Career
Burroughs was raised in Pittsburgh. He played in Kansas City with Walter Page"s Blue Devils in 1928-1929 and then with Alphonse Trent"s territory band before moving to Chicago around 1930. There he played with Hal Draper"s Arcadians (1935), Horace Henderson (1937-1938), and Earl Hines (1938-1940).
With Hines he recorded extensively.
In the 1940s he worked with Milt Larkin, Benny Carter (1942), and Red Allen (1945-1946), in addition to leading his own groups. He was in George Dixon"s quartet in 1950 when he died of a heart attack.
He never recorded as a leader.