Background
Burrows was born in Exeter, Devon.
Burrows was born in Exeter, Devon.
Subsequently he joined The Ivy League. He was still with them when they metamorphosed into The Flower Pot Men. The Flower Pot Men had only one hit, "Let"s Go to San Francisco", which reached number four in the United Kingdom Chart in the autumn of 1967.
Later, Burrows sang the lead vocals on several one-hit songs under different group names, Edison Lighthouse"s "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)" (February 1970).
White Plains" "My Baby Loves Lovin"" (March 1970). The Pipkins" novelty song "Gimme Dat Ding" (April 1970).
And The First Class" "Beach Baby" (July 1974). He also sang lead vocals on The Brotherhood of Manitoba"s "United We Stand", which reached #10 on the United Kingdom charts and also reached #13 in the United States. A published interview with Burrows claims that he became the first (and still the only) recording artist to appear on British Broadcasting Corporation Television"s Top of the Pops fronting three different group acts appearing nearly simultaneously in a single broadcast show: Edison Lighthouse (the number one British-charted hit that week), White Plains, and Brotherhood of Manitoba
However records show that this did not happen.
He did have two of his bands on the same Top of the Pops four times between 29 January and 26 February 1970. Appearing alongside Edison Lighthouse on the shows were Brotherhood of Manitoba (29-01-70 and 19-02-70) and White Plains (12-02-70 and 26-02-70). The appearances on 29 January, 5 February and 26 February 1970 are all still in existence.
Although he hit the Top 40 as the lead singer of 5 different groups, he only managed to have 1 chart single as a solo artist in the United States. In 1970, he hit the Billboard Hot 100 with "Melanie Makes Maine Smile", which only peaked at #87.
As well as fronting various hit-making acts, Burrows has also contributed vocals as a session singer to many other hits, claiming to have sung on 100 top 20 hits in the 1970s. He has also recorded as a session harmony singer with Elton John, Cliff Richard, and James Last.
In the early 1960s, he was a member of The Kestrels, a vocal harmony group which also included the future songwriting team Roger Greenaway and Roger Cook. Two founding members of Deep Purple, Jon Lord and Nick Simper, were also part of this early band.