Talk:Tony Burrows

message: There is a slight problem with the article's claim that Tony Burrows's legendary appearance with three different acts on one edition of Top of the Pops is merely an urban legend. For one thing, it's original research: someone has just looked up the episode listings and running orders on the popscene website. For another thing, Tony Burrows himself, who ought to know, recalls his treble appearance in this interview with The Scotsman -- http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/culture/music/top-of-the-pops-ruined-my-career-1-595766 -- which is a reliable source, and a number of books such as Top of the Pops 50th Anniversary by Patrick Humphries (2013) record Burrows's feat. And for yet another thing, I saw that episode of Top of the Pops myself at the time. Memory can be deceptive, but I have always had this memory since then, I have never discussed it with anyone and I had no idea it was a well-known thing till I heard someone mention it on Radio 2 a few years ago. And what I recall is my brothers and I pointing and laughing at the screen the second time Burrows appeared -- 'It's that bloke again!' We didn't know what his name was, obviously. And then the third time, which would be Edison Lighthouse's turn as No.1 at the end of the show, we fell off our chairs laughing -- after all, we were kids. 'It's that bloke AGAIN!'
Popscene's running orders -- which Wikipedia forbids me to link to, indicating that they should perhaps not be used as reliable sources, although the article does use them that way -- may give a clue. Attention usually focuses on either the 29 January 1970 episode, in which Tony Burrows appeared live in the studio with both Brotherhood of Man and Edison Lighthouse, and the compere, whose name I won't mention for obvious reasons, drew attention to this fact and said it was a first; or the 26 February 1970 episode, in which Tony Burrows appeared with White Plains, miming as a backing singer to a track on which he had actually recorded the lead vocal (Greenaway or somebody mimed the lead), while Edison Lighthouse were still at No.1 and featured at the end of the show. Both these episodes survive on videotape and we're told, a bit unconvincingly, that when the running order says 'crowd dancing', as for the Edison Lighthouse playout on 26 February, they just played the record and showed the prettiest girls in the audience dancing over the credits. Maybe, but I thought 'crowd dancing' tracks, which also featured mid-show, were clips of previous studio performances patched in with a bit of live audience dancing, so it looked as if the acts were in the studio again when they weren't. If Top of the Pops ever did play whole tracks with nothing but shots of the audience, I don't recall it.
However, I'd draw your attention to the episode of 19 February 1970. Tony Burrows certainly appeared live in the studio with Brotherhood of Man that evening. And Edison Lighthouse were still No.1 and had to feature at the end, if only on videotape. (They weren't a real band like White Plains and performers had to be hired to pretend to be Edison Lighthouse as backing for Tony Burrows.) John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band were featured as if they were live but they weren't, it was a replay of the previous week's performance, the only time Lennon appeared in the Top of the Pops studio post-Beatles. You'll notice something on the running order: Sue and Sunny with Bobby Scott performing 'You Devil, Cotton-Eyed Joe.' Now, Sue and Sunny were part of the line-up of Brotherhood of Man, who had already appeared as the first act on the show. And so was Tony Burrows. As for R.W. 'Bobby' Scott, now best remembered for writing 'A Taste of Honey' and 'He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother,' he was credited on the actual record label as producer and arranger and co-vocalist for 'You Devil, Cotton-Eyed Joe' (which hadn't charted and in fact never would chart), but he wasn't really a pop performer, plus he was American and lived on the wrong side of a rather large ocean. Since Brotherhood of Man, including Tony Burrows as well as Sue and Sunny, were in the studio anyway, perhaps the 'Bobby Scott' who appeared live with the girls miming to 'You Devil, Cotton-Eyed Joe' was in fact... Tony Burrows. With a probable VT clip of Edison Lighthouse at the end of the show, that would make three seeming appearances by Tony Burrows in one show. It is not surprising that Tony Burrows himself might have misremembered it (he seems to think he appeared with Brotherhood of Man, White Plains and Edison Lighthouse on the 26 February show, which apparently did not happen), because he was on Top of the Pops every week from late January and throughout February and he appeared with more than one act four times.
The 19 February episode no longer exists on VT and has only been preserved on audio, so you can't strictly tell if Tony Burrows did in fact mime alongside Sue and Sunny for 'You Devil, Cotton-Eyed Joe.' But I suspect he did. And that would account for 'three appearances with different acts in one episode of Top of the Pops'. So the article is probably wrong to try and take that record away from him.  Khamba Tendal (talk) 19:19, 2 February 2017 (UTC)
thread_title: Treble Appearance on Top of the Pops

message: Tony Burrows was also the lead vocal on the hit song, “Beach Baby.” Karen12375002 (talk) 04:16, 11 May 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Tony Burrows 

message: Are these only the ones as a solo artist?  Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 01:49, 12 June 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Singles in discography 

message: I just removed this song from inclusion in the lede, as under "Career" it states he had no involvement with this song. However, the song's own article states that he sang lead on it! These statements can't both be true — which one is?? 2601:545:8201:6290:5C75:E270:BB44:C608 (talk) 06:52, 15 October 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Contradiction concerning "Let's Go to San Francisco"