Colin Burgess, the drummer for The Masters Apprentices and first drummer for AC/DC, has died at the age of 77.
Colin was with The Masters Apprentices from 1968 to 1972 as well as formation dates in 1987 to 1991 and 2001-2002. With The Masters Apprentices, Colin played on all but the first album from ‘Masterpiece’ (1970) to ‘A Toast To Panama Red’ (1972) and the album from 1988 ‘Do What You Wanna Do’.
His hits with the band included “5:10 Man”, “Think about Tomorrow Today”, “Turn Up Your Radio” and “Because I Love You”.
In November 1973, Colin was asked to join new Sydney band AC/DC featuring Angus and Malcolm Young, Dave Evans on vocals and Larry Van Kriedt on bass. The 50th anniversary of that first AC/DC show is just weeks away. They first performed a Chequers Nightclub in Sydney on New Years Eve 1973.
Colin had a very short stint with AC/DC. He was fired from the band in February 1974 for being drunk. He claimed his drink was spiked. He was replaced by Phil Rudd.
Burgess did play on the first AC/DC single ‘Can I Sit Next To You Girl’. The original version featured Dave Evans on vocals and George Young, brother of Angus and Malcolm on bass. The song was re-recorded with Rudd on drums, Mark Evans on bass and Bon Scott on vocals for the second AC/DC album ‘TNT’ in 1975.
Colin would have another interesting cross-over with AC/DC when he was asked to play drums an album Tiny Tim was recording in Sydney called ‘Tiny Tim Rock’. The opening song was AC/DC ‘Highway To Hell’.
In 1988, Colin was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame as a member of The Masters Apprentices.
Guitarist Doug Ford is now the last surviving member of the classic Masters line-up singer Jim Keays died in 2014 and bass player Glenn Wheatley died in 2022.
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