A Deep Look At Those Tony Burrows Songs That Became 1 Hit Wonders

Photo: HaarFager at English Wikipedia / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

Many music fans may not know the name Tony Burrows, but they sure do know the voice. For those unfamiliar with the name, Tony Burrows is a British born vocalist who toured for ten years in the 1960s with various bands and then retired to focus on session work. That session work would yield five big time hit singles with five differed musical acts all associated with being labeled as one hit wonders. Most interestingly, Tony Burrows celebrated four of those five big time hit singles within a four month period in 1970. So much music that was recorded in the late 1960s and early 1970s was produced by a group of incredibly tainted and unheralded musicians. Instrumentalists that formed the Wrecking Crew and talented vocalists like John Carter, Pete Nelson, and Ricky Wolff are on so many recordings from that time period.

Our A Deep Look At Those Tony Burrows Songs That Became 1 Hit Wonders article presents the one hit wonders songs along with a few others songs recorded by Tony Burrows in the 1970s.

# 8 – Melanie Makes Me Smile – Tony Burrows

It would not be fair to Tony Burrows if we didn’t present a few hits he had under his own name. He never had any really big hits on his own like he did as a session vocalist, but that doesn’t mean that these weren’t great songs for the time period. “Melanie Makes Me Smile,” was written by Barry Mason and Tony Macaulay in 1969. It was originally recorded by The Strangers. Tony Burrows recorded it under his own name in 1970 and broke the Billboard Top 100 with his version.

# 7 – Every Little Move She Makes – Tony Burrows

Anther great Tony Burrows song that was never a hit, but it’s just one of those early 1970s pop gems with a melody that is most memorable. The song was released in 1970 on Bell Records. It was issued as the B side to the single “I’ve Still Got My Heart, Jo. which did not break the Billboard top 100.

# 6 – Let’s Go To San Francisco – The Flowerpot Men

“Let’s Go To San Francisco,” was a hit song by by a band called The Flower Pot Men. While many artist in the 1960s were  trying to sound like The Beatles, there were an equal amount of groups trying to also sound like The Beach Boys. Tony Burrows sings lead vocals on this very Beach Boys sounding song.

# 5 – Gimme Dat Ding – The Pipkins

The early 1970s was a time period that was loaded with novelty songs. Tunes like Ringo Starr’s “No No Song,”, Chuck Berry’s “My Ding A Ling,” and Ray Stevens’ “The Streak,” were all top 10 hits. For whatever reason, the public embraced novelty songs in the early to mid 70s. “Gimme Dat Ding,” was certainly a novelty song. It was in many ways an outlier in Tony Burrows’ career as a session singer. It was not in the style of most of the songs that he had hits with. Still, a hit it was. Roger Greenaway performed the high vocal part on the track and Tony Burrows performed the low vocal part.

# 4 – My Baby Loves Lovin’ – White Plains

This is one of those 1970s songs in which you may not recognize the title of the song or the band’s name, but you will remember the song instantly after you hit play. This was a great 70s pop tune. Tony Burrows once again delivered a magnificent vocal. The song was composed by Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway and released by the group White Plains in 1970. The song reached the Billboard Top 20 in 1970 peaking at number thirteen.

# 3 – United We Stand – The Brotherhood Of Man

As we close in on the top few spots on our Tony Burrows songs list we turn to the grand sounding tune “United We Stand.” The song was recorded and released originally by the group The Brotherhood of Man featuring Tony Burrows on lead vocals on the track, although it is a lead vocal also shared by multiple members of the group. The song was a huge hit in 1970. It became a top 20 hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. It also reached the top 10 on the UK Music Charts.

# 2 – Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) – Edison Lighthouse

If your a fan of early 1970s pop records, this one is probably one of your favorites. Killer hooks, simple lyrics and great vocals defined this style of music from the early 1970s. The song was released in 1970. It was written by Tony Macaulay and Barry Mason. Tony Burrows was hired to sing the lead vocals on the song. They named the studio group Edison Lighthouse. The song became a huge hit. “Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)’ hit number one in the United Kingdom. It was also very successful in the United States peaking at number five on the Billboard Hot 100. In subsequent interviews, Tony Burrows has claimed that Love Grows was his favorite vocal of his career.

# 1 – Beach Baby – The First Class

Many fans have called this one, the greatest Beach Boys song that wasn’t a Beach Boys song. When it was first released it fooled many people who thought it was the Beach Boys. But Beach Boys fans knew better and it became such a big hit so quickly, that word spread that it was a band called First Class. In reality, it really wasn’t a band but rather two songwriters who hired a few other musicians to record some of their songs.

The song was written by John Carter and Gillian Shakespeare who hired Tony Burrows to sing lead vocals. After the song became a top 10 hit peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1975, a band was put together to tour, but it did not include Tony Burrows. In the end, it was a great song. However, what fueled the success of the song even more was the amazing vocal by Tony Burrows. He made the song a top 10 hit continuing to do what he had done multiple times before for many different bands and songwriters.

Updated November 1, 2023

A Deep Look At Those Tony Burrows Songs That Became 1 Hit Wonders article published on Classic RockHistory.com© 2023

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