Similar Artists:
- Active: '20s, '30s
- Genres: Vocal Music
Biography
Hollywood screenwriter and producer Allan Burns has plenty to be proud of, such as creating The Mary Tyler Moore Show and helping to discover hyper comedian Jim Carrey. He is not a songwriter, however. Credits on sheet music and antique recordings from the '20s might indicate otherwise, or at least suggest the existence of a songwriter named Allan Burns. This is not the same Allan Burns as the producer, however, and furthermore the denials involving multiple Burns must go even farther. There was actually no Allan Burns at all, at least not in terms of a person with this name involved in songwriting and publishing in the '20s. There was a jazz bassist named Allan Burns, true, but he certainly didn't seem like he wanted anyone to notice him, appearing on only one credited recording session in his entire career. As for the composer Burns, this was simply a pseudonym for Joe Davis, and one of many.Davis began his involvement in the music business as far back as 1916, and didn't stop for some six decades after that. He produced recording sessions, acted in an A&R capacity, managed artists, ran record labels and had his hand in a variety of products ranging from obscene party records to music for children. He dabbled in songwriting off and on throughout his career, sometimes actually involved as a co-writer and sometimes simply doing nothing creative other than coming up with a name that could be used to collect publishing credits. Name the publishing industry scam, and Davis would have been involved in it, even though his reputation among songwriters and musicians isn't nearly as bad as some of his peers. Allan Burns credits show up on folk songs that had previously been blank in terms of anyone to nab publishing royalties. There were other noms-de-Davis such as Joe Smith, Bill Harris (no relation to the trombonist), L. Hardin and, believe it or not, N.E. Body. When swiping Hawaiian folk material, Davis even used the name John Palalaiki. The most common reason for such deception in the record business was trying to get around contract restrictions, while in the case of folk songs or other common-law material, publishers like Davis simply didn't want anyone to know what they were up to. A proper credit for a composition would of course be all-important for someone attempting to actually establish a reputation as a writer, but to Davis it hardly mattered at all. He could collect under any name, and the pseudonym would also remove the stigma of a song seeming like it had been simply forced down the artist's throat by the producer. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide
