Mike Burney | |
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![]() Burney with Wizzard in 1974 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Michael Burney |
Born | Birmingham, England | 7 October 1938
Died | 13 November 2014 76) | (aged
Genres | Jazz, pop, glam rock |
Instrument(s) | Alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, flute, clarinet, |
Michael Burney (7 October 1938 – 13 November 2014) was an English jazz saxophonist, most notable for his tenure in Roy Wood's Wizzard. [1]
Burney was born in the Great Barr area of Birmingham, and educated at Bromsgrove College of Further Education. [1]
Between 1968 and 1970, Burney was in Billy Fury's backing band. Following this, he was a member of Wizzard, playing on records such as "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday". He also wrote its b-side, "Rob Roy's Nightmare (A Bit More H.A.)".
More recently, he worked with the Million-Airs Big Band & Concert Orchestra and spent eight years with the Syd Lawrence Orchestra. [2] He also worked on a joint project with other Wizzard members called The Old Horns Band. [2] He had a residency at Miller & Carter in Sutton Coldfield. [3] He died on 13 November 2014 at the age of 76. [4] [5]
Burney toured, accompanied and sessioned with Chaka Khan, The Beach Boys, Sammy Davis Jr., Petula Clark, Memphis Slim, Steve Winwood, Ruby Turner, Adam Faith, Bob Hope, Cliff Richard, Cilla Black, Dionne Warwick and Matt Monro; [6] covering a range of blues, jazz and big band genres.
Sutton Coldfield or the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield ( ), is a town and civil parish in the city of Birmingham, West Midlands, England. The town lies around 8 miles northeast of Birmingham city centre, 9 miles south of Lichfield, 7 miles southwest of Tamworth, and 7 miles east of Walsall.
Roy Wood is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He was particularly successful in the 1960s and 1970s as member and co-founder of the Move, Electric Light Orchestra and Wizzard.
Wizzard were an English rock band formed by Roy Wood, former member of the Move and co-founder of the Electric Light Orchestra. The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits states, "Wizzard was Roy Wood just as much as Wings was Paul McCartney." They are most famous for their 1973 Christmas single "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday".
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A lot of people had been doing jazz-rock stuff. There had been jazz musicians getting into the rock field, like Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke, but it's very rare that you find a band doing it the other way around a rock and roll band getting into jazz, and it's quite interesting. The rhythm section is very heavy, almost Zeppelinish, the horns are very jazzy and the songs are very commercial, so it makes for quite an interesting combination.
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"I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday", sometimes written as "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day", is a Christmas song recorded by English glam rock band Wizzard. It was first released in December 1973 and, as with most Wizzard songs, was written and produced by the band's frontman Roy Wood—formerly of The Move and a founding member of Electric Light Orchestra. Despite the song's strong, long-lasting popularity, it has reached no higher than number four on the UK Singles Chart, a position it occupied for four consecutive weeks from December 1973 to January 1974. The song was beaten to the 1973 Christmas Number 1 spot by Slade's "Merry Xmas Everybody", which remained at the top of the charts for five weeks, from December 1973 to January 1974.
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