name	Burgess Meredith
birth name	Oliver Burgess Meredith
birth date	November 16, 1907
birth place	Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
death date	September 09, 1997
death place	Malibu, California, U.S.
years active	1936–96
occupation	Actor, singer, producer, director, screenwriter
spouse	Helen Derby (1933–35)Margaret Perry (1936–38)Paulette Goddard (1944–50)Kaja Sundsten (1950–97) (his death) }}

Oliver Burgess Meredith (November 16, 1907 – September 9, 1997), known professionally as Burgess Meredith, was an American actor in theatre, film, and television, who also worked as a director. Active for more than six decades, Meredith has been called "a virtuosic actor" who was "one of the most accomplished actors of the century." Meredith won several Emmys and was nominated for Academy Awards.

Early life

Meredith was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Ida Beth (née Burgess) and Canadian-born William George Meredith, M.D. He graduated from Hoosac School in 1926 and then attended Amherst College as a member of the Class of 1931.

Meredith served in the United States Army Air Forces in World War II, reaching the rank of captain. He was discharged in 1944 to work on the movie ''The Story of G.I. Joe'', in which he starred as the popular war correspondent Ernie Pyle.

Acting career

Theatre

In 1933, he became a member of Eva Le Gallienne's theatre company in New York City. Although best known to the larger world audience for his film and television work, Meredith was an influential actor and director for the stage. He made his Broadway debut as Peter in Le Gallienne's production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' (1930) and became a star in Maxwell Anderson's ''Winterset'' (1935), which became his film debut the following year. His early life and theatre work were the subject of a ''New Yorker'' profile.

He received acclaim playing in the 1935 revival of ''The Barretts of Wimpole Street'' starring Katharine Cornell. She subsequently cast him in several of her later productions.

Other Broadway roles included Van van Dorn in ''High Tor'' (1937), Liliom in ''Liliom'' (1940), Christy Mahon in ''The Playboy of the Western World'' (1946), and Adolphus Cusins ''Major Barbara'' (1957). He created the role of Erie Smith in the English-language premiere of Eugene O'Neill's ''Hughie'' at the Theater Royal in Bath, England in 1963. He played Hamlet in avant-garde theatrical and radio productions of the play.

A distinguished theatre director, he won a Tony Award nomination for his 1974 Broadway staging of ''Ulysses in Nighttown'', a theatrical adaptation of the "Nighttown" section of James Joyce's ''Ulysses''. Meredith also shared a Special Tony Award with James Thurber for their collaboration on ''A Thurber Carnival'' (1960).

Cinema

Early in his career, Meredith attracted favorable attention, especially for playing George in a 1939 adaptation of John Steinbeck's ''Of Mice and Men'' and as war correspondent Ernie Pyle in ''The Story of G.I. Joe'' (1945).

Meredith was featured in many 1940s films, including three -- ''Second Chorus'' (1940), ''Diary of a Chambermaid'' (1946) and ''On Our Merry Way'' (1948) -- co-starring then-wife Paulette Goddard. He also played alongside Lana Turner in ''Madame X''.

As a result of the House Committee on Un-American Activities investigation into Communist influence in Hollywood, Meredith was placed on the Hollywood blacklist, resulting in a seven-year drought of work.

Meredith was a favorite of director Otto Preminger, who cast him in ''Advise and Consent'' (1962), ''In Harm's Way'' (1965), ''Hurry Sundown'' (1967), ''Skidoo'' (1968) and ''Such Good Friends'' (1971). He was the Penguin in the ''Batman'' movie of 1966 based on the TV series. Meredith played Rocky Balboa's trainer, Mickey Goldmill, in the first three ''Rocky'' films (1976, 1979 and 1982), to great acclaim. Even though his character died in the third Rocky film, he returned briefly in the fifth film, ''Rocky V'' (1990). He played an old Korean War veteran Captain J.G. Williams in ''The Last Chase'' with Lee Majors. He appeared in Ray Harryhausen's last stop-motion feature ''Clash of the Titans'' (1981), in a supporting role.

Meredith appeared in ''Santa Claus: The Movie'' (1985). In his last years, he played Jack Lemmon's character's father in ''Grumpy Old Men'' (1993) and its sequel, ''Grumpier Old Men'' (1995).

He was nominated for Academy Awards in the Best Supporting Actor category for his roles in ''The Day of the Locust'' (1975) and ''Rocky'' (1976). Another notable role was as Goldie Hawn's landlord in ''Foul Play'' (1978).

Meredith directed the movie ''The Man on the Eiffel Tower'' (1949) starring Charles Laughton, which was produced by Irving Allen. Meredith also was billed in a supporting role in this film. In 1970 he directed (as well as co-writing and playing a supporting role in) ''The Yin and the Yang of Mr. Go'', an espionage caper starring James Mason as a Hong Kong crime lord and Jeff Bridges as an ambitious amoral draft dodging novelist.

Television

He appeared in four different starring roles in the acclaimed anthology TV series ''The Twilight Zone''. In the famous "Time Enough at Last", a 1959 episode of ''The Twilight Zone'', Meredith plays a henpecked bank teller who only wants to be left alone with his books. In the 1961 episode "Mr. Dingle, the Strong", Meredith plays the title character, a timid weakling who, as the subject of a space alien's experiment on human nature, suddenly acquires superhuman strength. In "Printer's Devil," Meredith portrayed the Devil himself, and in "The Obsolete Man" he portrayed a librarian, sentenced to death in a future, dystopic totalitarian society. He would later play two more roles in Rod Serling's other anthology series, ''Night Gallery''. Meredith was the narrator for ''Twilight Zone: The Movie'' in 1983. He did not receive on-screen credit for his narration (this was so that he could do the job for scale rather than charge his usual minimum fee); as compensation for Meredith's uncredited work, his name was inserted into the dialogue in a scene between Dan Aykroyd and Albert Brooks.

He appeared in various television programs, including the role of Chris, III, in the 1962 episode "Hooray, Hooray, the Circus Is Coming to Town" of the NBC medical drama about psychiatry, ''The Eleventh Hour'' starring Wendell Corey and Jack Ging. He also guest starred in the ABC drama about psychiatry, ''Breaking Point'' in the 1963 episode entitled "Heart of Marble, Body of Stone".

Meredith appeared in various western series too, such as ''Rawhide'' (four times), ''The Virginian'' (twice), ''Wagon Train'', ''Branded'', ''The Wild Wild West'', ''The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters'', ''Laredo'' and ''Daniel Boone''.

In 1963, he appeared as Vincent Marion in a five-part episode of the last season of the Warner Brothers ABC detective series ''77 Sunset Strip''. He starred three times in ''Burke's Law'' (1963–1964), starring Gene Barry, also on ABC.

Meredith also played The Penguin in the television series ''Batman''. His role as the Penguin was so well-received that the show's writers always had a script featuring the Penguin ready whenever Meredith was available. He appeared on the show more times during its run than any other villain except for Cesar Romero's Joker who tied with Meredith for number of appearances on the show.

From 1972 to 1973, Meredith played V.C.R. Cameron, director of ''Probe Control'', in the television movie/pilot ''Probe'' and then in ''Search'', the subsequent TV series (the name was changed to avoid conflict with a program on PBS). The series involved World Securities Corporation, a private agency which, among other activities, fielded a number of detectives equipped with high-tech equipment including a tiny TV transmitter (the "Scanner") which allowed Probe Control to see what was going on where the agents were working. One episode centered around Cameron being kidnapped and having to escape from a torture chamber, without any of the tools carried by Probe agents.

He won an Emmy Award as Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Drama Special for the 1977 television film ''Tail Gunner Joe'', a fictitious study of U.S. Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, the anti-communist leader of the 1950s.

In the early 1980s, he was a co-host of the ABC program, ''Those Amazing Animals'', and co-starred in the short lived CBS sitcom ''Gloria'', a spin-off of All In The Family.

Additional roles

A somewhat more mixed (comedy/dramatic) role was his brilliant portrayal of the philosophical (yet hapless) tramp, Vladimir, in a notable TV production of Beckett's ''Waiting for Godot'' with Zero Mostel and Kurt Kasznar.

Meredith performed voiceover work. He provided the narration for ''A Walk in the Sun''. As a nod to his longtime association with ''The Twilight Zone'', he served as narrator for the 1983 film based on the series. He was the TV commercial voice for Bulova Watches, Honda, Stokley-Van Camp, United Airlines, and Freakies breakfast cereal. He supplied the narration for the 1974–1975 ABC Saturday morning series ''Korg: 70,000 B.C.'' and was the voice of Puff in the series of animated adaptations of the Peter, Paul, and Mary song ''Puff, the Magic Dragon''. In the mid-1950s, he was one of four narrators of the NBC and syndicated public affairs program, ''The Big Story'' (1949–1958), which focuses on courageous journalists.

In 1991, he narrated a track on the The Chieftains' album of traditional Christmas music and carols, ''The Bells of Dublin''.

His last role before his death was the portrayal of both Hamilton Wofford and Covington Wofford characters in the 1996 video game ''Ripper'' by Take-Two Interactive.

Autobiography and personal life

In 1994, Meredith published his autobiography, ''So Far, So Good.'' In the book he confessed that he suffered from violent mood swings which were caused by cyclothymia, a form of bipolar disorder.

Meredith had four wives, including actresses Margaret Perry and Paulette Goddard. His last marriage (to Kaja Sundsten) lasted 46 years, and produced two children, Jonathon (a musician) and Tala (a painter).

Meredith was an outspoken liberal and clashed with Senator Joseph McCarthy, which led to him being blacklisted for a few years in the 1950s.

Death

Meredith died from complications of Alzheimer's disease and melanoma on September 9, 1997. Long time friend Adam West spoke briefly at his memorial service. Meredith's remains were cremated. For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Burgess has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6904 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90028.

Filmography

''Winterset'' (1936)

''There Goes the Groom'' (1937)

''Spring Madness'' (1938)

''Idiot's Delight'' (1939)

''Of Mice and Men'' (1939)

''Castle on the Hudson'' (1940)

''It Was a Wonderful Life'' (1940)

''Second Chorus'' (1940)

''Tom, Dick and Harry'' (1941)

''That Uncertain Feeling'' (1941)

''Street of Chance'' (1942)

''The Story of G.I. Joe'' (1945)

''A Walk in the Sun'' (1945) (narration)

''Magnificent Doll'' (1946)

''The Diary of a Chambermaid'' (1946)

''Mine Own Executioner'' (1947)

''On Our Merry Way'' (1948)

''Golden Arrow'' (1949)

''Jigsaw'' (1949) (uncredited)

''The Man on the Eiffel Tower'' (1950)

''Joe Butterfly'' (1957)

''Man on the Run'' (1958)

''Advise and Consent'' (1962)

''The Cardinal'' (1963)

''The Kidnappers'' (1964)

''In Harm's Way'' (1965)

''Madame X'' (1966)

''Batman'' (1966)

''A Big Hand for the Little Lady'' (1966)

''Torture Garden'' (1967)

''Hurry Sundown'' (1967)

''Skidoo'' (1968)

''Stay Away, Joe'' (1968)

''The Reivers'' (1969)

''Mackenna's Gold'' (1969)

''Debrief: Apollo 8'' (1969) (narrator)

''There Was a Crooked Man...'' (1970)

''Such Good Friends'' (1971)

''A Fan's Notes'' (1972)

''The Day of the Locust'' (1975)

''The Hindenburg'' (1975)

''Burnt Offerings'' (1976)

''Rocky'' (1976)

''The Sentinel (1977)

''Foul Play'' (1978)

''Magic'' (1978)

''The Manitou (1978)

''Rocky II'' (1979)

''When Time Ran Out (1980)

''Clash of the Titans'' (1981)

''The Last Chase'' (1981)

''True Confessions'' (1981)

''Rocky III'' (1982)

''Twilight Zone: The Movie'' (1983)(uncredited)

''Wet Gold'' (1984) Made for TV

''Santa Claus: The Movie'' (1985)

''G.I. Joe: The Movie'' (1987)

''Rocky V'' (1990)

''State of Grace'' (1990)

''Grumpy Old Men'' (1993)

''Camp Nowhere'' (1994)

''Tall Tale'' (1995) - Old Man (uncredited)

''Grumpier Old Men'' (1995)

Television work

''Batman'' (as The Penguin)

''Search'' as V.C.R Cameron (1972–1973)

''Those Amazing Animals'' (co-host with Jim Stafford and Priscilla Presley)

Faerie Tale Theatre: ''Thumbelina''

''The Twilight Zone'' (four separate episodes)

''Tales of Tomorrow'' The Great Silence - 1953

''Daniel Boone'' (as Alex) - 1969

''Night Gallery (TV series) "The Little Black Bag" (as Dr. Fall)-1970

''The Return of Captain Nemo'' (as Prof. Waldo Cunningham) - 1976

''The Monkees'' (Cameo as The Penguin)

''Gloria'' (as Dr. Adams, Gloria Bunker Stivic's boss, 1982–1983)

''Puff the Magic Dragon'' voice of Puff

''In the Heat of the Night'' as Judge Cully (1993)

References

External links

Burgess Meredith as the Penguin

Burgess Meredith Park

Category:1907 births Category:1997 deaths Category:Actors from Ohio Category:American film actors Category:American people of Canadian descent Category:American television actors Category:Amherst College alumni Category:Cancer deaths in California Category:Deaths from Alzheimer's disease Category:Deaths from skin cancer Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Hollywood blacklist Category:People from Cleveland, Ohio Category:People with bipolar disorder Category:Saturn Award winners Category:Tony Award winners Category:United States Army Air Forces officers

an:Burgess Meredith de:Burgess Meredith el:Μπέρτζες Μέρεντιθ es:Burgess Meredith fr:Burgess Meredith it:Burgess Meredith he:ברג'ס מרדית' nl:Burgess Meredith ja:バージェス・メレディス pl:Burgess Meredith pt:Burgess Meredith ru:Мередит, Бёрджесс sh:Burgess Meredith fi:Burgess Meredith sv:Burgess Meredith

Sons of God (''B'nai HaElohim'', בני האלהים) is a phrase used in Levantine Bronze and Iron Age texts to describe the "divine council" of the major gods.

The term "sons of God"

In the pantheon of 2nd millennium Ugarit the El, the father-god and head of the pantheon, and the 70 "sons of El", make up a "Divine Council" which deliberates over major decisions. In the 1st millennium the El had been demoted and each of the "sons of El" was held to have been given a "nation" as his charge: Chemosh, for example, was the god of Moab. Yahweh, not originally included in the Ugaritic pantheon, was the God of Judah and of Israel. In the Book of Genesis, Yahweh is seen as the single deity, with "sons of ''elohim''" as his assistants.

By the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC further hypotheses were developed to explain this passage in Genesis. One hypothesis was that the sons of God were the descendants of Seth, the pure line of Adam, and the "daughters of men" as the descendants of Cain.

In the Hebrew Bible the phrase "sons of God" occurs:

Gen 6:2 ''b'ney ha-Elohim'' (בְנֵי־הָֽאֱלֹהִים) sons of the God.

Job 1:6 ''b'ney ha-Elohim'' (בְּנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים) sons of the God.

Job 38:7 ''b'ney elohiym'' (בְּנֵי אֱלֹהִֽים) without the definite article - sons of gods.

Psalm 29:1 ''b'ney elim'' (בְּנֵי אֵלִים ) without the definite article - sons of elim.

Ugaritic origins

In Ugaritic one cognate phrase is ''bn 'il''. This may occur in the Ugaritic Baal cycle. Scharbert assigns the text to later editorial activity, whereas Westermann claims that the text of Genesis 6 is based on an Ugaritic urtext.

KTU² 1.40 demonstrates the use of ''bn il'' to mean "sons of gods". KTU² 1.65 (which may be a scribal exercise) uses ''bn il'' three times in succession: ''il bn il / dr bn il / mphrt bn il'' "El, the sons of gods, the circle of the sons of gods / the totality of the sons of gods."

The phrase ''bn ilm'' "sons of the gods" is also attested in Ugaritic texts. As is the phrase ''phr bn ilm'' "assembly of the sons of the gods".

History of interpretation of Genesis 6

Second Temple Judaism

In 1 Enoch and Book of Jubilees the Genesis 6 text was developed into a complicated mythology of fallen angels. The 3rd century BC Book of Enoch turns the "sons of God" into fallen angels, referred to as Watchers, who came to earth and had children with human women, resulting in a race of half-angel, half-human beings known as the "Giants" (Nephilim). The view is found in Philo and in Josephus Antiquities 1:73 (or 1:3.1).

In the 1st century CE Rabbi Shimeon ben Yochai pronounced a curse on any Jew teaching the Enochite interpretation, and, later Trypho the Jew rejected the interpretation. This was followed by Rashi and Nachmanides. Some commentators on Luke 20:34-36 believe that Jesus was also familiar with the Enochic interpretation, and can be counted with Shimeon ben Yochai, since Jesus rejected that angels could marry and in the same passage equated the "sons of God" with humans.

Early Christianity

The pseudepigraphic Epistle of Barnabas 4:3 appears to accept the Enochic version. As do Justin Martyr, Eusebius, Clement of Alexandria, Origen and Commodianus.

Against this first Julius Africanus, then Augustine in ''City of God'' argued that the sons of God were the descendants of Seth, the pure line of Adam, and the "daughters of men" as the descendants of Cain.

Some manuscripts of the Septuagint have emendations to read "sons of God" as "angels" in Genesis 6. Codex Vaticanus contains "angels" originally. In Codex Alexandrinus "sons of God" has been erased and replaced by "angels". The Peshitta reads "sons of God". The 5th century Christian work ''Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan'' follows this view.

Contemporary Christianity

Among the churches which teach that the "sons of God" were fallen angels today are Jehovah's Witnesses. Among the churches which teach that the "sons of God" were men are the Catholic Church and many Churches of Christ.

Popular culture

''Sons of God'' - the title of a short video trilogy by British independent film producers Jaffa Entertainment, 2010.

See also

Watcher (angel)

Nephilim

References

External links

Catholic Encyclopedia: Son of God

Jewish Encyclopedia: Son of God

Category:Bible Category:Hebrew Bible words and phrases Category:Christian terms Category:Judaism-related controversies Category:Torah people Category:Judaism terms

ar:أبناء الله pt:Filhos de Deus

name	John Anthony Burgess Wilson
pseudonym	Anthony Burgess, John Burgess Wilson, Joseph Kell
birth date	February 25, 1917
birth place	Harpurhey, Manchester, England
death date	November 22, 1993
death place	St John's Wood, London, England
occupation	Novelist, critic, composer, librettist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, travel writer, broadcaster, translator, linguist, educationalist
nationality	British
language	English
period	1956–1993
genre	Historical fiction, philosophical novel, satire, epic, spy fiction, horror, biography, literary criticism, travel literature, autobiography
subject	exile, colonialism, Islam, faith, lust, marriage, evil, alcoholism, homosexuality, linguistics, pornography
movement	Modernism
influences	Homer, Pelagius, Dante, Lawrence, the English Bible, Shakespeare, Milton, Johnson, Hopkins, Conrad, Ford, Joyce, Freud, Orwell, Eliot, Lévi-Strauss
influenced	}}

John Burgess Wilson (25 February 1917 – 22 November 1993) – who published under the pen name Anthony Burgess – was an English author, poet, playwright, composer, linguist, translator and critic. The dystopian satire ''A Clockwork Orange'' is Burgess's most famous novel, though he dismissed it as one of his lesser works. It was adapted into a highly controversial 1971 film by Stanley Kubrick, which Burgess said was chiefly responsible for the popularity of the book. Burgess produced numerous other novels, including the Enderby quartet, and ''Earthly Powers''. He was a prominent critic, writing acclaimed studies of classic writers such as William Shakespeare, James Joyce, D. H. Lawrence and Ernest Hemingway. In 2008, ''The Times'' placed Burgess number 17 on their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". Burgess was an accomplished musician and linguist. He composed over 250 musical works, including a first symphony around age 18, wrote a number of libretti, and translated, among other works, ''Cyrano de Bergerac'', ''Oedipus the King'' and ''Carmen''.

Biography

Early life

Burgess was born John Burgess Wilson on 25 February 1917 in Harpurhey, a suburb of Manchester, to Catholic parents. He was known in childhood as Jack Wilson, Little Jack, and Johnny Eagle. At his confirmation, the name Anthony was added and he became John Anthony Burgess Wilson. He began using the pen name Anthony Burgess on publication of his 1956 novel ''Time for a Tiger''.

His mother Elizabeth died at the age of 30 at home on 19 November 1918, during the 1918–1919 Spanish flu pandemic. The causes listed on her death certificate were influenza, acute pneumonia, and cardiac failure. His sister Muriel had died four days earlier on 15 November from influenza, broncho-pneumonia, and cardiac failure, aged eight. Burgess believed that he was resented by his father, Joseph Wilson, for having survived. After the death of his mother, Burgess was raised by his maternal aunt, Ann Bromley, in Crumpsall with her two daughters. During this time, Burgess's father worked as a bookkeeper for a beef market by day, and in the evening played piano at a public house in Miles Platting. After he married the landlady of this pub, Margaret Dwyer, in 1922, Burgess was raised by the couple. By 1924 the couple had established a tobacconist and off-licence business with four properties. On 18 April 1938, Joseph Wilson died from cardiac failure, pleurisy, and influenza at the age of 55 leaving no inheritance.

Burgess has said of his largely solitary childhood: "I was either distractedly persecuted or ignored. I was one despised ... Ragged boys in gangs would pounce on the well-dressed like myself." He attended St. Edmund's Roman Catholic Elementary School before moving on to Bishop Bilsborrow Memorial Elementary School in Moss Side. He later reflected: "When I went to school I was able to read. At the Manchester elementary school I attended, most of the children could not read, so I was ... a little apart, rather different from the rest." Good grades resulted in a place at Xaverian College (1928–1937). As a young child he did not care about music, until he heard on his home-built radio "a quite incredible flute solo," which he characterized as "sinuous, exotic, erotic," and became spellbound. Eight minutes later the announcer told him he had been listening to ''Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune'' by Claude Debussy. He referred to this as a "psychedelic moment ... a recognition of verbally inexpressible spiritual realities." When Burgess announced to his family that he wanted to be a composer, they objected as "there was no money in it." Music was not taught at his school, but at about age 14 he taught himself to play the piano. Burgess had originally hoped to study music at university, but the music department at the Victoria University of Manchester turned down his application due to poor grades in physics. So instead he studied English language and literature there between 1937 and 1940, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts. His thesis concerned Marlowe's ''Doctor Faustus'', and he graduated with an upper second-class honours, which he found disappointing. When grading one of Burgess's term papers, the historian A.J.P. Taylor, wrote: "Bright ideas insufficient to conceal lack of knowledge." Burgess met Llewela (Lynne) Isherwood Jones at the University where she was studying economics, politics and modern history, graduating in 1942 with an upper second-class. Burgess and Jones were married on 22 January 1942.

Military service

Burgess spent six weeks in 1940 as an army recruit in Eskbank before becoming a Nursing Orderly Class 3 in the Royal Army Medical Corps. During his service he was unpopular and was involved in incidents such as knocking off a corporal's cap and polishing the floor of a corridor to make people slip. In 1941 Burgess was pursued by military police of the British Armed Forces for desertion after overstaying his leave from Morpeth military base with his bride Lynne. In 1942 he asked to be transferred to the Army Educational Corps and despite his loathing of authority he was promoted to sergeant. During the blackout his pregnant wife Lynne was attacked by four GI deserters and as a result she lost the child. Burgess, stationed at the time in Gibraltar, was denied leave to see her. At his stationing in Gibraltar, which he later wrote about in ''A Vision of Battlements'', he worked as a training college lecturer in speech and drama, teaching alongside Ann McGlinn in German, French and Spanish. McGlinn's communist ideology would have a major influence on his later novel ''A Clockwork Orange''. Burgess played a key role in "The British Way and Purpose" programme, designed to reintroduce members of the forces to the peacetime socialism of the post-war years in Britain. He was an instructor for the Central Advisory Council for Forces Education of the Ministry of Education. Burgess' flair for languages was noticed by army intelligence and he took part in debriefings of Dutch expatriates and Free French who found refuge in Gibraltar during the war. In the neighbouring Spanish town of La Línea de la Concepción he was arrested for insulting General Franco but released from custody shortly after the incident.

Early teaching career

Burgess left the army in 1946 with the rank of sergeant-major and was for the next four years a lecturer in speech and drama at the Mid-West School of Education near Wolverhampton and at the Bamber Bridge Emergency Teacher Training College near Preston. In late 1950 he worked as a secondary school teacher at Banbury Grammar School (now Banbury School) teaching English literature. In addition to his teaching duties he supervised sports and ran the school's drama society. He organised a number of amateur theatrical events in his spare time. These involved local people and students and included productions of T. S. Eliot's ''Sweeney Agonistes''.

With financial assistance provided by Lynne's father the couple was able to put a down payment on a cottage in the village of Adderbury, close to Banbury. He named the cottage "Little Gidding" after one of Eliot's ''Four Quartets'' and Aldous Huxley's ''The Gioconda Smile''. He wrote several articles for the local newspaper, the ''Banbury Guardian''.

Malaya

In 1954, Burgess joined the British Colonial Service as a teacher and education officer in Malaya, initially stationed at Kuala Kangsar in Perak, in what were then known as the Federated Malay States. Here he taught at the Malay College, dubbed "the Eton of the East" and (now Malay College Kuala Kangsar - MCKK). In addition to his teaching duties, he was a housemaster in charge of students of the preparatory school, who were housed at a Victorian mansion known as "King's Pavilion." A variety of the music he wrote there was influenced by the country, notably Sinfoni Melayu for orchestra and brass band, which included cries of Merdeka (independence) from the audience. No score, however, is extant.

Burgess and his wife had occupied a noisy apartment where privacy was minimal, and this caused resentment. Following a dispute with the Malay College's principal about this, Burgess was reposted to the Malay Teachers' Training College at Kota Bharu, Kelantan. Burgess attained fluency in Malay, spoken and written, achieving distinction in the examinations in the language set by the colonial office. He was rewarded with a salary increment for his proficiency in the language.

He devoted some of his free time in Malaya to creative writing "as a sort of gentlemanly hobby, because I knew there wasn't any money in it," and published his first novels: ''Time for a Tiger'', ''The Enemy in the Blanket'' and ''Beds in the East''. These became known as ''The Malayan Trilogy'' and were later published in one volume as ''The Long Day Wanes''.

Brunei

After a brief period of leave in Britain during 1958, Burgess took up a further Eastern post, this time at the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin College in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. Brunei had been a British protectorate since 1888, and was not to achieve independence until 1984. In the sultanate, Burgess sketched the novel that, when it was published in 1961, was to be entitled ''Devil of a State'' and, although it dealt with Brunei, for libel reasons the action had to be transposed to an imaginary East African territory similar to Zanzibar, named Dunia. In his autobiography ''Little Wilson and Big God'' (1987) Burgess writes: "This novel was, is, about Brunei, which was renamed Naraka, Malayo-Arabic for 'hell.' Little invention was needed to contrive a large cast of unbelievable characters and a number of interwoven plots. Though completed in 1958, the work was not published until 1961, for what it was worth it was made a choice of the book society. Heinemann, my publisher, was doubtful about publishing it: it might be libelous. I had to change the setting from Brunei to an East African one. Heinemann was right to be timorous. In early 1958, ''The Enemy in the Blanket'' appeared and this at once provoked a libel suit."

About this time Burgess collapsed in a Brunei classroom while teaching history and was diagnosed as having an inoperable brain tumour. Burgess was given just a year to live, prompting him to write several novels to get money to provide for his widow. He gave a different account, however, to Jeremy Isaacs in a ''Face to Face'' interview on the BBC ''The Late Show'' (21 March 1989). He said "Looking back now I see that I was driven out of the Colonial Service. I think possibly for political reasons that were disguised as clinical reasons." He alluded to this in an interview with Don Swaim, explaining that his wife Lynne had said something "obscene" to the British Queen's consort, the Duke of Edinburgh, during an official visit, and the colonial authorities turned against him. He had already earned their displeasure, he told Swaim, by writing articles in the newspaper in support of the revolutionary opposition party the Parti Rakyat Brunei, and for his friendship with its leader Dr. Azahari.

Repatriate years

Burgess was later repatriated and relieved of his position in Brunei. He spent some time in the neurological ward of a London hospital (see ''The Doctor is Sick'') where he underwent cerebral tests that found no illness. On discharge, benefiting from a sum of money his wife had inherited from her father, together with their savings built up over six years in the East, he decided to become a full-time writer. The couple lived first in an apartment in the town of Hove, near Brighton. They later moved to a semi-detached house called "Applegarth" in Etchingham, approximately a mile from the Jacobean house where Rudyard Kipling had lived in Burwash, and one mile from the Robertsbridge home of Malcolm Muggeridge. On the death of Burgess's father-in-law, the couple used their inheritance to decamp to a terraced town house in Chiswick. This provided convenient access to the White City BBC television studios where he later became a frequent guest. During these years Burgess became a regular drinking partner of the novelist William S. Burroughs. Their meetings took place in London and Tangiers.

A sea voyage the couple took with the Baltic Line from Tilbury to Leningrad resulted in the novel ''Honey for the Bears''. He wrote in his autobiographical ''You've Had Your Time'' (1990), that in re-learning Russian at this time, he found inspiration for the Russian-based slang Nadsat that he created for ''A Clockwork Orange'', going on to note "I would resist to the limit any publisher's demand that a glossary be provided."

Liana Macellari, an Italian translator 12 years younger than Burgess, came across Burgess' novels ''Inside Mr Enderby'' and ''A Clockwork Orange'' while writing about English fiction. The two first met in 1963 over lunch in Chiswick and began an affair. In 1964 Liana gave birth to Burgess' son, Paolo Andrea. The affair was hidden from Burgess's now alcoholic wife, whom he refused to leave for fear of offending his cousin George Patrick Dwyer, then Catholic Bishop of Leeds. Lynne Burgess died from cirrhosis of the liver, on 20 March 1968. Six months later, in September 1968, Burgess married Liana, acknowledging her four-year-old boy as his own, although the birth certificate listed Roy Halliday, Liana's previous partner, as the father. Paolo Andrea (also known as Andrew Burgess Wilson) died in London in 2002, aged 37.

Tax exile

Burgess was a Conservative (though, as he clarified in an interview with ''The Paris Review'', his political views could be considered "really a kind of anarchism"), a (lapsed) Catholic and Monarchist, harbouring a distaste for all republics. He believed that socialism for the most part was "ridiculous" but did "concede that socialized medicine is a priority in any civilized country today." To avoid the 90% tax the family would have incurred due to their high income, they left Britain and toured Europe in a Bedford Dormobile motorhome. During their travels through France and across the Alps, Burgess wrote in the back of the van as Liana drove. In this period, he wrote novels and produced film scripts for Lew Grade and Franco Zeffirelli. His first place of residence after leaving England was Lija, Malta (1968–70). Problems with the Maltese state censor later prompted a move to Italy. The Burgesses maintained a flat in Rome, a country house in Bracciano, and a property in Montalbuccio. On hearing rumours of a mafia plot to kidnap Paolo-Andrea while the family was staying in Rome, Burgess decided to move to Monaco in 1975. Burgess had a villa in Provence, in Callian of the Var, France, and an apartment just off Baker Street, London.

Burgess lived for two years in the United States, working as a visiting professor at Princeton University with the creative writing program (1970) and as a distinguished professor at the City College of New York (1972). At City College he was a close colleague and friend of Joseph Heller. He went on to teach creative writing at Columbia University and was writer-in-residence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1969) and at the University at Buffalo (1976). He lectured on the novel at the University of Iowa in 1975. Eventually he settled in Monaco in 1976, where he was active in the local community, becoming a co-founder in 1984 of the Princess Grace Irish Library, a centre for Irish cultural studies. During this time, Burgess spent much time at his chalet two kilometres outside Lugano, Switzerland.

Death

Burgess died on 22 November 1993 from lung cancer, at the Hospital of St John & St Elizabeth in London. His ashes were interred to the cemetery in Monaco. The epitaph on Burgess's marble memorial stone, reads "Abba Abba." The phrase has several connotations. It means "Father, father" in Aramaic, Arabic, Hebrew and other Semitic languages. It is Burgess's initials forwards and backwards; part of the rhyme scheme for the Petrarchan sonnet; and the title of Burgess's 22nd novel, concerning the death of Keats. Eulogies at his memorial service at St Paul's, Covent Garden, London in 1994 were delivered by the journalist Auberon Waugh and the novelist William Boyd. ''The Times'' obituary heralded the author as "a great moralist." At his death he was a multi-millionaire, leaving a Europe-wide property portfolio of houses and apartments.

Works

Novels

His Malayan trilogy ''The Long Day Wanes'' was Burgess's first published venture into the art of fiction. Its three books are ''Time for a Tiger,'' ''The Enemy in the Blanket'' and ''Beds in the East.'' It was Burgess's ambition to become "the true fictional expert on Malaya." In these works, Burgess was working in the tradition established by Kipling for British India, and Conrad and Maugham for Southeast Asia. Conrad, Maugham and Greene made no effort to learn local languages, but Burgess operated more in the mode of Orwell, who had a good command of Urdu and Burmese (necessary for Orwell's work as a police officer) and Kipling, who spoke Hindi (having learnt it as a child). Like his fellow English expats in Asia, Burgess had excellent spoken and written command of his operative language(s), both as a novelist and speaker, including Malay.

Burgess's repatriate years (c. 1960–69) produced ''Enderby'' and ''The Right to an Answer,'' which touches on the theme of death and dying, and ''One Hand Clapping,'' a satire on the vacuity of popular culture. ''The Worm and the Ring'' (1961) had to be withdrawn from circulation under the threat of libel action from one of Burgess's former colleagues.

His dystopian novel ''A Clockwork Orange'' was published in 1962. It was inspired initially by an incident during the Second World War in which his wife Lynne was robbed and assaulted in London during the blackout by deserters from the U.S. Army. The event may have contributed to her subsequent miscarriage. The book was an examination of free will and morality. The young anti-hero, Alex, captured after a short career of violence and mayhem, undergoes a course of aversion therapy treatment to curb his violent tendencies. This results in making him defenseless against other people and unable to enjoy some of his favorite music that, besides violence, had been an intense pleasure for him. In the non-fiction book ''Flame Into Being'' (1985) Burgess described ''A Clockwork Orange'' as "a jeu d'esprit knocked off for money in three weeks, it became known as the raw material for a film which seemed to glorify sex and violence." He added "the film made it easy for readers of the book to misunderstand what it was about, and the misunderstanding will pursue me till I die." Near the time of publication the final chapter was cut from the American edition of the book. Burgess had written ''A Clockwork Orange'' with twenty-one chapters, meaning to match the age of majority. "21 is the symbol of human maturity, or used to be, since at 21 you got to vote and assumed adult responsibility," Burgess wrote in a foreword for a 1986 edition. Needing a paycheck and thinking that the publisher was "being charitable in accepting the work at all," Burgess accepted the deal and allowed ''A Clockwork Orange'' to be published in the U.S. with the twenty-first chapter omitted. Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation of ''A Clockwork Orange'' was based on the American edition, and thus helped to perpetuate the loss of the last chapter.

In Martin Seymour-Smith's ''Novels and Novelists: A Guide to the World of Fiction,'' Burgess related that he would often prepare a synopsis with a name-list before beginning a project. Seymour-Smith wrote: "Burgess believes overplanning is fatal to creativity and regards his unconscious mind and the act of writing itself as indispensable guides. He does not produce a draft of a whole novel but prefers to get one page finished before he goes on to the next, which involves a good deal of revision and correction."

''Nothing Like the Sun'' is a fictional recreation of Shakespeare's love-life and an examination of the supposedly partly syphilitic sources of the bard's imaginative vision. The novel, which drew on Edgar I. Fripp's 1938 biography ''Shakespeare, Man and Artist,'' won critical acclaim and placed Burgess among the first rank novelists of his generation. ''M/F'' (1971) was listed by the writer himself as one of the works of which he was most proud. ''Beard's Roman Women'' is considered to be his least successful novel. Burgess has frequently been criticised for writing too many novels and too quickly. ''Beard'' was revealing on a personal level, dealing with the death of his first wife, his bereavement, and the affair that led to his second marriage. In ''Napoleon Symphony,'' Burgess brought Bonaparte to life by shaping the novel's structure to Beethoven's ''Eroica'' symphony. The novel contains a portrait of an Arab and Muslim society under occupation by a Christian western power (Egypt by Catholic France). In the 1980s, religious themes began to feature heavily (''The Kingdom of the Wicked,'' ''Man of Nazareth,'' ''Earthly Powers''). Though Burgess lapsed from Catholicism early in his youth, the influence of the Catholic "training" and worldview remained strong in his work all his life. This is notable in the discussion of free will in ''A Clockwork Orange,'' and in the apocalyptic vision of devastating changes in the Catholic Church – due to what can be understood as Satanic influence – in ''Earthly Powers'' (1980).

Burgess kept working through his final illness and was writing on his deathbed. The late novel ''Any Old Iron'' is a generational saga of two families, one Russian-Welsh, the other Jewish, encompassing the sinking of the Titanic, World War I, the Russian Revolution, the Spanish Civil War, World War II, the early years of the State of Israel, and the rediscovery of Excalibur. ''A Dead Man in Deptford,'' about Christopher Marlowe, is a companion novel to ''Nothing like the sun.'' The verse novel ''Byrne'' was published posthumously.

Critical studies

Burgess started his career as a critic. Aimed at newcomers to the subject, his book ''English Literature, A Survey for Students'' is still used in schools today. He followed this with ''The Novel To-day'' and ''The Novel Now: A Student's Guide to Contemporary Fiction''. He wrote the Joyce studies ''Here Comes Everybody: An Introduction to James Joyce for the Ordinary Reader'' (also published as ''Re Joyce'') and ''Joysprick: An Introduction to the Language of James Joyce''. Also published was ''A Shorter 'Finnegans Wake'',' Burgess's abridgement. His 1970 Encyclopædia Britannica entry on the novel (under "Novel, the") is regarded as a classic of the genre. Burgess wrote full-length critical studies of William Shakespeare, Ernest Hemingway and D. H. Lawrence as well as ''Ninety-Nine Novels: The Best in English since 1939''. His published lecture ''Obscenity and the Arts'' explores issues of pornography.

Screenwriting

Burgess wrote the screenplays for ''Moses the Lawgiver'' (Gianfranco De Bosio 1975), ''Jesus of Nazareth'' (Franco Zeffirelli 1977), and ''A.D.'' (Stuart Cooper, 1985). Burgess was co-writer of the script for the TV series ''Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson'' (1980). The film treatments he produced include ''Amundsen'', ''Attila'', ''The Black Prince'', ''Cyrus the Great'', ''Dawn Chorus'', ''The Dirty Tricks of Bertoldo'', ''Eternal Life'', ''Onassis'', ''Puma'', ''Samson and Delila'', ''Schreber'', ''The Sexual Habits of the English Middle Class'', ''Shah'', ''That Man Freud'' and ''Uncle Ludwig''. Burgess devised a Stone Age language for ''La Guerre du Feu'' (''Quest for Fire'') (Jean-Jacques Annaud, 1981). He penned many unpublished scripts, including ''Will!'' or ''The Bawdy Bard'' about Shakespeare, based on the novel ''Nothing Like The Sun''. Encouraged by the success his novel ''Tremor of Intent'' (a parody of James Bond adventures), Burgess wrote a screenplay for ''The Spy Who Loved Me'', also rejected.

Music

Burgess was an accomplished musician and composed regularly throughout his life, noting that, in the way that others might enjoy yachting or golf, he wrote music. Several of his pieces were broadcast during his lifetime on BBC Radio. His Symphony No. 3 in C was premiered by the University of Iowa orchestra in Iowa City in 1975. Burgess described his ''Sinfoni Melayu'' as an attempt to "combine the musical elements of the country into a synthetic language which called on native drums and xylophones." The structure of ''Napoleon Symphony: A Novel in Four Movements'' (1974) was modelled on Beethoven's Eroica symphony, while ''Mozart and the Wolf Gang'' (1991) mirrors the sound and rhythm of Mozartian composition, among other things attempting a fictional representation of Symphony No.40. Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 features prominently in ''A Clockwork Orange'' (and in Stanley Kubrick's film version of the novel). Many of his unpublished compositions are listed in ''This Man and Music''.

Burgess produced a translation of Bizet's ''Carmen'' which was performed by the English National Opera, and wrote for the 1973 Broadway musical ''Cyrano'', using his own adaptation of the original Rostand play as his basis. He created ''Blooms of Dublin'' in 1982, an operetta based on James Joyce's ''Ulysses'' (televised for the BBC) and wrote a libretto for Weber's ''Oberon'', performed by the Edinburgh-based Scottish Opera.

On the BBC's ''Desert Island Discs'' radio programme in 1966, Burgess chose as his favourite music Purcell's "Rejoice in the Lord Alway"; Bach's ''Goldberg Variations'' No. 13; Elgar's Symphony No. 1 in A flat major; Wagner's "Walter's Trial Song" from '''Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg''; Debussy's "Fêtes"; Lambert's ''The Rio Grande''; Walton's Symphony No. 1 in B flat; and Vaughan Williams' ''On Wenlock Edge''.

Broadcasting

Burgess was a frequent guest-speaker on the BBC Radio 4 programme ''Start the Week'', broadcast on Monday mornings during the 1980s.

Linguistics

"Burgess's linguistic training," wrote Raymond Chapman and Tom McArthur in ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'', "is shown in dialogue enriched by distinctive pronunciations and the niceties of register." During his years in Malaya, and after he had mastered Jawi, the Arabic script adapted for Malay, Burgess taught himself the Persian language, after which he produced a translation of Eliot's ''The Waste Land'' into Persian (unpublished). He worked on an anthology of the best of English literature translated into Malay, which failed to achieve publication. Burgess's published translations include ''Cyrano de Bergerac'', ''Oedipus the King'' and ''Carmen''.

Burgess's interest in language was reflected in the invented, Anglo-Russian teen slang of ''A Clockwork Orange'' (Nadsat), and in the movie ''Quest for Fire'' (1981), for which he invented a prehistoric language (''Ulam'') for the characters. His interest is reflected in his characters. In ''The Doctor is Sick'', Dr Edwin Spindrift is a lecturer in linguistics who escapes from a hospital ward which is peopled, as the critic Saul Maloff put it in a review, with "brain cases who happily exemplify varieties of English speech." Burgess, who had lectured on phonetics at the University of Birmingham in the late 1940s, investigates the field of linguistics in ''Language Made Plain'' and ''A Mouthful of Air''.

The depth of Burgess's multilingual proficiency came under discussion in Roger Lewis's 2002 biography. Lewis claimed that during production in Malaysia of the BBC documentary ''A Kind of Failure'' (1982), Burgess's supposedly fluent Malay was unable to be understood by waitresses at a restaurant where they were filming. It was claimed that the documentary's director deliberately kept these moments intact in the film in order to expose Burgess's linguistic pretensions. A letter from David Wallace that appeared in the magazine of the London ''Independent on Sunday'' newspaper on 25 November 2002 shed light on the affair. Wallace's letter read, in part: "... the tale was inaccurate. It tells of Burgess, the great linguist, 'bellowing Malay at a succession of Malayan waitresses' but 'unable to make himself understood.' The source of this tale was a 20-year-old BBC documentary ... [The suggestion was] that the director left the scene in, in order to poke fun at the great author. Not so, and I can be sure, as I was that director ... The story as seen on television made it clear that Burgess knew that these waitresses were not Malay. It was a Chinese restaurant and Burgess's point was that the ethnic Chinese had little time for the government-enforced national language, Bahasa Malaysia [i.e. Malay]. Burgess may well have had an accent, but he did speak the language; it was the girls in question who did not." Lewis may not have been fully aware of the fact that a quarter of Malaysia's population is made up of Hokkien- and Cantonese-speaking Chinese. However, Malay had been installed as the National Language with the passing of the Language Act of 1967. By 1982 all national primary and secondary schools in Malaysia would have been teaching with Bahasa Melayu as a base language (see Harold Crouch, ''Government and Society in Malaysia'', Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1996).

Honours

Burgess garnered the ''Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres'' distinction of France and became a Monégasque ''Commandeur de Merite Culturel''.

He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

He took honorary degrees from St Andrews, Birmingham and Manchester universities.

''Earthly Powers'' was shortlisted for, but failed to win, the 1980 English Booker Prize for fiction (the prize went to William Golding for ''Rites of Passage'').

Selected works

Novels

''Time for a Tiger'' (1956) (Volume 1 of the Malayan trilogy, ''The Long Day Wanes'')

''The Enemy in the Blanket'' (1958) (Volume 2 of the trilogy)

''Beds in the East'' (1959) (Volume 3 of the trilogy)

''The Right to an Answer'' (1960)

''The Doctor is Sick'' (1960)

''The Worm and the Ring'' (1960)

''Devil of a State'' (1961)

(as Joseph Kell) ''One Hand Clapping'' (1961)

''A Clockwork Orange'' (1962; 2008 Prometheus Hall of Fame Award)

''The Wanting Seed'' (1962)

''Honey for the Bears'' (1963)

(as Joseph Kell) ''Inside Mr. Enderby'' (1963) (Volume 1 of the Enderby quartet)

''The Eve of St. Venus'' (1964)

''Nothing Like the Sun: A Story of Shakespeare's Love Life'' (1964)

''A Vision of Battlements'' (1965)

''Tremor of Intent: An Eschatological Spy Novel'' (1966)

''Enderby Outside'' (1968) (Volume 2 of the Enderby quartet)

''M/F'' (1971)

''Napoleon Symphony: A Novel in Four Movements'' (1974)

''The Clockwork Testament, or Enderby's End'' (1974) (Volume 3 of the Enderby quartet)

''Beard's Roman Women'' (1976)

''Abba Abba'' (1977)

''1985'' (1978)

''Man of Nazareth'' (based on his screenplay for ''Jesus of Nazareth'') (1979)

''Earthly Powers'' (1980)

''The End of the World News: An Entertainment'' (1982)

''Enderby's Dark Lady, or No End of Enderby'' (1984) (Volume 4 of the Enderby quartet)

''The Kingdom of the Wicked'' (1985)

''The Pianoplayers'' (1986)

''Any Old Iron'' (1988)

''Mozart and the Wolf Gang'' (1991)

''A Dead Man in Deptford'' (1993)

''Byrne: A Novel'' (in verse) (1995)

Notes

References

Bibliography

Further reading

Selected studies

Carol M. Dix, ''Anthony Burgess'' (British Council, 1971)

Robert K. Morris, ''The Consolations of Ambiguity: An Essay on the Novels of Anthony Burgess'' (Missouri, 1971)

A.A. Devitis, ''Anthony Burgess'' (New York, 1972)

Geoffrey Aggeler, ''Anthony Burgess: The Artist as Novelist'' (Alabama, 1979)

Samuel Coale, ''Anthony Burgess'' (New York, 1981)

Martine Ghosh-Schellhorn, ''Anthony Burgess: A Study in Character'' (Peter Lang AG, 1986)

Richard Mathews, ''The Clockwork Universe of Anthony Burgess'' (Borgo Press, 1990)

John J. Stinson, ''Anthony Burgess Revisited'' (Boston, 1991)

Paul Phillips, "The Music of Anthony Burgess" (1999)

Paul Phillips, "Anthony Burgess", New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed. (2001)

Paul Phillips, ''A Clockwork Counterpoint: The Music and Literature of Anthony Burgess'' (Manchester University Press, 2010)

Collections

Many of Burgess' literary and musical papers are archived at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation in Manchester.

The largest collection of Burgessiana is held at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center of the University of Texas at Austin.

Archive at the Anthony Burgess Center of the University of Angers, with which Burgess' widow Liana (Liliana Macellari) was connected.

External links

BBC TV interview

International Anthony Burgess Foundation

The Anthony Burgess Center, at the University of Angers

Burgess reads from ''A Clockwork Orange''

Anthony Burgess at ''Open Letters''

Anthony Burgess Collection at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin

Category:Academics of the University of Birmingham Category:Alumni of the Victoria University of Manchester Category:Cancer deaths in England Category:City College of New York faculty Category:Columbia University faculty Category:Deaths from lung cancer Category:English composers Category:English journalists Category:English literary critics Category:English novelists Category:English poets Category:English science fiction writers Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Category:James Joyce scholars Category:Language creators Category:People from Harpurhey Category:People from Etchingham Category:Princeton University faculty Category:Prometheus Award winning authors Category:Pseudonymous writers Category:Sonneteers Category:University at Buffalo faculty Category:Writers from Manchester Category:1917 births Category:1993 deaths Category:20th-century classical composers

an:Anthony Burgess bn:অ্যান্থনি বার্জেস bg:Антъни Бърджес ca:Anthony Burgess cs:Anthony Burgess da:Anthony Burgess de:Anthony Burgess es:Anthony Burgess eo:Anthony Burgess fr:Anthony Burgess gl:Anthony Burgess hr:Anthony Burgess io:Anthony Burgess it:Anthony Burgess he:אנתוני ברג'ס lt:Anthony Burgess hu:Anthony Burgess nl:Anthony Burgess ja:アンソニー・バージェス no:Anthony Burgess oc:Anthony Burgess pl:Anthony Burgess pt:Anthony Burgess ro:Anthony Burgess ru:Бёрджесс, Энтони simple:Anthony Burgess sh:Anthony Burgess fi:Anthony Burgess sv:Anthony Burgess tr:Anthony Burgess zh:安东尼·伯吉斯

Name	Leroy Burgess
Background	solo_singer
Born	New York, New York, U.S.
Genre	R&B;, disco, boogie
Occupation	Songwriter, record producer, vocalist
Associated acts	Black Ivory, Inner Life, Phreek }}

Leroy Burgess is a prolific singer/recording artist, songwriter, keyboard player and producer. He is related to Thom Bell and Kool & The Gang members Robert "Kool" Bell, Ronald Bell (a.k.a. Khalis Bayyan) and Amir Bayyan (a.k.a. Kevin Bell) of the Kay-Gees.

Burgess was a member of Black Ivory and lead vocalist of the majority of their hits in the early '70s. The band was signed by small East Coast label Today/Perception, which was run by Patrick Adams, also the band's manager. Burgess frequently collaborated with Adams in writing songs, as well.

The group scored a number of R&B; hits in the 1970s, including "Don't Turn Around", "You And I", "I'll Find A Way (The Loneliest Man In Town)", "Spinning Around", "What Goes Around (Comes Around)" and "Will We Ever Come Together". Though they recorded several uptempo tracks, such as "Big Apple Rock," "Walking Downtown (On A Saturday Night)", "What Goes Around (Comes Around)" and, later, "Mainline" (written by Burgess, but recorded after he left the group), Black Ivory faced tough competition from the rise of disco, but proved unable to compete when disco became the dominant music style.

As a solo artist Burgess as had numerous club hits in the 70's and 80's including "Heartbreaker", "Stranger" and "You Got That Something". Burgess chose to move on, joining the band Aleem, which had hits with "Confusion", "Release Yourself", and "Hooked On Your Love". He also continued to work with producer Adams in various studio groups. In addition to the hits he had with Aleem, Burgess was featured vocalist with Adams' groups Bumble Bee Unlimited, Logg, Inner Life (which also featured Jocelyn Brown), The Universal Robot Band, the Peter Jacques Band, Dazzle and M.O.D.E., (with whom he recorded "Heaven"), and did lead vocals on "Much Too Much" by Phreek.

Burgess wrote and produced a substantial number of hits for the artists as well, including "Big Time" for Rick James, and wrote and performed on the Bob Blank production of Fonda Rae's big hit "Over Like A Fat Rat." He also sang background and played keyboard on many of the productions as well.

He supplied vocals for the Cassius track ''Under Influence'', from their album ''Au Rêve''.

Two CDs have been released containing his work with Black Ivory, one of the first album and the second, consisting of their first two albums.

External links

www.leroyburgess.com - Official Website

Leroy Burgess RBMA video lecture session Pt.1

Leroy Burgess RBMA video lecture session Pt.2

Leroy Burgess RBMA video lecture session Pt.3

Leroy Burgess interview by Pete Lewis, 'Blues & Soul' September 2010

Leroy Burgess Interview March 2009

Free tribute mix of Leroy Burgess Songs

Category:American rhythm and blues musicians Category:Boogie musicians Category:American disco musicians Category:Salsoul Records artists Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people

Albert Austin "Sonny" Burgess (born May 28, 1931, on a farm near Newport, Arkansas to Albert and Esta Burgess) is an American rockabilly guitarist and singer.

In the early 1950s, Burgess played boogie woogie music in dance halls and bars around Newport. Burgess, Kern Kennedy, Johnny Ray Hubbard, and Gerald Jackson formed a boogie-woogie band they called the Rocky Road Ramblers. In 1954, following a stint in the US Army (1951–53), Burgess re-formed the band, calling them the Moonlighters after the Silver Moon Club in Newport, where they performed regularly. After advice from record producer Sam Phillips, the group expanded to form the Pacers.

The band's first record was "We Wanna Boogie" in 1956 for Sun Records, in Memphis, about 80 miles southeast of his birthplace. The flip side was "Red Headed Woman." Both were written by Burgess. The songs have been described as "among the most raucous, energy-filled recordings released during the first flowering of rock and roll." Their onstage antics in performance were similarly described. Like other artists such as Ray Harris, Hayden Thompson, Billy Lee Riley and Warren Smith, chart success largely eluded him.

Burgess disbanded the group in 1971 but later found a new audience in Europe.

Burgess was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame of Europe in 1999. His group, now called The Legendary Pacers, was a hit that same year in a rockabilly concert in Las Vegas, Nevada. It recorded ''Still Rockin’ and Rollin’'' in 2000, voted the best new album in the country and roots field in Europe. The group was inducted in 2002 into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

Sonny Burgess & The Legendary Pacers performed at the 2006 National Folk Festival in Richmond, Virginia to large, enthusiastic audiences.

Burgess hosts a weekly radio program called ''We Wanna Boogie'' with co-host June Taylor. The program, named after his first record, airs Sunday nights from 5-7pm Central Time on 91.9FM KASU in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

Personal life

Burgess graduated from Newport High School in 1948. Burgess has two brothers, and three sisters. Burgess married Joann Adams in 1956, and they have two sons, Peyton and John. Between performances, Burgess and his wife live in Newport.

References

External links

Critical acclaim in 1996

Radio program hosted by Sonny Burgess.

YouTube video of "We Wanna Boogie" with Sonny Burgess (and the Legendary Pacers?) with pianist Kern Kennedy "playin at High Rockabilly 2005 (Spain)."

Category:1931 births Category:Living people Category:People from Jackson County, Arkansas Category:American country singers Category:American rock singers Category:Rockabilly musicians Category:Sun Records artists Category:Charly Records artists Category:Rockabilly Hall of Fame inductees

da:Sonny Burgess de:Sonny Burgess fr:Sonny Burgess