Ken Burgess (26 November 1944 – June 13, 2021) was a British-Israeli producer, composer, songwriter, singer and painter. He was born and raised in

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Forest ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Burgess produced and wrote songs for various bands and singers in England, France, America and Israel. His songs reached the top of the charts worldwide. All together, Burgess is registered as the producer and writer of over 500 songs.

Career

Burgess taught himself guitar at the age of 9, and at the age of 14 joined his first rock group, the Teenbeats, which included lead singer Tony Colton and bass player

Keith West Keith Hopkins (born 6 December 1944, Dagenham, Essex, England), known by his stage name Keith West, is a British rock singer, songwriter and music producer. He is best known for his single "Excerpt from A Teenage Opera" ("Grocer Jack"), which ...

. The group disbanded a year later. Burgess continued writing songs together with

. The two wrote songs for Keith's group Tomorrow, including the hit "

My White Bicycle "My White Bicycle" is a song written by Keith West and Ken Burgess. It was Tomorrow's debut single. Background According to Tomorrow drummer John 'Twink' Alder, the song was inspired by the Dutch Provos, an anarchist group in Amsterdam whic ...

". The group recorded in

Abbey Road ''Abbey Road'' is the eleventh studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It is the last album the group started recording, although ''Let It Be'' was the last album completed before the band's break-up in April 1970. It was mostly re ...

studio 1, at the same time as

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

were recording in studio 2, and

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

entered the studio while Tomorrow were recording ''My White Bicycle''. Later, Lennon wrote in the British international music magazine ''

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'' that he considered the song to be the "

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anthem" and the song became an underground hit. Ken Burgess produced, composed and wrote albums and songs for various groups and singers, including: * Tomorrow – '' Tomorrow'' – 1968 *

Riff Raff Riff Raff, Riffraff, or Riff-Raff, a term for the common people but with negative connotations, may refer to: In music * Riff Raff (rapper), from Texas * Riff Raff (band), a UK progressive rock band * Riff Raff, a band formed by Billy Bragg * ...

– ''Original Man'' – 1972 *

Rare Bird Rare Bird were an English progressive rock band formed in 1969. They had more success in other European countries. They released five studio albums between 1969 and 1974. In the UK, they never charted with an album but charted with one single ...

– ''Rare Bird'' 1972 * East of Eden – ''Sin City Girls'' – 1973 *

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– ''Another Time, I Got You Babe'' -1974 * David McWilliams – ''Livin's Just a State of Mind'' – 1974 * Zzebra – ''Zzebra'' – 1974, ''Panic'' – 1975 *

Lenny Henry Sir Lenworth George Henry (born 29 August 1958) is a British actor, comedian, singer, television presenter and writer. Henry gained success as a stand-up comedian and impressionist in the late 1970s and early 1980s, culminating in ''The Lenn ...

– ''Sweet Soul Dream, Never the Same as Yesterday'' - 1976 *

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– ''The Monster Mash'', ''The Bard's Own Recipe'' – 1977 * Ken Burgess – ''Somewhere to Belong'' (solo album) – 1979 * Classical Mechanics – featuring Ken Burgess, Tommy Air,

Liam Genockey Liam Genockey (born 12 August 1948) is an Irish musician, who is the drummer with British folk rock band Steeleye Span. Biography Genockey was born in Dublin, Ireland. During the 1960s he lived in Plymouth, Devon, U.K, playing in local semi-p ...

and Alan Marshall - 1979. *

Ange Ange (English: Angel) is a French progressive rock band formed in September 1969 by the Décamps brothers, Francis (keyboards) and Christian (vocals, accordion, acoustic guitar and keyboards). Since its inception the band's music has been inspi ...

– ''

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'' – 1981 *

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– ''

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'' – 1981 *Navah Baruchin – Navah – 1982 Burgess also worked in various projects with musicians such as:

Tommy Eyre Tommy Eyre (5 June 1949 – 23 May 2001) was an English session keyboardist from Sheffield, England, who appeared on records by Joe Cocker, John Martyn, Gary Moore, Michael Schenker, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Greg Lake, B.B. King, John ...

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, Trevor Murrel, John McCoy,

Steve Howe Stephen James Howe (born 8 April 1947) is an English musician, best known as the guitarist in the progressive rock band Yes across three stints since 1970. Born in Holloway, North London, Howe developed an interest in the guitar and began to l ...

Steve Gregory Stephen 'Steve' Gregory (born 1945) is an English jazz saxophonist and composer. He plays tenor, alto, soprano and baritone saxophone as well as the flute. Biography and career Gregory was born in London. At St. Paul's School he learned guit ...

, Richard Brunton,

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, Loughty Amao, Terry Smith, Garth Watroy, Jeff Allen, Roger Sutton, Gus Yeadon, Dion Estos and

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. In 1982 Burgess produced a

Francis Lai Francis Albert Lai (; 26 April 19327 November 2018) was a French composer, noted for his film scores. He won the 1970 Oscar for Best Music, Original Score and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score for the film '' Love Story''. The s ...

project written for the female Israeli singer Navah Baruchin. Burgess later married Baruchin, and converted to become Jewish. After living together and working in France and England, the couple moved to Israel. Burgess worked with various singers in Israel such as Danny Litany, Doron Mazar, Raffi Veinstock, Mordechai Ben David,

Dudu Fisher David "Dudu" Fisher (born 18 November 1951; he, דודו פישר) is an Israeli cantor and performer, best known for his Broadway performance as Jean Valjean in the musical ''Les Misérables''. Biography The son of a Holocaust survivor, Fisher ...

, Yishai Lapidot, Amiran Dvir, Yeedle Werdyger, Tor Marquis and produced his own four solo albums: *''I'll Never Walk Alone in the Desert'' - 2000 *''Rebuild His Kingdom'' - 2001 *''Ken Burgess'' - 2005 *''Somewhere to Belong'' (remake) - 2010 Burgess owned the recording studio "United Studio" in Israel and later on he retired and pursued his other passion of painting. Burgess painted landscapes and biblical events. His paintings are shown in his own exhibitions in Israel.

References

External links

Tomorrow - "My white bicycle"wiki for tomorrow

"Back to tomorrow" on vinylconnection.comall music partial song list
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burgess, Ken 1944 births 2021 deaths English composers English songwriters English rock singers English record producers Israeli people of British descent 20th-century English painters English male painters 21st-century English painters People from Dagenham 20th-century English male artists 21st-century English male artists