Biography
Glen Burtnik, a native of New Jersey, launched his professional path in the early 1970s as a session musician whose credits eventually encompassed work alongside Celine Dion, Jan Hammer, and Lita Ford. His songwriting output likewise found outlets through recordings by Marshall Crenshaw, Patty Smyth, and Randy Travis. Born April 8, 1955, in New Brunswick, NJ, he had already begun composing material by age twelve. Forgoing college, he instead portrayed Paul McCartney in a stage production of Beatlemania while maintaining his involvement with various bands. A&M Records signed him in 1984, resulting two years later in the solo release Talking in Code, which attracted limited attention. The follow-up, Heroes & Zeroes, appeared in 1987 and met a similar reception, though it yielded a modest chart entry via the track “Follow You.” Dennis DeYoung recruited Burtnik in 1989 to fill the vacancy left by guitarist Tommy Shaw in the re-formed Styx. He accepted and contributed to the 1990 album Edge of the Century, co-writing five songs on the project, among them the title track and the lead single “Love Is the Ritual.” That reunion proved brief, yet two of his compositions later surfaced on a 1996 greatest-hits collection by the band. During the 1990s his most notable achievements came through material written for other artists, including “Spirit of a Boy, Wisdom of a Man” for Randy Travis and the 1992 top-two pop hit “Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough,” recorded by Patty Smyth and Don Henley.
Albums
