REST IN PEACE MICHAEL BURKS
MICHAEL "IRON MAN" BURKS, JULY 30,
1957 - MAY 6, 2012
[05/06/2012]
 DSBS
and the Blues world lost a dear friend yesterday. Guitarist,
vocalist and songwriter Michael "Iron Man" Burks died in Atlanta on
Sunday, May 6, 2012. He was 54 years old. He was returning from a
tour of Europe and collapsed at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta
International Airport. He was rushed to South Fulton Medical Center
where he could not be revived. The preliminary diagnosis for cause
of death was a heart attack.
Michael
appeared multiple times in front of appreciative DSBS audiences, the
most recent on March 3rd, 2012. A picture from that show
appears below.
Michael "Iron Man" Burks earned his
moniker by his hours-long, intensely physical performances, fearsome
guitar attack, and tough, smoky vocals. He also earned it by the
thousands of miles he personally logged behind the wheel of his
touring van. Burks was a true modern blues hero whose music was
driven by an intense, blue collar work ethic that had won him
well-deserved national and international recognition. His instantly
identifiable guitar sound and his live charisma earned him four
Blues Music Award nominations. He won the 2004 Living Blues
magazine Critics' Award for Best Guitarist. Burks received a
nomination for the 2012 Blues Music Award for Best Guitarist.
Born in Milwaukee in 1957, Burks grew
up immersed in the blues, and learned to play guitar at an early
age. His family moved to Camden, Arkansas in the early 1970s. There,
Burks and his siblings helped their father build the Bradley Ferry
Country Club -- a 300-seat juke joint. By this time
Michael was fronting his own band as well as backing several of the
blues and R&B greats that passed through town. Burks left music to
raise a family and returned to performing blues in the 1990s.
After self-releasing his first CD in
1997, Burks signed with Chicago's Alligator Records in 2001 and
released three critically acclaimed albums. GuitarOne named
his debut album, Make It Rain, one of the Top 200 greatest
guitar recordings of all time. He has toured the world, headlining
blues
 festivals,
concert halls and clubs. His status as an Arkansas musical hero was
confirmed by his receipt of the prestigious Sonny Payne Award for
Blues Excellence in 2006, presented by the Delta Cultural Center,
and by his multiple headlining appearances at The Arkansas Blues &
Heritage Festival. Burks had just finished recording his fourth
Alligator CD, which is due for release at the end of July 2012.
For a
complete bio, go here:
http://www.alligator.com/artists/Michael-Burks/
"Burks has learned to burn his own
signature onto almost everything he touches. The aching passion of
Burks' voice and the probing intensity of his guitar lines come
together in a searing evocation of desire and desperation. Burks has
the ability and the imagination to fuse the best of the old and the
new."
--Living Blues |
