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Trevor Burton | |
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 Burton performing in 2014 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Trevor James Ireson |
| Born | 9 March 1949 |
| Origin | Aston, Birmingham, England |
| Genres | Rock, blues |
| Occupation | Musician |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar, bass, vocals |
Trevor Burton (born Trevor Ireson; 9 March 1949 [1] in Aston, Birmingham [2] ) is an English guitarist and is a founding member of the Move.
Burton started playing guitar at a young age and was leading his own group called the Everglades by 1963. In 1964 he joined Danny King & the Mayfair Set, along with Keith Smart (drums, formerly of the Everglades), Roger Harris (keyboards), Denis Ball (bass) and vocalist King. The band cut a couple of singles but could not break outside the Birmingham area. Burton accepted an invitation from other Birmingham musicians to form the Move in January 1966, remaining with them until February 1969. [3]
The original line-up of the Move contained singer Carl Wayne, lead guitarist/multi-instrumentalist/songwriter/singer Roy Wood, drummer Bev Bevan, bassist Ace Kefford and Burton on rhythm guitar. Wayne was the usual lead singer, but Wood (who wrote the majority of the original material at this stage), Kefford and Burton were also lead singers to some capacity. Despite a following in their native Birmingham, the fledgling band were in dire need of management and exposure to the music scene in London, so Moody Blues manager Tony Secunda became their manager. Secunda brought the band to London and secured them a weekly residency at the famous Marquee Club, recently vacated by the Who. He dressed them up as American gangsters, staged a contract signing on topless model Liz Wilson, steered them away from their early Motown-style sound and towards a more psychedelic West Coast-influenced live sound and encouraged Wood to write more original material.
"Night of Fear" was the debut single by the Move, released on Deram Records and hitting No. 2 in the UK singles chart. Hit singles during Burton's tenure in the group included "I Can Hear the Grass Grow", "Flowers in the Rain", "Fire Brigade", "Wild Tiger Woman" and "Blackberry Way". The group's 1968 eponymous debut album was to be the only full-length LP release by the original line-up, before Kefford quit the band after having an LSD-induced breakdown. The group carried on as a quartet with Burton shifting to bass. With "Blackberry Way" (with Wood and Bevan's future Electric Light Orchestra bandmate Richard Tandy playing harpsichord) hit No. 1 in the UK after the commercial failure of "Wild Tiger Woman", Burton was growing unhappy with Wood's lighter material with the shift into commercial pop. Although the Move initially intended to add Tandy to their line-up as a keyboardist, when Burton fractured his shoulder, Tandy switched to bass for a few gigs and TV shows, and left to join the Uglys upon Burton's recovery. After a fight onstage with Bevan at a show in Sweden, Burton quit the band to pursue a blues career. Burton was replaced on bass by Rick Price. [4] [5] [6]
Burton was rumoured to be forming a new group with Noel Redding, who, like Burton, was a guitarist who had switched to bass. Burton and Redding shared an apartment in London at that time, and Roy Wood suspected the prospect of forming a band with Redding had encouraged Burton in his decision to leave the Move. [7] However, nothing came of this. Burton jammed with members of Traffic and became a friend of Steve Winwood, and almost joined Blind Faith in 1969. He later said that he "nearly got the job on bass – Steve wanted me, I think," but Ginger Baker wanted Ric Grech instead. [8] Burton then teamed up with Steve Gibbons, who fronted the long-established Birmingham group the Uglys. Burton and Gibbons, along with Uglys' rhythm section Keith Smart and Dave Morgan, plus keyboardist Richard Tandy created a Birmingham supergroup to be named Balls. [3]
Balls was managed by one-time Moody Blues/Move manager Tony Secunda. Following in the trend of Chris Blackwell's Traffic, Secunda arranged for the new group to "get it together" in the country at a rented cottage on the Berkshire Downs and also hired Traffic's record producer Jimmy Miller for the group's recording sessions. With Secunda arranging a large Malcolm McLaren style cash advance from the record company, the group started to compose and record new material while playing a few local gigs. Morgan left during the summer of 1969, to be replaced by Denny Laine, ex-singer/guitarist of the Moody Blues. But Balls split at the end of 1969, with Tandy joining the Move (for live gigs only), then Electric Light Orchestra, and Smart eventually joining Wizzard. Balls reconvened as a quartet the following summer, with Laine, Burton, former Plastic Ono Band drummer Alan White and vocalist Jackie Lomax. Lomax was soon replaced by the returning Gibbons, and ex-Spooky Tooth drummer Mike Kellie replaced White in January 1971. [3]
The group's only release was a single that came out on Tony Secunda's Wizard record label in January 1971 and was re-issued under Burton's name in June 1972. The song "Fight For My Country" was an anti-war anthem composed and sung by Burton, and included backing vocals from Steve Gibbons and Denny Laine, who played bass guitar on the track.
Burton guested on bass guitar with Crushed Butler in 1970 and cut twelve studio recordings with the group intended for release on Tony Secunda's Wizard record label. Shortly thereafter, Burton guested on rhythm guitar with the Pink Fairies between August 1971 to July 1972, staying with the band long enough to appear on a BBC live session and two songs from their second album entitled What a Bunch of Sweeties.[ citation needed ] He also worked with Birmingham vocalist Raymond Froggatt until 1975.
After Balls, Steve Gibbons joined the Birmingham group the Idle Race which eventually became the Steve Gibbons Band. Burton joined in April 1975, and the group enjoyed a hit single in 1977 with the Chuck Berry song, "Tulane" as well as touring America extensively. [3]
Burton left Steve Gibbons in 1983 to form his own band. They started performing twice weekly at the Red Lion in Balsall Heath, Birmingham with a line-up including sax player Steve Ajao. In 1985 the band recorded an album entitled Double Zero (BARLP1), now a collectors item,[ citation needed ] featuring Stuart Ford (slide guitar), Crumpy (bass), Tony Baylis (drums) and Ben Annon (percussion). The band has gone through a number of iterations, and at one point included former Uglys/Balls/Move/Electric Light Orchestra keyboardist Richard Tandy. By 1993, Trevor was joined by Maz Mitrenko on lead guitar and later by drummer, Bill Jefferson and bass player, Pez Connor.
Former Move drummer Bev Bevan had been touring as "Bev Bevan's Move" since 2004, augmented on occasion by Trevor Burton. Burton joined permanently in 2007 and the Autumn 2007 tour was billed as "The Move featuring Trevor Burton and Bev Bevan". [9]
On 20 April 2018, Burton released his first solo acoustic record, Long Play, on Gray Sky Records. [10] The record includes songs written by Burton as well as acoustic renditions of songs by critical modern song writers such as John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats, Vic Chesnutt, Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel. [11] [12] [13] [14]
The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood with drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop and classical arrangements with futuristic iconography. After Wood's departure in 1972, Lynne became the band's sole leader, arranging and producing every album while writing nearly all of their original material. During their first run from 1970 to 1986, Lynne and Bevan were the group's only consistent members.
The Move were a British rock band formed in Birmingham in 1965. They scored nine top 20 UK singles in five years, but were among the most popular British bands not to find any real success in the United States. For most of their career The Move were led by guitarist, singer and songwriter Roy Wood. He wrote all the group's UK singles and, from 1968, also sang lead vocals on many songs. Initially, the band had four main vocalists who divided the lead-vocal duties among themselves.
The Idle Race were a British rock group from Birmingham who in the late 1960s and early 1970s had a cult following but never enjoyed mass commercial success. In addition to being the springboard for Jeff Lynne, the band holds a place of significance in British Midlands' pop-rock history as a link between the Move, Electric Light Orchestra, the Steve Gibbons Band and Mike Sheridan & The Nightriders.
Steve Gibbons is an English singer-songwriter, guitarist and bandleader. His music career spans more than 50 years.
Colin David Tooley, better known as Carl Wayne, was an English singer and actor. He is best remembered as the lead singer of The Move, a group that he co-founded in 1965. He sings lead on several of the band's hits, such as "Curly", "Flowers in the Rain", "I Can Hear the Grass Grow", and "Night of Fear".
Richard Tandy was an English musician. He was the full-time keyboardist in the band Electric Light Orchestra ("ELO"). His palette of keyboards was an important ingredient in the group's sound, especially on the albums A New World Record (1976), Out of the Blue (1977), Discovery (1979) and Time (1981). He collaborated musically with ELO frontman Jeff Lynne on many projects, among them songs for the Electric Dreams soundtrack, Lynne's solo album Armchair Theatre and Lynne-produced Dave Edmunds album Information.
Brian Frederick Hines, known professionally as Denny Laine, was an English musician who co-founded two major rock bands: the Moody Blues and Wings. Laine played guitar in the Moody Blues from 1964 to 1966, and he sang their hit cover version of "Go Now". Laine befriended Paul McCartney of the Beatles, who later asked him to join his band Wings.
Beverley Bevan is an English rock musician who was the drummer and one of the original members of the Move and Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). After the end of ELO in 1986, he founded ELO Part II.
Shazam is the second studio album by English rock band the Move, released in February 1970 by Regal Zonophone. The album marked a bridge between the band's quirky late 1960s pop singles and the more aggressive, hard rock, long-form style of their later albums. It was the last Move album to feature vocalist Carl Wayne, and the first to feature bassist/vocalist Rick Price.
Move is the debut album by the English rock group the Move, released in March 1968 through Regal Zonophone Records. The album features ten Roy Wood compositions, along with three covers which had been a prominent part of the group's live act. Although scheduled for an earlier release, the album was delayed by the theft of the master tapes, which led to the tracks needing to be re-recorded. The album was sporadically recorded between January 1967 and February 1968 at Advision, De Lane Lea and Olympic Studios in London, during gaps in their tight recording schedule when the group were not booked for any performances.
"Fire Brigade" is a song written by Roy Wood and performed by The Move. Released as the group's fourth single in Britain in February 1968, it reached No. 3 in the UK Singles Chart. A cover version was recorded by The Fortunes and released as a single in the US, but did not chart.
"Flowers in the Rain" is a song by English rock band the Move. The song was released as a single and reached number two in 1967 on the UK Singles Chart, and number four in Ireland.
"I Can Hear the Grass Grow " is the second single by the Move, written by Roy Wood. The song was first released on 31 March 1967, and reached number 5 in the UK Singles Chart on 10 May 1967, staying for ten weeks in the charts. "I Can Hear the Grass Grow" was the second of a string of four consecutive top-5 singles in the UK.
"Night of Fear" is the debut single by British rock band the Move, written by Roy Wood. The song was first released on 9 December 1966, and reached number 2 in the UK Singles Chart on 26 January 1967, staying for ten weeks in the charts. "Night of Fear" was the first of a string of four consecutive top-five singles in the UK.
Christopher John "Ace" Kefford is an English bassist.
David Scott-Morgan, 19 August 1942 is an English songwriter and musician.
"Cherry Blossom Clinic" is a song by British rock band The Move, written by their lead guitarist, vocalist, and primary songwriter Roy Wood, intended as the follow-up single to their hit "Flowers in the Rain", which reached number two in the Record Retailer chart. Like many of Wood's other songs, "Cherry Blossom Clinic" deals with clinical insanity and loneliness, and makes several pop culture references throughout, which he largely credits to an ambition for writing a children's book. The track was initially recorded in August 1967 at Advision Studios, but was abandoned for three months before being re-recorded in November of that year, and lacks a production credit.
Heart Beat 86 was a benefit concert staged at the National Exhibition Centre near Birmingham, England, on 15 March 1986. It was organised by Bev Bevan to raise money for Birmingham Children's Hospital.
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