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By the time he reached 28 years of age, Burton Cummings was already one of the grand old men of the rock-and-roll business. For more than a decade, Burton had lived better than anyone has any right to expect, earning big money and spending just as big. Before the world knew Jimmi Hendrix, it knew Burton Cummings and his group, the Guess Who. Before the world knew Janis Joplin or Jim Morrison of the Doors, it knew Cummings.
Chicago wasn't even born when the Guess Who had its first hit record, in 1965. The Rolling Stones were still forming their distinctive sound. Eric Clapton was part of a British band called the Yardbirds. And the Bee Gees were unknown outside of Australia.
Interestingly, Cummings was not part of the original Guess Who. But, as time went by, all the original members, with the exception of drummer Garry Peterson, left and Cummings became known as the Guess Who. It was, of course, his group; he provided the distinctive vocals and composed most of the hit songs. Anyone who ever saw the band recording realized that Cummings was also the master behind the studio sound.
Yes, at 28, Burton had everything, everything, that is, except the happiness he had the right to expect.
"I guess you could sum up my state mind a couple of years ago by saying I was bored," Burton explained recently. "The Guess Who could have continued as a profitable group for a very long time. But there was no excitement there anymore; we weren't turning out hits as fast as we once were. And I didn't relate as well to the guys in the band as I did at one time. There comes a time when it's best to break loose from the old ties and make a fresh start. I had reached that point."
For those who were close to the group, the real surprise was not that Cummings had decided to disband the Guess Who and strike out on his own.
"There comes a time when it's best to break loose from the old ties and make a fresh start".
The surprise was that he hadn't made the move sooner. Several people around Toronto can remember one memorable evening in 1973 when Burton sat down at a piano in the Sutton Place Hotel and spent more than an hour playing popular songs from Broadway and the movies. From time to time, Cummings had also indicated to friends that he wanted to be known as an interpreter of other writers' songs as well as being associated exclusively with his own compositions.
"I'm not as young as I was when the Guess Who got rolling," Burton confessed. "And I realize now that, if I want to have a career a decade from now, I must strike out in new directions that will establish me as an artist as well as a good rock-and-roller."
Burton's timing couldn't have been better. CBS Records was setting up a very exclusive, very small label in Los Angeles. The new label known as Portrait, was actually intended to make CBS a presence on the American West Coast as well as in New York, there by allowing the company to attract some of the better California artists. However, the label's first and, for a while, the only acquisition was a former band leader from Winnipeg named Burton Cummings.
"I'd been with big record companies before," Burton points out. "And frankly, it gets rather hard to take after a while. Though big companies have a great deal of power, they also are more apt to foul up on projects. Ideally, every performer would sign with a small label that can give him personal attention while having tremendous market power, too. Portrait gave me everything I wanted."
The influence of the record company is seldom recognized by the ordinary people, you and me, who buy the recordings. But it is tremendously significant. A record company that provides the wrong kind of "direction" can force a performer to record the wrong kind of material or it can foul up on distribution so that the public never hears the songs. Portrait let Burton record what he wanted, the way he wanted and then sold records.
"I was determined to make the first record right," Burton recalls. "I checked out almost every producer in the business. At one time, I was seriously considering Glyn Johns (most recently producer for Joan Armatrading and Eric Clapton and, at one time, producer for the Who and the Rolling Stones) but I finally decided on Richard Perry. It wasn't a difficult decision at the end; Richard has done excellent work with people like Carly Simon and Barbara Streisand and everyone knows the incredible work he did with Leo Sayer."
Visitors to the studio during the first Cummings session reported that Burton was having immense difficulty laying down tracks the way he liked. Some suggested that Perry wasn't providing the help that Cummings needed. But, in the end, Burton Cummings sold much, much better than any recent Guess Who album and Burton did hire Perry to work with him again on the second album, which resulted in another hit.
The second album was every bit as noteworthy as the first because it brought Burton and Randy Bachman together for the first time since 1970. 1970 was the year that Randy walked out on the Guess Who, determined to find success on his own terms rather than in a group. Over the years, both Burton and Randy had bitter words for each other but, suddenly, they became close friends again.
"I heard what Randy was doing with B.T.O.," Burton admits, "and liked what I heard. Randy has always been a good writer and his guitar work keeps getting better. I knew that it would make sense to have him play on my album. I also wanted to surprise him by recording 'You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet'."
Randy didn't waste time joining Burton in the studio. Then, with the album completed, the guitarist joined the singer on Cummings' CBC television special and popped up at a couple of Burton's gigs in the northeastern United States. Rumours began to fly that they had become a permanent two-some but both Randy and Burton denied the rumours. "We're just good friends," Burton claims, "who have been trying to make up for some lost time. It's good for us to be able to work together again occasionally because we each know instinctively what the other thinks. But it would probably be a mistake for us to try to get too close." To no one's surprise, however, Burton was on hand when Randy began recording his first solo album in November.
Despite his fast success as a solo act, Cummings realizes that he has a long way to go before he becomes the superstar he would really like to be. "Though most people in Canada know me, it's hard for me to get through to everyone in the States," he admits. "There are just so many people down here that it could take a couple of years before I become well known. So I'll keep touring and hammering away at those concert audiences. I've been touring for all of my adult life, you know, and this is the first time in years that I've actually enjoyed performing."
Meanwhile, Burton has moved from Winnipeg to Los Angeles and still hopes of someday making it as a movie actor. He's taken acting lessons, off and on, for several years but has yet to land the first part. Besides, he doesn't have the time for an acting career now.
"I'm not in a rush to do a lot of the things that seemed so important to me a few years ago,"Burton says. "I'm so happy with my career now that I know everything else will come in time."
©1999 TG Magazine/Le Magazine TG
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