Hugo Burnham
| Hugo Burnham | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Hugo Hamilton Mark Burnham |
| Born |
23 December 1955 St Pancras, London, England |
| Genres | Post-punk |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Drums |
| Associated acts | Gang of Four, Illustrated Man, Shriekback |
Hugo Hamilton Mark Burnham (born 25 March 1956 in St Pancras, London) is an English musician, formerly the drummer for the rock group Gang of Four.
The band formed in 1977 at Leeds University, where Burnham was studying English Literature. Before the band signed with EMI Records (UK, R.O.W.) and Warner Bros. Records (USA), he was a founding member of Impact Theatre Co-operative. Creem magazine's Dave DiMartino said in 1980 "Witness Hugo Burnham, a close-cropped, thickset out-and-out scary drummer who looks like his idea of fun might be pushing young American faces into old American brick walls." He continued, "watching the Gang Of Four perform at Bookie's Club 870 and realizing that as great as the records are, the band in live performance is even better. There's rhythm, always rhythm, provided by Burnham's steady drums and Dave Allen's absolutely superb funk basswork". Rolling Stone critic Greil Marcus wrote, "Hugo Burnham play(s) in an economical and precise yet propulsive style, giving the rhythm a piston-like drive."
After leaving the band in 1983, Burnham joined Illustrated Man, then worked as an occasional session drummer with Wall of Voodoo's Stan Ridgway, ABC, PiL, Nikki Sudden, and Samantha Fox, before joining his former G4 bandmate Dave Allen with Shriekback, serving as the band's manager from 1985 until 1988, when he moved from London, UK to New York City, to open an office for his company Huge & Jolly Management and Outlaw Management.
He then worked as an A&R executive with Island Records in New York, Imago Records in New York and Los Angeles, Qwest Records in Los Angeles, and EMI Music Publishing in Los Angeles. He reunited briefly with Allen to play on The Call leader Michael Been's solo album On The Verge of a Nervous Breakthrough. After leaving EMI Music, he returned to management with Deathray (featuring former members of rock group Cake, Victor Damiani and Greg Brown), then left Los Angeles for Gloucester, Massachusetts, at the end of 1998, adding Little Red Rocket (see Azure Ray), and Boston rock group C60 (whose album he produced with engineer Matthew Ellard), to the Huge & Jolly Management roster.
...
Wikipedia