Boz Burrell

Raymond "Boz" Burrell (1 August 1946 – 21 September 2006) was an English musician. Originally a vocalist, Burrell is best known for his bass playing and work with the rock bands King Crimson and Bad Company.

Career

In the mid 1960s Burrell featured as a singer in "The Boz People", which had originally been called "The Tea Time Four". During this period he also replaced Roger Daltrey in The Who, for a short period.

In the late 1960s Burrell released solo singles as a vocalist credited as Boz. He was joined by Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Paice and Jon Lord, who would later form Deep Purple. During this period Burrell returned to Norwich, as the front man for "Feel for Soul", who played soul cover songs.

In the early 1970s, he joined King Crimson as a vocalist and bass guitar player, and according to at least one source, he was taught how to play the instrument by guitarist Robert Fripp. He recorded Islands (1971) with the band and featured on a post-breakup compilation live album Earthbound. Burrell's vocals also appeared on Centipede's Septober Energy (1971).

In 1973 Burrell formed Snape with members of King Crimson and Alexis Korner and then became a founder member and bass player for the rock band Bad Company, in the same year he co-wrote songs performed by Bad Company such as, "Rhythm Machine" with Simon Kirke and "Gone Gone Gone" from Desolation Angels (1979), "Nuthin' on the TV" and "Ballad of the Band" from Rough Diamonds(1982). Burrell remained with the band until 1999.

After his departure from Bad Company, Burrell worked with Tam White and in the new millennium appeared with Zoot Money's Big Roll Band. He died of a heart attack in Spain on 21 September 2006 aged 60.

References

• Eur.International Who's Who in Popular Music. Volume 4. Edition4. Routledge (2002) ISBN 978-1-85743-161-2
• Fletcher, Tony. Moon: The Life and Death of a Rock Legend. HarperCollins (2000). ISBN 978-0-380-78827-9
• George-Warren Holly, Romanowski Patricia, Pareles Jon. The Rolling stone encyclopedia of rock & roll. Edition 3 (revised). Fireside (2001) ISBN 978-0-7432-0120-9
• Hjort, Christopher. Strange Brew: Eric Clapton & the British blues boom, 1965-1970. Jawbone Press (2007) ISBN 978-1-906002-00-8
• Various. Mojo, Issues 154-157. EMAP Performance (2006). Original from the University of Virginia (digitized 22 January 2010)
• Neill Andrew, Kent Matthew, Daltrey Roger, Stamp Chris. "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere: The Complete Chronicle of the Who 1958-1978". Sterling Publishing Company (2009). ISBN 978-1-4027-6691-6
• Various. The Wire, Issues 197-202. The Wire (2000). Original from the University of Virginia. Digitized (16 February 2010)