During 1970, four singles by four different acts with whom he performed all charted at or near the top of the UK Singles Chart and additionally reached the top 20 in the United States, while a fifth single under his own name ("Melanie Makes Me Smile") reached the lower ends of the top 100 in the United States and Canada.
In the early 1960s, he was a member of the Kestrels, a vocal harmony group which also included the future songwriting team Roger Greenaway and Roger Cook.[2] Burrows recorded his debut album in 1965 under the pseudonym Tony Bond. Subsequently, he joined the Ivy League in 1966 after the departure of John Carter.
However, Burrows had no involvement with the single, which was created and recorded in the studio by the song's writers and producers. He did feature on a few later Flower Pot Men singles which were not hits. Two founding members of Deep Purple, Jon Lord and Nick Simper, were also part of this early band for live shows.
A published interview[which?] with Burrows claims that he became the first (and still the only) recording artist to appear on BBC Television's Top of the Pops fronting three different group acts appearing almost sequentially in a single broadcast show: Edison Lighthouse (the No. 1 British-charted hit that week), White Plains, and Brotherhood of Man. However, Top of the Pops records show that this did not happen; he had appeared with those three groups within the span of a month, and two on the same show one time—Edison Lighthouse and the Brotherhood of Man—on 29 January 1970 episode of Top of the Pops, but never appeared with three bands on a single show. The recordings of his appearances on 29 January, 5 February (with Edison Lighthouse) and 26 February 1970 (with White Plains) are all still in existence.[citation needed]
Solo
In April 1970, in the midst of his session groups' success, he released a single under his own name, "Melanie Makes Me Smile",[2] which reached No. 87 on the Billboard Hot 100. His subsequent solo singles failed to chart.
Burrows has also contributed background vocals as a session singer to many other songs, claiming to have sung on 100 top 20 hits in the 1970s.[7] He has recorded as a session harmony singer with Elton John on the songs "Levon" and "Tiny Dancer", with Cliff Richard, and James Last.
Awards
In 2011, Burrows was awarded the BASCA Gold Badge Award in recognition of his contribution to music.[8]
.jpg)
