John Burgess

British record producer and production company executive.
Born March 8, 1932 in London, England
Died March 13, 2014 in England
From Freddie & the Dreamers to Peter and Gordon, John Burgess was one of the British chaps most likely to be standing behind the glass supervising the twirling of knobs on the mixer. It should not be inferred, however, that this producer toiled only on projects by the feebly talented from his lair at Abbey Road studios. He worked particularly well with Manfred Mann, continuing the relationship with the group's charismatic lead singer Paul Jones when he went out on his own. The London home base for both he and the Manfred Mann band, but they were playing second fiddle to Sir George Martin and his celebrated clients, the Beatles. By the '80s, both producers were well situated at what was now called AIR studios. More equilibrium had developed by 1985 with the Fab Four long gone. The seasoned producers formed a partnership with John Jones and Dee Long, representative of a new generation of producers involved with British acts such as Duran Duran. (Is that a new way of saying ding ding?) The quartet of producers opened a new MIDI studio located in the AIR facility. Burgess eventually switched his involvement more to the London theater, and was involved in a hit revival of Guys and Dolls among many other shows. He produced the group Toto in the '90s, perhaps an attempt to revive some of the magic of the Pipkins.