Jimmy Burns (born February 27, 1943) is an American

soul blues Soul blues is a style of blues music developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s that combines elements of soul music and urban contemporary music. Origin African American singers and musicians who grew up listening to the electric blues by ar ...

and

electric blues Electric blues refers to any type of blues music distinguished by the use of electric amplifier, amplification for musical instruments. The guitar was the first instrument to be popularly amplified and used by early pioneers T-Bone Walker in the ...

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

and

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

. Although he was born in the

Mississippi Delta The Mississippi Delta, also known as the Yazoo–Mississippi Delta, or simply the Delta, is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi (and portions of Arkansas and Louisiana) that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo ...

, Burns has spent nearly all his life in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. His elder brother,

Eddie "Guitar" Burns Eddie "Guitar" Burns (February 8, 1928 – December 12, 2012) was an American Detroit blues guitarist, harmonica player, singer and songwriter. His career spanned seven decades. Among Detroit bluesmen, Burns was deemed to have been exceeded in ...

, was a

Detroit blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the African- ...

musician.

Biography

Jimmy Burns was born in

Dublin, Mississippi Dublin, also known as Hopson Bayou, is a census-designated place and unincorporated community located along U.S. Route 49 in southeastern Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States. Dublin is located on the Mississippi Delta Railroad. Dublin has ...

and raised on the Hilliard Cotton Plantation where he learned to play one-string and 12-string guitar. He was the youngest of eleven children. He sang in a church choir when he still lived in the Delta and he was influenced by the blues he heard on the streets. His favorite blues musician was

Lightnin' Hopkins Samuel John "Lightnin" Hopkins (March 15, 1912 – January 30, 1982) was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist from Centerville, Texas. In 2010, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked him No. 71 on its list o ...

. Burns's father was a

sharecropper Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range ...

who performed as a singer in

medicine show Medicine shows were touring acts (traveling by truck, horse, or wagon teams) that peddled "miracle cure" patent medicines and other products between various entertainments. They developed from European Charlatan, mountebank shows and were common i ...

s. At the age of 12, Jimmy Burns moved with his family to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and four years later joined The Medallionaires who recorded a couple of

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...

tracks. Recording mostly solo in the 1960s, Burns issued

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

for the USA, Minit, Tip Top and Erica

labels A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed dir ...

. He toured the

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

with his backing group, the Fantastic Epics, and with another outfit called Jimmy Burns and the Gas Company into the early 1970s. Burn's 1972 single, "I Really Love You" was named in the top 500 singles of Northern soul in 2000, and it is sought by collectors. Burns took a long break from the

music industry The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...

after the early 1970s to raise his family and run a barbecue stand. He performed infrequently until the early part of the 1990s, when he started a long residency at Chicago's Smokedaddy

Club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

. It was there that

Delmark Records Delmark Records is an American jazz and blues independent record label. It was founded in 1958 and is based in Chicago, Illinois. The label originated in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1953 when then owner, and founder, Bob Koester released a record ...

boss

Bob Koester Robert Gregg Koester (October 30, 1932 – May 12, 2021) was an American record producer and businessman who was the founder and owner of Delmark Records, a jazz and blues independent record label. He also operated the Jazz Record Mart in Chi ...

first heard Burns perform, and agreed to record him after hearing only one set of music. His debut album for Delmark in 1996, ''Leaving Here Walking'', was produced by Scott Dirks, and was awarded the 'Best Blues Record of the Year' title by the

National Association of Independent Record Distributors The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) is a trade association that represents independent record labels in the United States, founded in 2005. A2IM is headquartered in New York City, with chapters located in Nashville, Chicago, North ...

, and received two W.C. Handy Award nominations. Burns then began touring internationally. The more recently formed Jimmy Burns Band includes Anthony Palmer (guitar), E.G. McDaniel (bass), and James Carter (drums). Jimmy Burns played guitar on his brother Eddie's 2002 album ''Snake Eyes''. Burns's wife, Dorothy, died on February 12, 2010. They had six children.

Discography

Studio albums

*''Leaving Here Walking'' (1996) - Delmark /

P-Vine P-Vine Records is an independent record label based in Tokyo, Japan. History It was started in 1976 by Blues Interactions, a firm founded in 1975 by Yasufumi Higurashi and Akira Kochi, as a record label focused on black music. The label name c ...

*''Night Time Again'' (1999) - Delmark *''Back to the Delta'' (2003) - Delmark *''Stuck In The Middle'' (2011) - Velrone *''It Ain't Right'' (2015) - Delmark

Live album

*''Live at B.L.U.E.S.'' (2007) - Delmark

Singles

*"Forget It" (1964) - USA Records *"Give Her To Me" (1965) - Tip Top Records *"You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone" (1966) - Tip Top Records *"I Don't Need (Your Help)" (1966) - Tip Top Records *"I Tried" (1967?) -

Minit Records Minit Records was an American independent record label, originally based in New Orleans and founded by Joe Banashak in 1959. Ernie K. Doe, Aaron Neville, Irma Thomas, and Benny Spellman were early artists on the label. Later artists included Bobb ...

*"I Really Love You" (1972) - Erica Records *"Can't Get Over" (1980) - Dispo Records EP

References

External links

Burns biography
* ttp://www.pbase.com/soulfulimpressions/jimmy_burns Photographs at Pbase.combr>Illustrated Eddie & Jimmy Burns discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, Jimmy 1943 births Living people American blues guitarists American male guitarists Blues musicians from Mississippi American blues singers American male singers Songwriters from Mississippi Soul-blues musicians Electric blues musicians Singers from Mississippi People from Dublin, Mississippi Guitarists from Mississippi 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians USA Records artists American male songwriters