Gary Burger (June 7, 1942 – March 14, 2014) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and vocalist for the rock band

the Monks The Monks, referred to by the name monks on record sleeves, were an American rock band formed in Gelnhausen, West Germany, in 1964. Assembled by five American GIs stationed in the country, the group grew tired of the traditional format of ro ...

Biography

Burger joined the U.S. Army immediately after graduating from Bemidji High School and was stationed in Germany. Burger formed the Five Torquays in 1964 with four other American soldiers he met in Germany. According to him, he joined the band partially because it got him out of his regular job as a fuel truck driver. The Torquays mainly played in hospitals and nursing homes in the beginning and produced a single in a small studio in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

. Their repertoire consisted mainly of

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, guitarist and songwriter who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and de ...

covers before moving on to more

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

original material. A group of German students noticed the band and agreed to manage them if they changed their outfits. The band all wore black cassocks, nooses around their necks, and shaved the top of their heads. By 1965 the Five Torquays had become the Monks. They recorded one album, 1966's '' Black Monk Time''. Although the Monks met with little success during their tenure, they were later cited as an influence on various artists, ranging from

Jack White John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975) is an American musician who achieved international fame as the guitarist and lead singer of the rock duo the White Stripes. As the White Stripes disbanded, he sought success with his solo career, subse ...

to The Fall. Burger's voice was described by Sean O'Neal as "a yowl that was soulful in its own strangled-cat sort of way." After touring Europe for three years, the Monks broke up in 1967. After the breakup, Burger moved back to the United States and enrolled at

Bemidji State University Bemidji State University (BSU) is a public university in Bemidji, Minnesota, United States. Founded as a preparatory institution for teachers in 1919, it provides higher education to north-central Minnesota. It is part of the Minnesota State Coll ...

on a

GI Bill The G.I. Bill, formally the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, but the te ...

scholarship. He found work digging septic systems by hand. "I loved that job, down in a hole with a shovel," he said. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources later hired Burger to create films and advertisements. He opened a small recording studio that serviced the northern Minnesota music scene. In November 1999, Burger reunited with his former Monks bandmates to play a reunion show in New York City after learning copies of ''Black Monk Time'' had become collectors items. Burger was elected mayor of

Turtle River, Minnesota Turtle River is a town in Beltrami County, Minnesota, Beltrami County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 77 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. The elevation is 1,332 ft (406m). It is approximately 17 miles northeast ...

in 2006. In 2009, he reflected on his time in the Monks: "We all knew that we were doing a different sort of music, but as far as being a forerunner band—that was the furthest from our minds. We really weren’t thinking that. We had no idea that we were creating a new movement. And I’m still thinking, hey, we were just a rock and roll band that really had a lot of fun, and was able to be lucky enough—or unlucky enough, depending on your point of view—to work on the album." He died of

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...

on March 14, 2014, at the age of 71.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burger, Gary 1942 births 2014 deaths American rock singers Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Minnesota Mayors of places in Minnesota Protopunk musicians Singers from Minnesota The Monks members Polydor Records artists People from Beltrami County, Minnesota United States Army soldiers