Cha Burns (20 March 1957 – 26 March 2007) was the guitarist for

Fingerprintz The Silencers are a Scottish rock band formed in London in 1986 by Jimme O'Neill and Cha Burns, two ex-members of the post-punk outfit Fingerprintz. Their music is characterised by a melodic blend of pop, folk and traditional Celtic influence ...

and the

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

band,

The Silencers ''The Silencers'' is the title of a 1962 spy novel by Donald Hamilton, the fourth in a series of books featuring assassin Matt Helm. Plot summary When a female agent in Mexico is killed before Helm can complete his mission to extract her, he f ...

and live guitarist for

Adam Ant Stuart Leslie Goddard, better known as Adam Ant (born 3 November 1954), is an English singer, musician, and actor. He gained popularity as the lead singer of new wave group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring 10 UK top ten ...

Biography

Born Charles Burns, in

Coatbridge Coatbridge ( sco, Cotbrig or Coatbrig, gd, Drochaid a' Chòta) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. Along with neighbouring town Airdrie, Coatbridge forms the area known a ...

, Lanarkshire in 1957, Burns became a guitarist on the London punk and new wave scene of the mid 1970s. As well as forming

with fellow

local

Jimme O'Neill Jimme O'Neill is a Scottish singer and guitarist who has been the lead singer of Scottish rock band The Silencers since 1984. Having started his musical career with Cha Burns in Fingerprintz in the new wave music scene, they joined Martin Hanli ...

, Burns played guitar in

's backing band during 1982–1984 together with Fingerprintz drummer Bogdan Wiczling. Fingerprintz were recognised in retrospect as influential, but failed to gain any real commercial success in the UK.''The Herald'' (UK) feature article on Burns
In 1985, Burns and Jimme O'Neill formed The Silencers, although Burns' health became an issue during the recording of the first album, after he suffered a

brain hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

. Burns was back in the studio recording six weeks later despite the fact that he was still re-learning how to read. The Silencers received critical comparisons to

Simple Minds Simple Minds are a Scottish rock band formed in Glasgow in 1977. They have released a string of hit singles, becoming best known internationally for " Don't You (Forget About Me)" (1985), which topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the United S ...

and U2. A high point for the band was a support slot on a

Squeeze Squeeze or squeezing may refer to: Film and television * ''Squeeze'' (1980 film), a New Zealand film directed by Richard Turner * ''Squeeze'' (1997 film), an American film directed by Robert Patton-Spruill * "Squeeze" (''The X-Files''), an epis ...

tour which culminated in a gig at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsyl ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

. The Silencers had a European hit with "Bulletproof Heart". However the single, written by O'Neill in the Fingerprintz days and was about the

Irish Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...

, did not receive much airplay in UK. During the late 1980s, The Silencers opened for

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

and U2 as well as touring for 4 months with Simple Minds. Despite modest success in the UK, The Silencers had an almost fanatical following in mainland Europe, especially France and Spain. In more recent years the band were best known for supplying the theme music of a popular advertising campaign for VisitScotland. Burns was once described by fellow band member Jimme O'Neill as ''"a dark, smouldering presence, rocking slowly back and forwards on his heels, caressing jagged, bittersweet melodies from his black Les Paul."'' After five albums, Burns left The Silencers in 2000, rarely playing on-stage again. After two years in Switzerland Burns moved to

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. He was diagnosed with lung cancer in late 2006 and had unsuccessful courses of treatment. Reportedly a keen environmentalist whose motto was "Planet Before Profit", he was keen to try

metabolic therapy Metabolic typing is a pseudoscience whose proponents believe that each person has a unique metabolism, and that the proportion of macromolecules (proteins, carbohydrates and fats) which are optimal for one person may not be for a second, and could e ...

, a controversial alternative treatment not available on the

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

, which uses natural methods including diet to boost the immune system. Ex-bandmate Jinky Gilmour aka JJ Gilmour organised a benefit concert for Burns at the ABC in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...

in February. Despite Burns' claiming he was the "forgotten man of Scottish rock", the 1,500 capacity venue sold out. The date was planned six weeks after his last course of

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemothe ...

. On that night Burns had regained enough strength to play with original band members and those from subsequent line-ups.

Death

Burns died from lung cancer on 26 March 2007, aged 50, in

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, Cha Scottish rock guitarists Scottish male guitarists People from Coatbridge 1957 births 2007 deaths Deaths from lung cancer Deaths from cancer in Wales 20th-century British guitarists 20th-century British male musicians The Silencers (band) members