Michael Burks - Love Disease

Burks, Eyeball Music, BMI

A giant talent, Michael Burks began playing guitar at the age of five and was leading the house band at his family’s juke joint in Camden, Arkansas while still a young teenager. He quit music to raise his daughter, but returned to the stage in the late 1990s, building a following across the South with his big voice and super-intense, hard-edged guitar playing. Michael signed with Alligator in 2001 and cut three albums that, along with his constant touring, catapulted him into blues stardom. He earned the nickname “Iron Man” for his hours-long sets and his superhuman ability to drive for endless hours from gig to gig. He had just finished his fourth Alligator release when, following a grueling European tour, he died from heart failure at the age of 54.