Ian Charles Burden (born 24 December 1957) is an English musician who played
keyboards and
bass guitar
The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...
with
the Human League, initially as a session musician, and later full-time, between 1981 and 1987.
Early life
Burden attended
The King's School in
Peterborough as a boarding pupil, where he played in several amateur bands.
Career
Formerly of
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...
band Graph, Burden was employed as a
session keyboard player for the Human League's October 1980 tour, covering for
Martyn Ware and
Ian Craig Marsh's keyboards after their departure. In March 1981 he returned to the band full-time, and would
co-write much of their early 1980s material. He left the band in 1987.
Burden
recorded a
solo album
An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
, ''Loot'', in 1990.
In 1995, Burden released a CD through Inertia Records entitled ''A Swim in the Ocean''. This was a collaboration with Human League session player and contributor Russell Dennett. The band called themselves Deep Down Crazy, and consisted of Dan Boulton on vocals, Chris Broadhead on drums, Russell Dennett on guitar/keyboards/vocals and Burden on bass/keyboards. The recording took place at The Stockyard in
Leicestershire
Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...
.
Burden played bass guitar on the 2006 debut eponymous release for the Tenth Stage, a Melbourne-based band, and also on their second album, ''Grand Guignol''. The bass guitar used on these recordings (a
Fender Telecaster Bass) was the same one he used to record "I Love You Too Much" and "
(Keep Feeling) Fascination" (although in the Fascination video he is playing its technical direct successor, the
Fender Precision Bass). He played an
Ibanez Musician Bass on "
Mirror Man" and "
The Lebanon", and in some live performances (including their ''
Top of the Pops'' performance of "Fascination").
Burden also contributed bass guitar to
Parralox's ''State of Decay'' album, released in Germany in 2009.
In 2018, Burden released the second solo album ''Hey Hey Ho Hum ''.
Awards
* 1982
Brit Awards – (with the Human League) – 'Best British Breakthrough Act'
References
External links
Interview 2009
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burden, Ian
1957 births
Living people
English new wave musicians
English pop keyboardists
English session musicians
Musicians from Cambridgeshire
People educated at The King's School, Peterborough
People from Newark-on-Trent
The Human League members