Boz Burrell

Raymond "Boz" Burrell (1 August 1946 – 21 September 2006) was an English musician. Originally a vocalist and guitarist, Burrell is best known for being the vocalist and bassist of King Crimson from 1971 to 1972 and the original bassist of Bad Company from 1973 to their first disbandment in 1982 and once more from 1998 to 1999. He died of a heart attack in Spain in 2006, aged 60.

Raymond Burrell was born on 1 August 1946 in Holbeach, Lincolnshire; he lived in Saracens Head and Holbeach Hurn. As a teen in the 1950s, he began playing rhythm guitar for the Tea Time 4, a group formed with his school pals Bernie Rudd and Brian Rocky Browne, at the George Farmer School. They both acquired a passion for jazz and enjoyed acts such as Mose Allison, John Coltrane, and Charles Mingus. He later attended King's Lynn Technical College.

The group had several personnel changes and moved to London in 1965 at the suggestion of manager, Jack Barrie. With the addition of Ian McLagan on keyboard and a name change to Boz People, the group secured a contract with EMI's Columbia label.

Burrell's style leaned more towards jazz, whereas McLagan was into Booker T, four singles being recorded and backing band slots with Kenny Lynch and Elkie Brooks. However, with little commercial success, McLagan soon left to join The Small Faces.

Burrell next enjoyed a short stint in the soul band, Feel For Soul, back in Norwich from 1966 until the following year. In late 1965, Burrell was briefly considered to replace Roger Daltrey in The Who.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.