Richard James Burgess (born 29 June 1949) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, composer, author, manager, marketer and inventor.
Burgess's music career spans more than 50 years. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as co-founder and co-lead singer of the
synthpop
Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...
band
Landscape
A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...
, which released a top-5 hit in 1981 with the single "Einstein a Go-Go". Burgess is one of the main composers of Landscape's music, and made major musical and lyrical contributions to the band's songs. After the band's break-up, he pursued a brief, moderately successful solo career releasing one mini-album, ''Richard James Burgess'' in 1984.
He launched his career as a producer with
Spandau Ballet
Spandau Ballet () were an English new wave band formed in Islington, London, in 1979. Inspired by the capital's post-punk underground dance scene, they emerged at the start of the 1980s as the house band for the Blitz Kids, playing "European D ...
's debut UK hit "
To Cut a Long Story Short
"To Cut a Long Story Short" is the debut single by the English new wave band Spandau Ballet, released on 31 October 1980. The band began recording the song before they were signed to a record label because of the interest they had generated wi ...
", the first commercial success for the hitherto underground
New Romantic
The New Romantic movement was an underground subculture movement that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The movement emerged from the nightclub scene in London and Birmingham at venues such as Billy's and The Blitz. The New ...
movement.
Burgess currently serves as the President and CEO of A2IM:
American Association of Independent Music
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 ...
.
Early years
Richard James Burgess was born in
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 ...
, England, and his family emigrated to
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...
, New Zealand, in 1959. He showed an early interest in music, especially drums, and bought his first drum set at the age of 14. As a drummer, he gained experience in local bands including Fred Henry, Orange,
Easy Street, The Lordships and Barry Saunders.
Burgess also showed an early interest in recording production, buying a portable Tandberg tape recorder when he was 16 to make amateur recordings.
Burgess studied electronics at college before turning to studies in music. In 1972, he left New Zealand to attend
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...
in Boston, and in 1973 moved back to London to study at the
Guildhall School of Music and Drama
The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...
. He holds a PhD in musicology from the
University of Glamorgan
, image_name = University of Glamorgan arms.png
, image_size = 220px
, caption = University of Glamorgan coat of arms
, motto = Success Through Endeavour
, established =
, closed =
, administrative_staff =
, chancellor = John Morris ...
(now the
University of South Wales
The University of South Wales ( cy, Prifysgol De Cymru) is a public university in Wales, with campuses in Cardiff, Newport and Pontypridd. It was formed on 11 April 2013 from the merger of the University of Glamorgan and the University of Wal ...
).
Career
Musician and recording artist
In the mid-1970s, Burgess was a member of the
soft rock
Soft rock is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in Southern California and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, melodic songs with big, lush productions. S ...
band
Easy Street, together with
Ken Nicol and
Peter Marsh. The trio released two albums, ''Easy Street'' (1976) and ''Under the Glass'' (1977) and several singles, one of which charted on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 ("I've Been Lovin' You").
From 1975 through the early 1980s, Burgess co-produced, co-wrote, programmed, sang and played drums for the
electronic
Electronic may refer to:
*Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor
* ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal
*Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device
*Electronic co ...
band
Landscape
A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...
with Christopher Heaton,
Andy Pask
Andrew Howard Pask (born 30 August 1955) is an English musician who was a member of the band Landscape. He wrote the theme to the TV show ''The Bill''.
Early years
Andy Pask was a pupil at Haileybury College where he played cello in school orc ...
,
Peter Thoms
Peter Thoms is an English musician and composer best known for playing keyboards and trombone for the synthpop band Landscape.
Biography
Landscape was formed in 1974 with Richard James Burgess (vocals, drums), Christopher Heaton (keyboards), ...
and
John Walters.
The band's
RCA Records
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...
album ''
From the Tea-rooms of Mars... To the Hell-holes of Uranus'' yielded the international hits "Einstein a Go-Go" and "Norman Bates". As a
Capitol Records
Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...
solo artist, he charted singles on the
''Billboard'' Hot Dance Club Play chart, reaching No. 1 on the New York Dance Music Report
chart
A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...
.
Burgess has played on many albums as a studio-drummer and percussionist, having worked with producers such as
Tony Visconti
Anthony Edward Visconti (born April 24, 1944) is an American record producer, musician and singer. Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of performers. His first hit single was T. Rex's " Ride a White Swan" in 1970, the first of man ...
,
Peter Collins,
Trevor Horn
Trevor Charles Horn (born 15 July 1949) is an English music producer, label and recording studio owner, musician and composer. He is best known for his production work in the 1980s, and for being one half of the new wave band The Buggles (wit ...
,
Ian Levine
Ian Geoffrey Levine (born 22 June 1953) is a British songwriter, producer, and DJ. A moderniser of Northern soul music in the UK, and a developer of the style of Hi-NRG, he has written and produced records with sales totalling over 40 million. ...
,
Robin Millar
Robin John Christian Millar, CBE (born 18 December 1951) is an English record producer, musician and businessman, known variously as 'The Original Smooth Operator', 'The man behind Sade', and 'Golden Ears' Boy George. He was born in London to ...
,
Hugh Padgham
Hugh Charles Padgham (born 15 February 1955) is an English record producer and audio engineer. He has won four Grammy Awards, for Producer of the Year and Album of the Year for 1985, Record of the Year for 1990, and Engineer of the Year for 1 ...
,
Mike Stone,
Gary Langan
Gary Michael Langan (born 19 April 1956) is an English engineer, record producer, mixer and musician.
Biography
His career started at age 18 when he worked as an assistant engineer at Sarm East Studios, learning the craft from Gary Lyons and M ...
,
Barry Mason,
Peter Dawkins,
John Sinclair, Gary Lyons, and
Junior Campbell
Junior Campbell (born William Campbell Jnr, 31 May 1947) is a Scottish composer, songwriter and musician. He was a founding member, lead guitarist, piano player, and singer with the Scottish band Marmalade and co-wrote and produced some of t ...
. These include albums such as
Adam Ant
Stuart Leslie Goddard, better known as Adam Ant (born 3 November 1954), is an English singer, musician, and actor. He gained popularity as the lead singer of new wave group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring 10 UK top ten ...
's ''
Strip
Strip or Stripping may refer to:
Places
* Aouzou Strip, a strip of land following the northern border of Chad that had been claimed and occupied by Libya
* Caprivi Strip, narrow strip of land extending from the Okavango Region of Namibia to ...
'' and
The Buggles
The Buggles were an English new wave band formed in London in 1977 by singer and bassist Trevor Horn and keyboardist Geoff Downes. They are best known for their 1979 debut single " Video Killed the Radio Star", which topped the UK Singles Cha ...
' ''
The Age of Plastic
''The Age of Plastic'' is the debut album by the English new wave duo the Buggles, released on 10 January 1980 on Island Records. It is a concept album about the possible repercussions of modern technology. The title was conceived from the gr ...
''. He also recorded jazz with the British National Youth Jazz Orchestra,
Neil Ardley
Neil Richard Ardley (26 May 1937 – 23 February 2004) was a prominent English jazz pianist and composer, who also made his name as the author of more than 100 popular books on science and technology, and on music.
Early years
Neil Ardley ...
, Ian Carr and Nucleus, and the early
Landscape
A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...
recordings. He performed live with
Graham Collier
James Graham Collier (21 February 1937 – 9 September 2011) was an English jazz bassist, bandleader and composer.
Life and career
Born in Tynemouth, Northumberland, England, on leaving school Collier joined the British Army as a musician, ...
, OBE.
Producer
In the early 1980s, Burgess emerged as the first producer of the
New Romantic
The New Romantic movement was an underground subculture movement that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The movement emerged from the nightclub scene in London and Birmingham at venues such as Billy's and The Blitz. The New ...
movement, producing
Spandau Ballet
Spandau Ballet () were an English new wave band formed in Islington, London, in 1979. Inspired by the capital's post-punk underground dance scene, they emerged at the start of the 1980s as the house band for the Blitz Kids, playing "European D ...
's first two gold albums and first seven charting
single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
s. He won a ''
Music Week
''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future.
History
Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...
'' magazine sales award as a producer, and has created 24
chart
A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...
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'' ...
and 14 charting albums. Other productions included recordings for
Adam Ant
Stuart Leslie Goddard, better known as Adam Ant (born 3 November 1954), is an English singer, musician, and actor. He gained popularity as the lead singer of new wave group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring 10 UK top ten ...
,
King
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
,
New Edition
New Edition is an American R&B/Pop group from the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1978 by Bobby Brown. Their name is taken to mean a 'new edition' of the Jackson 5. The group reached its height of popularity in the 19 ...
,
Melba Moore
Beatrice Melba Hill or Beatrice Melba Smith (sources differ) (born October 29, 1945), known by her stage name Melba Moore, is an American singer and actress.
Biography Early life and education
Moore was born Beatrice Melba Hill or Beatrice Melba ...
,
Colonel Abrams
Colonel Abrams (May 25, 1949 – November 24, 2016) was an American musician, singer, songwriter, dancer and actor.
Early life
Colonel Abrams (his real name) was born in Detroit, Michigan. His family later moved to East 13 Street, in Manhattan's ...
,
America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
,
Kim Wilde
Kim Wilde (born Kim Smith, 18 November 1960) is an English pop singer, DJ and television presenter. She first saw success in 1981 with her debut single "Kids in America", which peaked at No. 2 in the UK. In 1983, she received the Brit Award f ...
,
Five Star
Five Star (also styled as 5 Star) are a British pop group, formed in 1983 and comprising siblings Stedman, Lorraine, Denise, Doris and Delroy Pearson. Between 1985 and 1988, Five Star had four top 20 albums and 15 top 40 singles in the UK, ...
,
Tony Banks and
Fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...
. He was also an
ambient pioneer in producing the British group
Praise
Praise as a form of social interaction expresses recognition, reassurance or admiration.
Praise is expressed verbally as well as by body language (facial expression and gestures).
Verbal praise consists of a positive evaluations of another's a ...
. He produced, engineered and mixed albums by
Rubicon
The Rubicon ( la, Rubico; it, Rubicone ; rgn, Rubicôn ) is a shallow river in northeastern Italy, just north of Rimini.
It was known as Fiumicino until 1933, when it was identified with the ancient river Rubicon, famously crossed by Julius Ca ...
and X-CNN under the pseudonym Caleb Kadesh and did several mixes using the pseudonym Cadillac Jack.
He was co-producer, co-executive producer, project manager and an author for ''
Jazz: The Smithsonian Anthology''. He also produced ''
The Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap'' and is credited as associate producer on
Tony Trischka
Anthony Cattell Trischka (born January 16, 1949) is an American five-string banjo player. Sandra Brennan wrote of him in 2021: "One of the most influential modern banjoists, both in several forms of bluegrass music and occasionally in jazz and ...
's album ''Territory '' and as a compiler of ''Classic Piano Blues'' for
Smithsonian Folkways
Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was fo ...
Recordings.
Burgess's mixes and
remix
A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...
es include tracks for ''
9½ Weeks
''9½ Weeks'' is a 1986 American erotic romantic drama film directed by Adrian Lyne, and starring Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke. Basinger portrays a New York City art gallery employee who has a brief yet intense affair with a mysterious Wal ...
'', ''
About Last Night'' and artists
Thomas Dolby
Thomas Morgan Robertson (born 14 October 1958), known by the stage name Thomas Dolby, is an English musician, producer, composer, entrepreneur and teacher.
Dolby came to prominence in the 1980s, releasing hit singles including "She Blinded Me ...
,
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. ...
,
Youssou N'Dour
Youssou N'Dour (, wo, Yuusu Nduur; also known as Youssou Madjiguène Ndour; born 1 October 1959) is a Senegalese singer, songwriter, musician, composer, occasional actor, businessman, and politician. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine describe ...
, and
Luba
Luba may refer to:
Geography
*Kingdom of Luba, a pre-colonial Central African empire
* Ľubá, a village and municipality in the Nitra region of south-west Slovakia
*Luba, Abra, a municipality in the Philippines
*Luba, Equatorial Guinea, a town ...
.
Innovator
Burgess defined the computer programmer's and
sampler's role in modern music via his work in the 1970s, creating the first computer driven hit, "Einstein a Go-Go", using the
Roland MC-8 Microcomposer
The Roland MC-8 MicroComposer by the Roland Corporation was introduced in early 1977 at a list price of US$4,795 (¥1,200,000 JPY). It was one of the earliest stand-alone microprocessor-driven CV/Gate music sequencers, following EMS '' Sequencer ...
. He is believed to be the first to record digital samples on a commercial recording with his programming of the
Fairlight CMI
The Fairlight CMI (short for Computer Musical Instrument) is a digital synthesizer, sampler, and digital audio workstation introduced in 1979 by Fairlight.
— with links to some Fairlight history and photos
It was based on a commercial lic ...
on
Kate Bush
Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and dancer. In 1978, at the age of 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single "Wuthering Heights (song), Wuthering Heights", ...
's ''
Never for Ever
''Never for Ever'' is the third studio album by English art rock singer Kate Bush, released on 7 September 1980 by EMI Records, it was Bush's first No. 1 album and was also the first album by a British female solo artist to top the UK Albums Ch ...
'' album and
Visage's single "
Fade to Grey". He conceptualised and co-designed the first standalone
electronic drum
Electronic drums is a modern electronic musical instrument, primarily designed to serve as an alternative to an acoustic drum kit. Electronic drums consist of an electronic sound module which produces the synthesized or sampled percussion sounds ...
set, the hexagonal shaped
Simmons SDS-V
The Simmons SDS 5, SDSV, or Simmons Drum Synthesizer (notated as ''SDS-V'' on the following) was the first viable electronic replacement for acoustic drums. It was developed by Richard James Burgess and Dave Simmons, manufactured initially by M ...
.
He appeared on three separate occasions on the
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...
programme ''
Tomorrow's World
''Tomorrow's World'' is a former British television series about contemporary developments in science and technology. First transmitted on 7 July 1965 on BBC1, it ran for 38 years until it was cancelled at the beginning of 2003. The ''Tomorro ...
'' demonstrating his prototype of the SDSV, the
Roland MC-8 Microcomposer
The Roland MC-8 MicroComposer by the Roland Corporation was introduced in early 1977 at a list price of US$4,795 (¥1,200,000 JPY). It was one of the earliest stand-alone microprocessor-driven CV/Gate music sequencers, following EMS '' Sequencer ...
, and the
Fairlight CMI
The Fairlight CMI (short for Computer Musical Instrument) is a digital synthesizer, sampler, and digital audio workstation introduced in 1979 by Fairlight.
— with links to some Fairlight history and photos
It was based on a commercial lic ...
. He is also reported to have coined the name "
New Romantic
The New Romantic movement was an underground subculture movement that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The movement emerged from the nightclub scene in London and Birmingham at venues such as Billy's and The Blitz. The New ...
" for the subcultural movement of the early 1980s, as well as the term "
electronic dance music" (EDM), which first appeared on the record sleeve of the 1980
Landscape
A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...
single "European Man". His New York City productions of
Colonel Abrams
Colonel Abrams (May 25, 1949 – November 24, 2016) was an American musician, singer, songwriter, dancer and actor.
Early life
Colonel Abrams (his real name) was born in Detroit, Michigan. His family later moved to East 13 Street, in Manhattan's ...
'
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
singles "
Trapped" (1984) and "
I'm Not Gonna Let You
"I'm Not Gonna Let You" (also titled "I'm Not Gonna Let") is a single by Colonel Abrams, released on February 7, 1986 from his self-titled debut album, ''Colonel Abrams'' (1985). It was his third number one on the U.S. dance chart and second top ...
" (1985) are widely considered to have been the precursors to
house music
House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...
, with "Trapped" referred to as a
proto
Proto or PROTO may refer to:
Language
* Proto-, an English prefix meaning "first"
Media
* ''Proto'' (magazine), an American science magazine
* Radio Proto in Cyprus
Music
* ''Proto'' (Holly Herndon album), 2019
* ''Proto'' (Leo O'Kelly ...
-house track and a precursor to
garage house
Garage house (originally known as "garage"; local terms include "New York house" and New Jersey sound) is a dance music style that was developed alongside Chicago house music. The genre was popular in the 1980s in the United States and the 1990s ...
.
Educator and academic
Burgess is a member of the academic advisory committee for The Association for the Study of the Art of Record Production (ASARP,
London College of Music). He has lectured on the subject of record production and the music business in the United States and in the United Kingdom. He wrote and presented the
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...
radio series ''Let There Be Drums''. He taught drums at the Annapolis Music School in
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
, and has taught classes on record production and the music business at The Omega Studios' School of Applied Recording Arts And Sciences.
Author
Burgess's book ''The Art of Music Production: The Theory and Practice'', which was in 1994 originally entitled ''The Art of Record Production'', is now in its fourth edition. In 2014 he published his second book, ''The History of Music Production''. He has written many chapters for other books and articles for technical and music magazines, as well as articles, papers and interviews for the academic ''Journal on the Association Art of Record Production'' (JARP), for which he is joint editor-in-chief.
Manager and executive
In 1978, Burgess founded a management company, Heisenberg Ltd, which managed producers and engineers such as
Phill Brown
Phill Brown (born 1950) is an audio engineer who has worked with a number of well-known musicians, including: Traffic, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Cat Stevens, Bob Marley and Talk Talk. He is also the younger brother of Terry Brown. Career
Brow ...
,
Andy Jackson, Adam Moseley, and Rafe McKenna in the UK and US. The company changed its name to Burgess World Co in the mid-1980s, and relocated to Maryland from Los Angeles and New York in the mid-1990s where it managed many mid-Atlantic based artists including
Jimmie's Chicken Shack
Jimmie's Chicken Shack is an American alternative rock band from Annapolis, Maryland. They are best known for their 1999 single "Do Right" off their album ''Bring Your Own Stereo''. In 1996 they Signed to Elton John's Rocket Records and release ...
.
From 2001 through 2015, Burgess was employed at
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was fou ...
where he was the associate director of Business Strategies.
Boards
Burgess has been a member of the executive board of th
Music Managers Forum U.S.was on the national steering committee for the Recording Academy's Producer and Engineer Wing and has served as co-chair of the executive committee for
Smithsonian Music, a pan-institutional music initiative. He served as vice-president of the Washington, D.C. Chapter of the
National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
The Recording Academy (formally the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; abbreviated NARAS) is an American Learned society, learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is famous f ...
and co-chair for both the DC Chapter of the Producer and Engineer Wing, and the national Producer Compensation Committee. He was elected to the board of the
American Association of Independent Music
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 ...
in 2013 and then to Chair of the board in 2015.
Non-profit work
Burgess is the current President and CEO of the
American Association of Independent Music
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 ...
.
Honours and awards
Burgess was appointed
Member of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(MBE) in the
2022 New Year Honours for services to music.
In 2016 he received the British Council Education UK Alumni Award USA in the Professional Achievement category. As a member of the avant-garde electronic group Accord (with Christopher Heaton and Roger Cawkwell), he was featured on
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...
programs ''Music in Our Time'' and ''Improvisation Workshop''. With
Landscape
A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...
, he won the Greater London Arts Association's Young Jazz Musicians 1976 award and the Vitavox Live Sound award. Accord was also selected by the
Arts Council of Great Britain
The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council (l ...
for its Park Lane Group Purcell Room concert series.
He was featured in ''The A to Z of Rock Drummers''.
In 2016, he won the British Council Education UK Alumni Award for Professional Achievement.
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burgess, Richard James
1949 births
Living people
20th-century New Zealand musicians
Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Alumni of the University of Glamorgan
Berklee College of Music alumni
British male jazz musicians
British music educators
Capitol Records artists
English audio engineers
English blues musicians
English composers
English inventors
English jazz drummers
English jazz musicians
English male singers
English music managers
English new wave musicians
English record producers
English rock drummers
English songwriters
English writers
Landscape (band) members
Members of the Order of the British Empire
National Youth Jazz Orchestra members
New Zealand session musicians
RCA Records artists