John Burke Shelley (10 April 1950 – 10 January 2022) was a Welsh musician, best known as the lead vocalist and bassist of the

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band Budgie.

Musical career

In 1967,

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

-born Shelley co-founded the band Hills Contemporary Grass with Tony Bourge on guitar and vocals and Ray Phillips on drums. The following year they changed their name to Budgie. Shelley is often compared to Rush bassist/vocalist

Geddy Lee Geddy Lee (born Gary Lee Weinrib; July 29, 1953) is a Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Canadian rock group Rush. Lee joined the band in September 1968, at the re ...

, as they both share the position of bassist/vocalist in

power trio A power trio is a rock and roll band format having a lineup of electric guitar, bass guitar and drum kit (drums and cymbals), leaving out a second rhythm guitar or keyboard instrument that are often used in other rock music bands that are quart ...

bands, both have distinctive high pitched singing voices, and during the mid to late 1970s they bore a striking resemblance to one another, with long straight hair and large glasses. Both vocalists possessed a high tenor vocal range, but unlike Lee, who is a fingerstylist, Shelley played bass with a guitar pick. In addition to singing and playing bass for the group, Shelley also performed keyboards on its early albums, including the Mellotron on "Young Is a World" from their second album ''

Squawk Squawk may refer to: * Bird vocalization * Squawk (sound), a sound produced by patients with various lung disorders * ''Squawk'' (album), hard rock band Budgie's second album, released in 1972 * Squawk code (more formally transponder code), a f ...

''. Budgie's November 2010 tour of Eastern Europe had to be cancelled as Shelley was hospitalised on 9 November in

Wejherowo Wejherowo ( csb, Wejrowò; german: Neustadt in Westpreußen, formerly Weyhersfrey) is a city in Gdańsk Pomerania, northern Poland, with 48,735 inhabitants (2021). It has been the capital of Wejherowo County in Pomeranian Voivodeship since 19 ...

, Poland, with a 6 cm aortic aneurysm. After surgery, he returned to Britain for recovery, but no decision about the future of the band had been made. By the time of his death in 2022, Budgie were considered disbanded or on hiatus, having not performed or recorded since Shelley's hospitalisation.

Personal life and death

Shelley was a father of four children. In a 2010 interview for the BBC documentary '' Heavy Metal Britannia'', Shelley expressed his Christian beliefs and said he had always been uncomfortable with the occult-themed lyrics of bands such as

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...

. In the final years of his life, Shelley suffered from Stickler syndrome, and on two occasions had an aortic aneurysm. He died in his sleep at the

University Hospital of Wales University Hospital of Wales ( cy, Ysbyty Athrofaol Cymru) (UHW), also known as the Heath Hospital, is a major 1,000-bed hospital in the Heath district of Cardiff, Wales. UHW is a teaching hospital of Cardiff University School of Medicine. Constr ...

on 10 January 2022, aged 71.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shelley, Burke 1950 births 2022 deaths Welsh rock singers Welsh rock bass guitarists Welsh Christians Welsh male singers Welsh songwriters Blues rock musicians Welsh bass guitarists British heavy metal bass guitarists Male bass guitarists British male songwriters Musicians from Cardiff