darren burn. how did he die, where and when?

[DavidRayner]

Does anyone know the circumstances and the exact date of death of former early 1970's child recording artiste DARREN BURN, son of Colin Burn (executive at EMI records in 1973) and his wife Jo. They lived in a semi at Southgate in Middlesex in 1973 when the then eleven years old Darren was being promoted as the UK's answer to American teenybopper idol Donny Osmond. Although Darren made some good records, plus a BBC Television documentary in 1973 called Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, his recording career never really took off and I have heard that eighteen years later, he took his own life in London in 1991 at the age of thirty. I need to know the district of London this happened in and the exact date if possible and the reason for his suicide. Also, are his parents still alive? Thanks in advance. David Rayner in Stoke on Trent, England.

[DavidRayner1]

Having just won another 1973 colour poster of Darren on eBay (this time from "Diana" magazine) I have been having a look at all the 30 photos I have of him from magazines and newspapers taken in 1973 and he looks unhappy on 29 of them. Only on one of them does he look happy. In fact, on some of the photos, he looks downright miserable. There was something very odd going on here. At least, he does have a couple of happy moments in the Man Alive film, but even in that, he looks miserable most of the time. These "miserable looking" promotional photos may have had a detrimental effect on his record sales at that time. It makes me think that someone may have been pushing him into all that at EMI against his will.

[DavidRayner1]

(Message Part Two): And if that was the case, then why was he so terribly upset when EMI cancelled his contract and got rid of him in August, 1974? You see? It's an enigma! It just doesn't make any sense at all.

[chrisfortyfive]

This is just a few lines of background on DB.

He went to Franklin House School Palmerston Rd. N22.
He was quite popular but I think had few actual frienships.
He always had record company promotional material, Unusual in the mid sixties.
I went to a party at his house and everyone got a promo copy of Hey Jude/ Revolution. I still have that. He regularly appeared on tv. Don't be mean with the Beans mum Beanz Meanz Heinz queue big smile. I think he had to spit the beans out.He was as big as the Birdseye Beefburgers kid. I tried to avoid him after a while he was unusual. I'm sure there is a modern term for it. It was a great time to grow up very optimistic but lots of people got too caught up in their expectations. Some of this might not make sense but it was a very different world. It is like the tv documentary 7 up very innocent or maybe naive. I think we were then.

[DavidRayner1]

Many thanks for your contribution, Chris. It is very interesting indeed to hear from someone who went to school with Darren and I was very interested in two things that you said. That he had few actual friends and that there was something unusual about him that made you want to avoid him. I’d love for you to try and explain that more if you possibly could. I would have thought he’d have been very popular at school, but it seems he wasn’t. You can send me a private message via my darrenburnfan account on YouTube. Just search on there under Darren Burn sings Is It Love and you’ll find me.

[InfiniteMonkey]

I knew Darren well in the eighties. I'm happy to tell you a few things, but not in public. Can't seem to message you via Youtube.
E

[DavidRayner1]

If you're a YouTube member, you should be able to send me a message on there by clicking on darrenburnfan on one of Darren's videos. I check my inbox on there regularly.

[barrymarks]

Hi there my name is barry marks i have just found out about the very sad circumstances of darrens death. Darren and i were best friends in junior school we spent every minute of every day together including evenings and weekends. I cannot begin to tell you the fun we had and the very naughty things we got up to. The burns family were like my second family i eat, slept, there pretty much every weekend. We were completely inseparable and our parents were always very exasperated with the trouble we used to cause when we were together. headlines included home made fireworks, air rifles etc etc all good fun. I can tell you that darrens childhood was completely normal. he was a very intelligent child and went onto city of London boys school and we lost touch. If we had stayed friends maybe things would have been different. When i googled him just now ( don't ask me why) i fully expected him to be a CEO of some international company or something like that i am so sad to hear his fate he deserved better than that. If anyone has contact details for his family especially his sister can you pass them to me i would like to make sure they are ok.

[barrymarks]

Hi there my name is barry marks i have just found out about the very sad circumstances of darrens death. Darren and i were best friends in junior school we spent every minute of every day together including evenings and weekends. I cannot begin to tell you the fun we had and the very naughty things we got up to. The burns family were like my second family i eat, slept, there pretty much every weekend. We were completely inseparable and our parents were always very exasperated with the trouble we used to cause when we were together. headlines included home made fireworks, air rifles etc etc all good fun. I can tell you that darrens childhood was completely normal. he was a very intelligent child and went onto city of London boys school and we lost touch. If we had stayed friends maybe things would have been different. When i googled him just now ( don't ask me why) i fully expected him to be a CEO of some international company or something like that i am so sad to hear his fate he deserved better than that. If anyone has contact details for his family especially his sister can you pass them to me i would like to make sure they are ok.

[DarrenBurn]

Good afternoon David. I've finally after many years decided to Google my name and came upon your thread. Although I had read about my English namesake, I was never able to find out what happened to him. Thank you for your posts. I was wondering what your interest in him was... did you know him or his parents? Oddly enough I suffer from depression, work well with computers, and am an amateur singer. A lot of coincidences, although physically I look quite different.