Robert Solli Burås (12 August 1975 – 12 July 2007) was a Norwegian musician and songwriter, best known as the guitarist for the rock band Madrugada. He was also the frontman and guitarist for the rock band My Midnight Creeps. Burås appeared on five studio albums with Madrugada and two releases with My Midnight Creeps. He is the winner of six Norwegian Spellemann Awards, five with Madrugada and one with My Midnight Creeps. Burås died on 12 July 2007 and was found in his apartment by a friend. After a ceremony in Sofienberg Church in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, he was cremated. His ashes lie at

Bjerkvik or is a village in Narvik Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The village is located at the end of Herjangsfjorden, an arm of Ofotfjorden. Bjerkvik sits less than south of the border of Troms county and about across the fjord from the Na ...

Cemetery in

Nordland Nordland (; , , , ) is one of the three northernmost Counties of Norway, counties in Norway in the Northern Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Trøndelag in the south, Norrbotten County in Sweden to the east, Västerbotten County to t ...

, Norway. In the summer of 2008, a

memorial bench A memorial bench, memorial seat or death bench is a piece of outdoor furniture which commemorates a dead person. Such benches are typically made of wood, but can also be made of metal, stone, or synthetic materials such as plastics. Typically m ...

to commemorate Burås was unveiled in the Birkelunden park in Oslo.

Early life

Burås' first contact with rock music came at age twelve when he received a mix tape which included

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

's "

Rock and Roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

" as the first track. In later years, he mentioned the song as a favourite of his.

Madrugada

After playing in local bands with friends and schoolmates in his adolescent years, he formed Abby's Adoption with drummer John Lauvland Pettersen and bass player

Frode Jacobsen Frode Jacobsen (born 11 June 1974) is a musician, bass guitarist, songwriter and record producer from Stokmarknes in Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsu ...

. The three teamed up with singer

Sivert Høyem Sivert Høyem (born 22 January 1976) is a Norwegian musician, best known as the vocalist of the rock band Madrugada. After the band broke up following the death of Robert Burås in 2007, he has enjoyed success as a solo artist and is also a me ...

, changed their name to Madrugada and relocated to

shortly after that. Madrugada's debut EP was released in 1998.

My Midnight Creeps

Robert Burås founded ''My Midnight Creeps'' in 2005 in which he performed as lead singer/guitarist as well as fronting the band and writing the majority of the material. They released two albums: the eponymous ''My Midnight Creeps'' (2005) and ''Histamin'' (2007).

Instruments

Burås' instrument of choice throughout his career with Madrugada was a 1966 vintage, Candy Apple Red,

Fender Jazzmaster The Fender Jazzmaster is an electric guitar designed as a more expensive sibling of the Fender Stratocaster. First introduced at the 1958 NAMM Convention, it was initially marketed to jazz guitarists, but found favor among surf rock guitarist ...

. The guitar was placed on top of the coffin during his funeral service. Burås also used a sunburst

Fender Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of double- cutaway electric guitar designed between 1952 and 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corpora ...

and a black

Gibson Les Paul Custom The Gibson Les Paul Custom is a higher-end variation of the Gibson Les Paul guitar. It was developed in 1953 after Gibson had introduced the Les Paul model in 1952. History The 1952 Gibson Les Paul was originally made with a mahogany body, a ma ...

extensively, and performed mostly with a brown

Gibson ES-345 The Gibson ES-345 is a guitar manufactured by the Gibson Guitar Company. The guitar was produced from 1959 to 1981. It was designed as a jazz guitar and an upscale version of the ES-335. History The 345 was developed in 1958 as an upscale vers ...

during later years with My Midnight Creeps. In addition to guitar, he also played the harmonica, electric

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

and occasionally piano.

Discography

With Madrugada

Studio albums

* '' Industrial Silence'' (1999) * '' The Nightly Disease'' (2001) * '' Grit'' (2002) * '' The Deep End'' (2005) * '' Madrugada'' (2008)

With My Midnight Creeps

Studio albums

* ''My Midnight Creeps'' (2005) * ''Histamin'' (2007)

References

External links

Official Madrugada homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buras, Robert 1975 births 2007 deaths Norwegian rock guitarists Musicians from Narvik 20th-century guitarists