Burke Shelley RIP

Cardiff music legend John (Burke) Shelley was born, as many of us were, at St David’s Hospital in Canton, Cardiff on 10th April 1950. Soon known as Burke, as a teenager, he formed the Hills Contemporary Grass band in 1967 with guitarist, Tony Bourge and drummer, Ray Phillips.

Shortly after, the band name changed to Budgie. This was chosen, as a parody, naming a heavy rock band after a tiny, gentle little bird for fun!

Budgie released their eponymous debut album in July 1971, releasing ‘Squawk’ and ‘Never Turn Your Back on a Friend’ over the next couple of years, as their reputation grew.

Budgie became one of the flag bearers of the hard rock scene, influencing many other bands. Notably, this included Metallica who have released two covers of Budgie songs, the fabulously titled ‘Crash Course in Brain Surgery’ and ‘Breadfan.’

Metallica often played Budgie songs, including at their 40th anniversary San Francisco gig. Other Metal bands who featured Budgie songs in their sets included Iron Maiden and Van Halen. Burke Shelley was Budgie’s longest-serving member, appearing on all 11 of their studio albums. The band first split in 1988 but made a number of comebacks and retained respect and popularity amongst Hard Rock fans.

Burke was a warm, friendly, humble guy. He’d often turn up and be invited to join bands on stage for a few numbers. I personally enjoyed watching him play, at Cardiff’s original Moon Club and at the Royal Oak, in its heyday. I also occasionally bumped into him at the Andrew Buchan Bar but am so disappointed that I wasn’t there the night he grabbed a guitar for a poignant rendition of Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’.

Cardiff has lost a fabulous musician, a man who made a major impact for all us. He was also one of nature’s good guys.

Thank you, Burke xx

SJ

Les McKeown Obituary

It’s been announced today that Les McKeown, lead singer with 70s pop idols Bay City Rollers had died earlier this week at the age of 65.

The band achieved worldwide fame in the mid-1970s where their fame rivalled that of the Beatles and their success coined the phrase Rollermania, with the band selling more than 120 million records worldwide.

The group's line-up had many changes over the years, but the classic line-up during its heyday included guitarists Eric Faulkner and Stuart Wood, singer Les McKeown, bassist Alan Longmuir, and drummer Derek Longmuir.

The band visited Cardiff many times over the years but only twice during their most successful period playing the Capitol Theatre in both 1975 and 1976 in front of thousands of screaming fans reminiscent of earlier visits by The Beatles.

The band’s 1975 was vividly described as being Terrifying! In a report from the South Wales Echo

Ambulance man’s verdict on city Rollermania

Ambulance chiefs called for tougher safety measures at pop concerts after scores of youngsters were crushed at Cardiff concert by the Bay City Rollers.

Wave after wave of hysterical fans stormed the stage at the Capitol Theatre in Queen Street. They crushed and trampled on dozens on dozens of fans.

At least 20 fans were ferried by a fleet of ambulances to Cardiff Royal Infirmary for treatment.

Another 60 were treated at the cinema by St John Ambulance while four adults and a woman police officer were also injured.

Most of the fans hurt were young girls.

Ambulance superintendent Jim Clark described the night as “a terrifying experience – the most frightening I have ever known”.

The 1976 concert was so frenetic that police and St John Ambulance staff had to ferry out vast numbers of fainting teenagers to waiting ambulances and the day after the gig the South Wales Echo headline screamed ‘Rollermania sends 40 to hospital’.