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Burke Shelley
April 10, 1950 – January 10, 2022
Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich is one of the many to have paid tribute to Burke Shelley, the bassist, banshee-voiced frontman, lyricist and driving force of Budgie, who has died at the age of 71. Metallica brought two of the Welsh band’s songs to the metal masses, which Budgie themselves never quite managed; a casual metal/Metallica fan might not know that the songs Breadfan and Crash Course In Brain Surgery were born in the green valleys of Wales and not in California. Along with Diamond Head’s Am I Evil?, the songs helped to forge Metallica’s own identity.
On Instagram, Ulrich wrote: “Thank you Burke for everything you did for heavy music, and much next level appreciation for co-writing and creating two songs that Metallica were honoured to record over the years.”
The news of Shelley’s passing was confirmed on the Budgie fan page on Facebook by Shelley’s daughter Ela, who wrote: “It is with great sadness that I announce the death of my father, John Burke Shelley. He passed away this evening in his sleep at Heath Hospital in Cardiff, his birth town.”
Shelley had endured decades of poor health that began with Stickler syndrome, which impairs the body’s production of collagen, a substance crucial for healthy tissue. In 2010, while Budgie were on tour in Poland, he suffered an aortic aneurysm, a potentially fatal bulge in the wall of a central artery. Highly invasive surgery to correct the condition meant that he could no longer sing.
“I’d have difficulty’s Grant Moon in 2020, “and squeaking down the mic was one of my specialities! It’s a big disappointment, but I’m not into self-pity. There’s no point whingeing about it. You just get on with life.”
