Event Info
Eric Burdon's life has been a musical journey matched by few other performers in rock music history. He has gone from the driving force of the grittiest British Invasion band, to pioneering the San Francisco psychedelic rock scene, to fronting WAR - the biggest funk band of the 1970's, to cutting an LP with an early influence, jazz-blues great Jimmy Witherspoon, to coming full-circle and reuniting his original band, The Animals, for a series of projects and world-wide tours, to forming new groups of “Animals” and releasing a series of studio CDs, live CD’s, a DVD, and his second autobiography, which was translated in several languages.
Burdon’s lengthy recording career began in Newcastle, England, where he first covered songs by his idols, such greats as Ray Charles, Chuck Berry, Josh White, Brownie McGhee, John Lee Hooker, and Jimmie Reed. He and The Animals quickly gained notoriety as England’s best R&B band, and they were selected by the pirate station Radio Caroline as the feature for the first broadcast to the U.S. They were a part of the first live R&B recording in the U.K., when they joined Sonny Boy Williamson for the now famous 1963 New Year’s Eve concerts. This raw performance was followed by a more polished outing when The Animals appeared with Jerry Lee Lewis & Gene Vincent on renegade Granada TV in 1964, for the Whole Lotta Shakin’ concert feature (released on film as Don’t Knock the Rock); the film showcased their rendition of Talkin’ Bout You. Shortly thereafter, The Animals took the music world by storm when they recorded and released an electrified version of the traditional folk number, The House of the Rising Sun. In short order they followed with such classics as Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood, We Gotta Get Out of This Place, It’s My Life, I’m Crying, Inside Looking Out, The Story of Bo Diddley, Bring It On Home to Me, and See See Rider. 
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