- Sonny Burgess
Albert Austin "Sonny" Burgess (born
May 28 1931 , on a farm near Newport,Arkansas to Albert and Esta Burgess) is aguitarist andsinger of classicrockabilly music .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 theUS 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 fromrecord 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 60 miles east 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." [ [http://www.rockabillyhall.com/sonnyburgess.html "Sonny Burgess," Rockabilly Hall of Fame] .] Their onstage antics in performance were similarly described.Burgess disbanded the group in 1971 but later found a new audience in
Europe . [ [http://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=2491 "Sonny Burgess (1931–)",] "Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture".]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 newalbum in the country and roots field in Europe. [ [http://www.angelfire.com/music3/legendarypacers/ "Sonny Burgess & The Legedary Pacers"] ] . The group was inducted in 2002 into theRockabilly Hall of Fame , Jackson,Tennessee .Sonny Burgess & The Legendary Pacers performed at the 2006 National Folk Festival in
Richmond, Virginia to large, enhusiastic audiences.Sonny 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 inJonesboro, 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.
Notes
External links
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07E7DA1239F934A1575BC0A960958260 Critical acclaim in 1996]
*YouTube [http://www.last.fm/music/Sonny+Burgess/+videos/+1-J24vrBYfmDk video] of "We Wanna Boogie" with Sonny Burgess (and the Legendary Pacers?) with pianist Kern Kennedy "playin at High Rockabilly 2005 (Spain)."
* [http://www.wewannaboogie.org Radio program hosted by Sonny Burgess.]
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