Tony Burrows – Nostalgia Central

Tony Burrows was born in Exeter, Devon, on 14 April 1942.

In the early 1960s, he was a member of The Kestrels, a vocal harmony group which also included the future songwriting team of Roger Greenaway and Roger Cook.

The group didn’t achieve much success on their own, but became one of the most in-demand vocal backing groups in the UK, singing behind British hitmakers ranging from Lonnie Donegan to Billy Fury and even Benny Hill.

Burrows recorded his debut album in 1965 under the pseudonym Tony Bond. Subsequently, he joined The Ivy League in 1966 after the departure of John Carter.

The Ivy League metamorphosed into The Flower Pot Men, who had a hit with Let’s Go to San Francisco, which reached #4 on the UK Singles Chart in the autumn of 1967.

Later, Burrows sang on several other one-hit wonder songs under different group names, including Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) (February 1970) for Edison Lighthouse;  United We Stand by The Brotherhood of Man; and the novelty song Gimme Dat Ding (April 1970) by Pipkins.

He also recorded with White Plains on My Baby Loves Lovin‘ and First Class on Beach Baby.

In April 1970, Burrows released a single under his own name, Melanie Makes Me Smile, which reached #87 on the Billboard Hot 100.

His subsequent solo singles failed to chart.

Burrows has also recorded as a session harmony singer with Elton John, Cliff Richard and James Last.