Tito Burns born 7 February 1921

Tito Burns (born Nathan Bernstein, 7 February 1921 – 23 August 2010) was a British musician and impresario, who was active in both jazz and rock and roll. 

The son of a cabinet maker, he was the sixth and youngest child of Polish Orthodox Jewish immigrants who had settled in Bethnal Green. Burns was a self-taught accordionist from the age of 12, initially performing semi-professionally in the 1930s. He combined a sharp ear for the phrasing of many popular idioms with a relaxed swing and a natural leader's drive. His first gig was with Felix Mendelssohn's Hawaiian-influenced group, followed by work with the Cuban bandleader Don Marino Barreto, the tango pianist Lou Preager and the Trinidadian clarinetist Carl Barriteau at the Cotton Club in Soho, with Burns doubling on piano. It was as this time that he gained the "Tito" sobriquet which he retained for the rest of his life. 

By 1941 Burns was leading his own band at the Panama club. Though his musical career was diverted by service with the RAF in the far east, he continued to play as part of the RAF regiment sextet. After being wounded, he became a radio broadcaster for the Allied forces' Radio SEAC in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). He joined the West Indian "rumba king" Clarrie Wears after demobilisation in 1946. He then formed the Tito Burns Septet, which was formed in January 1947 and disbanded in August 1955, its existence practically coinciding with the run of the BBC's Accordion Club radio series. The group is believed, partly on the account of musician Ronnie Scott, to have been the first band to perform the new jazz idiom bebop on BBC Radio in 1947. Their approach was derived from the "bop for the people" formula created by the American tenor saxophonist Charlie Ventura.

                                   

When the show ended, the band went on tour and recorded a number of sides with various line-ups, including the pianist and trumpeter Dennis Rose, Scott and alto saxophonist Johnny Dankworth and drummer Tony Crombie. In 1948,  Burns married his longtime girlfriend, the jazz and session singer Terry Devon, whose elegant harmonising blended successfully into the group in the early 50s.

Burns found it impossible to keep the band on the road with a jazz repertoire alone and was forced to introduce more pop material. His star soloists left to plough jazzier furrows, and though in May 1955 the leader attempted a last throw with an expanded group he named his New Big Orchestra, he called it a day the same year and moved into management and the emerging rock and roll, which he admitted to disliking. 

In 1959, he replaced Franklyn Boyd as manager for Cliff Richard. He soon gathered a list of clients, including The Zombies and the Searchers, whom he gave over to Brian Epstein. Among the new talents he discovered was singer Dusty Springfield and Cat Stevens. As an impresario, he first brought Cliff Richard to tailor Dougie Millings for a stage costume. The resulting outfit, with its unique style, was later emulated by other performers of the time. 

Burns with Cliff Richard

Burns appeared in D. A. Pennebaker's documentary film Dont Look Back (1965) which documented Bob Dylan's first UK tour, which Burns promoted. He disapproved of what he saw on screen: "I wasn't doing anything unusual. All agents play the bouncing act. I was playing the BBC against Granada, but I didn't like seeing it on film. I thought that none of the TV producers would speak to me again." His agency was bought in 1966 for £250,000 by the Grade Organisation and Burns became the deputy managing director of Harold Davison Ltd, a Grade subsidiary. 

Burns briefly left managing performers to become Head of Variety Programming in March 1968 at the soon to launch new ITV franchise holder London Weekend Television, with the head of light entertainment, Frank Muir, being his superior. He poached Simon Dee, then a high-profile host, from the BBC in October 1969, but Dee's eclipse under his new contract and LWT's early internal problems led Burns to resign by summer 1970.  

In October 1971, he formed a new company, Scotia-Tito Burns with the Scotia leisure group, which supplemented representing performers with roles as music publisher, television production, film scorings and promoting concerts and their recording projects. Throughout his career, he promoted tours for many US entertainers in Europe including Simon and Garfunkel. He retired in 1976. However, he continued to book Tony Bennett and Sacha Distel for their British appearances. 

In 1977 Burns was involved in the founding of what became the Brit awards, which were presented at the Wembley Conference Centre to artists who had made outstanding contributions to recorded music since 1952. He kept active in the business throughout the 1980s, primarily managing Victor Borge in his stage shows and voiceovers for Heineken lager TV advertisements. Tito Burns died at home on 23 August 2010, of complications from prostate cancer, at the age of 89.  (Edited from Wikipedia & The Guardian)