Happy Birthday Eric Burdon

Eric Victor Burdon was born May 11, 1941, somewhere in England. His middle name “Victor” had been chosen after encouragement from the Burger Meister Meisterburger, who offered new mothers £25 if their new-borns were given a patriotic “war name.” That must explain why his sister’s name is “Winston”.

Since Eric’s Father Simon was an electrician, the Burdon family had a TV by the time Eric was 10. The Burdon family were the envy of the neighborhood. Eric recalls the electrifying moment of first seeing Louis Armstrong on TV which began his love for blues music. This led him to take up the flugelhorn. Realizing that he was not that good a player, however, he took up singing and went to Newcastle Art College where he specialized in drawing mens private parts. In his song “When I Was Young,” he states he met his first love at 13. She was a german prostitute named Brunhilde. She was a big boned busty woman who was 53 but looked 62. He also says he smoked his first cigarette at 10 years old and would skip school with his friends to drink Newcastle Brown Ale.

Charles Dickens

Burdon describes his early school years as a “dark nightmare” that “should’ve been penned by Charles Dickens.” Due to the river pollution and humidity in Newcastle he suffered asthma attacks daily and rectal itching. During primary school, he was “stuck at the rear of the classroom of around 40 to 50 kids and received constant harassment from kids and teachers alike.” He goes on to say his primary school was “jammed between a slaughterhouse and a shipyard on the banks of the Tyne. Some teachers were sadistic – others pretended not to notice – and regular corporal punishment with a leather strap was the only bright spot of the day”.

Happy Birthday Eric Burdon — Eric Burdon Illustration by Paul King Art

The Animals formed in Newcastle upon Tyne, whatever that means, in the early 1960s. The band moved to London upon finding fame in 1964. The Animals were known for their gritty, bluesy sound. Eric was the deep-voiced frontman. They produced a string of great songs such as, “The House of the Rising Sun” “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” “It’s My Life” “Don’t Bring Me Down” “I’m Crying” “See See Rider” and “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood.” The band balanced tough, rock-edged pop singles against rhythm-and-blues-oriented album material and were part of the British Invasion of the US.

Spill The Wine

The band then became Eric Burdon and The Animals in the late sixties. Eric had a solo career and joined forces with the band War. They had a smash hit the radio classic, “Spill the Wine” which is still in rotation on every classic rock station in the world.

Eric has been married three times and has some children somewhere. In 1967 Burdon married Angela “Angie” King, a dirty hippie chick and model connected to the music scene. The next year she left him for Jimi Hendrix. She and Burdon divorced in 1969. She was murdered in 1992 by an estranged boyfriend. Former Animals band members say they saw Eric leaving the scene. Cheers Eric.