Burke Shelly, ‘Budgie’ singer and bassist, dies at 71

Lead singer and bassist of the Welsh band ‘Budgie’, Burke Shelley, breathed his last at the age of 71. Budgie was a band that was a pioneer in the international hard rock/metal rock scene. They went on to become an inspiration to rock bands including Metallica, Megadeth and Iron Maiden.

The news of Burke Shelly’s passing away was confirmed by his daughter, Ela. She issued an official statement on the night of January 10, saying that the musician is not more. However, the cause of death of Burke Shelly is yet to be ascertained.

In the statement, Ela wrote that her father, John Burke Shelley, passed away at a private hospital in Cardiff, United Kingdom. The singer was admitted to Heath Hospital where he passed away in his sleep. Burke Shelly was born in Cardiff and was 71 years old.

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Burke Shelly is survived by his four children – Ela, Dimitri, Osian and Nathaniel. In the statement, Ela urged everyone to respect the grieving family in these testing times.

Burke Shelly was in Cardiff’s Canton in the year 1950. He, along with Tony Bourge (guitarist/vocalist) and Ray Phillips (drummer) co-founded the band, Budgie, in 1967. The band successfully released 10 studio albums between the years 1971 and 1982.

The band stopped their music tours in the year 1987. However, they reformed again in the mid-1990s and 2000s. It was in the year 2006 when Budgie’s 11th and a final full-length record, ‘You’re All Living in Cuckooland’, was released.

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Budgie was a band that went on inspiring metal and hard rock bands such as Metallica, Megadeth and Iron Maiden. All these bands have covered Budgie in the past. In fact, Lars Ulrich had recently offered to do a live take on ‘Breadfan’ during one of Metallica’s 40th-anniversary shows which were held in San Francisco, in December 2021.

Soon after the news about Burke Shelly’s death broke, the music industry went into a sudden shock and grief. Swedish progressive metal band Opeth’s frontman, Mikael Åkerfeldt, wrote a heartfelt note on social media, paying his tribute to the late musician. Shelley had fought a genetic disorder called ‘Stickler syndrome’, in recent years.

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• Burke Shelly
• Budgie
• Metal Rock
• Musician