time. Rolling Stone
  2. ↑ Berlin Live Special: Eric Burdon ( Memento of the original from January 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , arte, August 2015; on youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Giyi9wdbyNg @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.arte.tv
  3. ↑ Chart sources: DE AT UK1 UK2
  4. ↑ US singles: Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-2006. Billboard Books, New York 2007, ISBN 0-89820-172-1 . / US albums: The Billboard Albums by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7 .
  5. ↑ Eric Burdon & the Greenhornes at discogs.com
personal data
SURNAME Burdon, Eric
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Burdon, Eric Victor
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British rock singer
DATE OF BIRTH May 11, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH Newcastle upon Tyne , UK