Leroy Burgess

Born and raised in Harlem NYC, Burgess sang in church choirs and was tutored by Herbie Jones, a Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn associate; apart from that, his musical knowledge was picked up informally through his mother (a classically trained soprano) and the infrequent family reunion meet-ups with his mom's cousin, legendary Philly soul arranger/producer Thom Bell. He cut his teeth in the late '60s as lead vocalist of a quintet called the Mellow Souls, which later became a trio, when 3 of its members left for college. Burgess, Stuart Bascombe, and newcomer Russell Patterson were still in their teens in 1969, when Producer/songwriter/arranger Patrick Adams became involved and renamed the trio Black Ivory. Adams helped Black Ivory attain a Top 40 R&B single with their debut, "Don't Turn Around." Burgess remained with the group until 1977, when he opted to part under good terms. In 1978, with bassist James Calloway (and shortly after drummer Sonny T. Davenport), he jumped head-first into the rapidly evolving world of dance music.

Burgess unofficially returned to Black Ivory in 1980, when the group was in need of a couple songs for an album and Burgess donated a pair. These two songs, "Mainline" and "Hustlin' (You Gotta Be Dancin')," made for a turning point in Burgess' career. "Mainline," which has long since become a dancefloor classic, got Burgess' disco ball spinning. This and "Weekend," another Burgess tune recorded for Adams' Phreek, kicked off a seemingly endless series of projects that is nearly impossible to accurately depict with a time line. Releases by Bumblebee Unlimited ("Love Bug"), Inner Life ("Moment of My Life"), Dazzle ("Reaching"), Phreek ("Weekend"), the Fantastic Aleems ("Get Down Friday Night"), Aleem ("Release Yourself"), Intrigue ("Fly Girl"), Caprice ("100%"), High Frequency ("Summertime"), Universal Robot Band ("Barely Breaking Even"), and Change ("You're My Number One") featured Burgess' involvement in various capacities, as did material from solo artists such as Rick James, Dino Terrell, Fonda Rae, Venus Dodson, Ben E. King, Eddie Kendricks, Peter Jacques, and Narada Michael Walden. Needless to say, Burgess was in-demand. He could write a song, arrange it, produce it, sing on it, play keyboards -- almost everything short of pressing the records and delivering them to the shops.

In the middle of all this work, Burgess also found time to helm a couple of projects. After one particular 1981 session with his most frequent partners, Calloway and Sonny Davenport (the trio, fleshed out by Burgess' keyboards, made for one of the finest rhythm sections in the field of disco/boogie), there was extra time left on a recording session and they decided, on the spot, to create a new dance tune. The result was "Let's Do It," a sweet mid-tempo single full of all sorts of interlapping, oddball synth sounds and Burgess' ever-beaming vocals (not to mention some valuable background help from Dorothy Terrell and Burgess' sister, Renee). Released under the name Convertion, the single sparked a partnership with Producer Greg Carmichael that culminated in the Logg LP for Salsoul label. Convertion changed its name to Logg and delivered a self-titled LP on Salsoul in 1981. The album spawned three singles -- "I Know You Will" (remixed by Larry Levan), "Dancing in the Stars," and "You've Got That Something" -- songs that exemplify the Boogie era that followed disco and predated house.

The third primary group for whom Burgess sang lead was Aleem (formerly the Fantastic Aleems), with twins Taharqa & Tunde-Ra Aleem. After a string of hugely successful singles ("Hooked On Your Love", "Get Down Friday Night" "Release Yourself", "Get Loose"and "Confusion"), the group signed with Atlantic Records to produce two full albums.. "Casually Formal" and "Shock".

Burgess took a brief hiatus from 1992 to 1998, before returning to the active music scene.. collaborating with artists like Blaze, Glenn Underground, and Cassius. Then, Burgess returned to his original roots and re-joined Black Ivory. By now, there isn't a single history-aware DJ who doesn't know his or her Leroy Burgess. In 2002, the Soul Brother label tied up some of the many loose ends in Burgess' discography by issuing two crucial releases: The Anthology, Vol. 1: The Voice and The Anthology, Vol. 2: The Producer. Continuing the tradition, Soul Brother released his newest collection, Throwback: Harlem 79 - 83 in 2007, featuring previously unreleased songs.. penned during that era.

Now, in celebration of his (and Black Ivory's) 40th anniversary, he is releasing two brilliant new projects.. "CONTINUUM", Black Ivory's first all new album since 1980.. and his own second solo album, "THROWBACK (VOL.2): SUGAR HILL 83 - 86, on his own Burgess Entertainment Recordings label. Both contain 12 brand new and previously unreleased compositions, and exemplify everything we've come to expect from the creative genius of LEROY BURGESS. Any questions... just press play.