Biography
Irving Burgie, whose name is pronounced Bur'jee, gained lasting recognition chiefly through his authorship of the enduring calypso standards “Day-O” and “Jamaica Farewell.” He supplied eight compositions for Harry Belafonte’s landmark 1956 release Calypso—the first long-playing record in the United States to reach one million sales—and later contributed twenty-eight additional pieces that Belafonte committed to disc. Other Burgie originals, among them “The Seine,” “El Matador,” and “Wish You Were Here,” were taken up by folk interpreters including the Kingston Trio, Jimmy Buffett, and Miriam Makeba. In 1966 he furnished the text for Barbados’s National Anthem.
His affinity for West Indian music traced directly to his mother Viola, a native of Barbados; his father, by contrast, hailed from Virginia. Raised in a West Indian enclave of Brooklyn, New York, the young Burgie followed radio’s hit parade avidly, yet his musical commitment crystallized only in the early 1940s during U.S. Army service. An alto saxophone heard within his unit prompted formal study of music theory and participation in chapel choirs. After his discharge he devoted five years to training at the Juilliard School of Music, the University of Arizona, and the University of Southern California, completing his studies in 1949.
Back in New York, Burgie immersed himself in the rising folk revival and appeared regularly at open-mike hootenannies. From the outset his songwriting met with immediate success; “Jamaica Farewell,” his earliest original, has since been recorded by artists ranging from Belafonte to Tom Rush. The major Belafonte hit “Day-O” later surfaced in numerous television and film contexts, notably the dinner sequence in Beetlejuice. Performing under the stage name Lord Burgess, Burgie delivers material in English, Spanish, Italian, and Hebrew.
In 1975 he played a central role in founding the United Black Men of Queens County Federation, Inc., an organization formed to assist and uplift Afro-American men throughout Queens. Five years afterward he instituted the annual Irving Burgie Award for Excellence in Literary and/or Creative Arts as a lasting tribute to his mother. The University of the West Indies conferred an Honorary Doctorate of Letters upon him in 1989.
His affinity for West Indian music traced directly to his mother Viola, a native of Barbados; his father, by contrast, hailed from Virginia. Raised in a West Indian enclave of Brooklyn, New York, the young Burgie followed radio’s hit parade avidly, yet his musical commitment crystallized only in the early 1940s during U.S. Army service. An alto saxophone heard within his unit prompted formal study of music theory and participation in chapel choirs. After his discharge he devoted five years to training at the Juilliard School of Music, the University of Arizona, and the University of Southern California, completing his studies in 1949.
Back in New York, Burgie immersed himself in the rising folk revival and appeared regularly at open-mike hootenannies. From the outset his songwriting met with immediate success; “Jamaica Farewell,” his earliest original, has since been recorded by artists ranging from Belafonte to Tom Rush. The major Belafonte hit “Day-O” later surfaced in numerous television and film contexts, notably the dinner sequence in Beetlejuice. Performing under the stage name Lord Burgess, Burgie delivers material in English, Spanish, Italian, and Hebrew.
In 1975 he played a central role in founding the United Black Men of Queens County Federation, Inc., an organization formed to assist and uplift Afro-American men throughout Queens. Five years afterward he instituted the annual Irving Burgie Award for Excellence in Literary and/or Creative Arts as a lasting tribute to his mother. The University of the West Indies conferred an Honorary Doctorate of Letters upon him in 1989.
Albums
