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- Dan Burley was an American pianist–musician, who started his music career by playing within Chicago "House Rent Party" circuits and also Blues cafes as a pianist before becoming a journalist. Dan's father was the Rev. James Burley, an Evangelist Baptist minister who died while preaching at Mt. Gilead Baptist Church in Texas when Dan was a very young child at the age of 3 years old. His mother Anna Seymour,, re-married and in 1915 his mother, an educator, moved to Chicago, Illinois after the Rev Burley's death, where she became involved with politics on the Southside. Anna was well known, and worked within the high echelons of the old Republican Party of Ruth Hanna McCormick, Charles Dineen and Willan Hale (Big Bill) Thompson of Chicago. His mother had taught under Booker T. Washington at Tuskegee University and was the first African American woman to teach at a school then called "Armour Tech" which later became known today as "Illinois Institute of Technology". Dan attended Wendell Phillips High located on the Southside of Chicago. While attending high school Dan worked as a paper carrier for the Chicago Daily Defender newspaper as a teenager, and he played his style of boogie woogie music making additional money. Dan was the president of the school paper at Wendell Phillips High School, located on the southside of Chicago, where he got involved in sports, he was on the High School football league and played basket ball during this time, but also fulfilled his love for writing. While attending Phillips Dan developed a great friendship with his classmates Lionel Hampton, Milton Hinton, Louis Jordan, and Langley Waller, all who later all moved from Chicago to New York City to find fame and fortune within the music, writing and entertainment industries. Dan was different from all the rest because he moved into more than one area of these industries. In the 1920s, before Dan moved from Chicago, he worked his way to becoming a sports editor with a featured column which became syndicated throughout the country. By 1929, he was the sports editor for the Chicago based Daily Defender Newspaper which was owned by well known African American Publisher John Senstack. Dan also was a writer for the Chicago Bee a publication of S.B. Fuller, who was also a dear friend of Dan. S.B. Fuller was a multimillionaire in the Black community. Fuller also owned the Pittsburgh Courier, another publication Dan had a syndicated column in, and co-owned The New York Age with Dan when Burley moved to New York. His columns included "Backdoor Stuff, Confidentially Yours, Clothesline", and then later he began to write the column for the Black Nation of Islam "Mohammad Speaks" for the Honorable Elijah Mohammad in the late 1940s. The way Dan got involved with Mohammad Speaks was by his friendship and business relationship with S.B. Fuller who was the only owner of a Black owned publication that would allowed the information for the "Nation" to appear, in his publication which was the Pittsburg Courier. Dan Burley was the only journalist that he (Fuller) trusted to edit the work from the "Nation" because of the controversy of the material, and news that they were going to report and share into the Black Community. The original articles from the Black Nation of Islam, began in the Pittsburg Courier and they were all edited and reviewed by Dan Burley, who also wrote the words for the late Honorable Elijah Mohammad which appeared in press during this time, Dan was not a "Muslim" nor was a member of the Nation at any time. Later Malcolm X, attempted to get a printing press, it was at that time he contacted Dan's other friend and former classmate "Langley Waller" in New York City who was the major printer for many of the journals and papers in New York. Mr. Waller had a press he was willing to sell to Malcolm, but instead the publishing house "Lerner" in Chicago printed the paper. Dan Burley was the "Managing editor" for the Publication Mohammad Speaks until his death in 1962. Dan was also great friends with Malcolm X, who also had columns in other publications in fact he wrote under different names as did Dan in order to protect themselves from the "Heat within the community" because of the dangers of having opinions in the press. From 1936-1937 Dan Burley worked as a writer for the Amsterdam News in New York City, then three years later he became the managing editor of the publication, a position which he held for over twelve years. While in New York, Dan married his first wife Gustava McCurdy, a promising soprano who was the first black woman to sing the national at Madison Square Garden, famous musician Billy Rose requested her to star in "Carmen Jones" when one of those who played Carmen left the show Gustave refused. Dan was also great friends with Bill Rose, whereby they would meet in Harlem for jam sessions with other well known artist of that time. Gustava, at the age of 35, developed cancer and died in the 1940s at the age of 35 yrs old. Dan continued his music, and writing columns which were quoted in the New York Herald Tribune, The New York Times, Daily News, an American publication which were within a time that race relations were not at its best. His stories began to be shared by the columnist Walter Winchell who had high respect for Dan and his style of journalism. Walter Winchell became a good friend of Dan's along with others within the area of journalism outside the Black press which were known celebrities, such as Dorothy Killgallen, Ed Sullivan, Bill Corum, Hy Gardner, Earl Wilson. Dan contributed his works to Esquire Magazine, The Saturday Evening Post, Pic, Crisis, Interracial Review, The Catholic Press, and wrote the handbook of Jive which brought mentions favorable from H.L. Mencken, Gertrude Stein, Danton Walker, Winchell and others whereby the Handbook of Jive was so popular it was later translated into French, Italian, Spanish, and Norwegian by the State Department. Dan wrote music for Black artists such as Lionel Hampton and Cab Calloway. His music was heard not only within the United States but in Europe, England and Asia. Dan had a very unique style of Boogie-Woogie which he created. Many of today's Rock era groups used his music, style lyrics, melody to create hits of the 1960s and one of these groups the Beatles song "Lady Madonna" used the melody of "Dan Burley's" music making millions of dollars for them in record sales. The Music Industry had stolen material out of the Black community, whereby Blacks never got royalties from their work. Dan was called by many of his generation of entertainer, musicians, and writers friends as "A Man Before His Time". In music Dan created the group Dan Burley & his "Skiffle Boys" in 1948 featuring "Pop" Foster, Brownie McGhee and his brother. This group was led by barrelhouse piano player and journalist Burley, brought together New Orleans bassist Pops Foster, and guitar-playing brothers Brownie and Stick McGhee creating a sound that was part Jazz and Blues into a new era of music. Dan also received City Keys to almost every city in the United States for his work in writing, civil rights and working in resolving racial issues in America. Dan performed with Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Milton Hinton, Lionel Hampton, Lenard Feather, Jimmy Crupa, Fats Waller, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Dan was also a well read writer, reporter, and managing editor of many publications during the decades he was in the entertainment industry. In the 1940s during World War II, Dan served as a foreign war correspondent, and then led a Special Service USO Unit to China, Burma, North Africa, Egypt and India, composed of Henry Armstrong, Kenny Washington, Jow Lillard, and Bill Yancy that was rated No. 2 behind the Bob Hope show by Variety Magazine. Dan appeared on numerous network television and radio shows and had two radio shows of his own on WWRL Radio in New York. Dan also appeared in five films and recorded for Exclusive and other famous record labels. Dan in the 1940s was involved with giants within the Black Harlem Entertainment industry and also those who were known as the Best writers in the world, his circle of friends included Langston Hughes, who he worked with on both journalistic material and theme's that involved the "Jive" movement in Harlem Dan created to era with the use of words, and poetic verses to music, Beebop, and Jive which was the era of the Zoot Suits, and Dan which the Father of Hip-hop who started the language within a language of the now Hip-hip generation of today. Dan also was the Managing Editor of many African American publications such as the New York Age, Amsterdam News in New York City, Jet Magazine which he created in New York which he bought to Johnson Publishing Company in Chicago in 1951 which was published and he was made managing Editor and Associate Editor of Ebony. from the late 1930s until his death in 1962. He also coined the word "BEEPOP" and was the creator of the "Harlem Handbook of Jive" which was a "Jive" dictionary sold more than 100,000 copies and was published twice, in 1941 and other copy coming out in 1944. Burley played boogie-woogie piano at local Chicago socials and clubs in the 1920s. In the following decade, after a move to New York City, he became theatrical editor of the Amsterdam News. Burley recorded with Leonard Feather and Tiny Grimes in 1945 and with Lionel Hampton in 1946. That same year, he put together Dan Burley & His Skiffle Boys, an early skiffle ensemble which included Brownie McGhee and Pops Foster among its members. Burley also recorded with Hot Lips Page, Tyree Glenn, and Baby Dodds during the course of his career. In 1951, Burley worked for Jet Magazine as the managing editor. He had created the publication in New York and brought it to Johnson for publication. Johnson launched the magazine and made Dan Burley the managing Editor of Jet and the associate editor of Ebony Magazine from 1951. During his return to Chicago he began to add addition publications to his list of syndication which included Tan, Life, Look, Sepia, and his wife Gladys help him with his editorial work, and management out of their apartment located in Lake Meadow. The Burleys were one of the first families to move into the Lake Meadows complex which Dan had sat on the board and was worried of the pending concept of housing projects in development which he felt would lead to urban chaos because it did nothing to aid to move people for poverty. Dan was on the board also because his mother had owned the property located at 31st street on King Dr which was used as part of the development. Dan moved to Chicago with his new bride and in Chicago, his only child was born D'Anne Elizabeth Burley who is still alive, and is an international Radio Talk Show host, and historian out of Chicago today. Ebony. He died in 1962.
- Dan Burley war ein US-amerikanischer Blues und Jazz-Pianist sowie Journalist. Seine Familie zog 1917 nach Chicago, wo er zu Beginn seiner Karriere auf Partys und in kleinen Cafés auftrat und mit Blues- und Boogie Woogie-Pianisten zusammen spielte. Durley wurde später Journalist bei afroamerikanischen Zeitungen wie den New York Amsterdam News und dem Magazin Ebony, wobei er sich auf Theater- und Sportberichte spezialisierte. Er musizierte regelmäßig, meist jedoch im privaten Kreis. Im Jahr 1945 entstanden Aufnahmen mit Leonard Feather und Tiny Grimes (A Suite in Four Comfortable Quarters), 1946 mit Lionel Hampton. In diesem Jahr gründete er auf Anraten der Kritikers Rudi Blesh eine eigene Formation, Dan Burley and his Skiffle Boys; beteiligt waren der Bluesmusiker Brownie McGhee und Pops Foster. Mit ihnen spielte er eine Mischung von Jazz, Blues und Folksong ein, für die er mit Hilfe von Leonard Feather den Begriff Skiffle prägte und schnell bekannt machte. Die aufgenommenen Titel wie Big Cat Little Cat, South Side Shake oder Shotgun House Rag (1946) erhielten später große Bedeutung für die Skiffle-Bewegung in Großbritannien der 1950er Jahre, die von Musikern wie Chris Barber, Lonnie Donegan und anderen repräsentiert wurde. Außer mit Leonard Feather und Lionel Hampton nahm Dan Burley Schallplatten mit Hot Lips Page, Tyree Glenn, Baby Dodds und Pops Foster auf. Sein Pianostil war eine Verbindung von Boogie-, Stride Piano- und Harlem Swing-Einflüssen.
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