Harvey Thomas Burdg, the leader of the longtime Oklahoma City band Harvey and the Wallbangers, died Friday

Sat September 29, 2007

Local rock band leader dies at 60

Harvey Thomas Burdg, the leader of the longtime Oklahoma City band Harvey and the Wallbangers, died Friday after a bout with cancer. He was 60.

Harvey and the Wallbangers performed their first gig at the 1984 Festival of the Arts in downtown Oklahoma City, and quickly earned a reputation as one of the best and hardest-working bands in the area. The group, which shifted lineups over the years but maintained the same good-time rock 'n' roll attitude from its inception, had one of the most varied and extensive repertoires of covers and original songs on the local scene.

"He had two passions in his life, really, and that was his family first, obviously: his wife and children and grandkids. His second was just making music here in Oklahoma,” said Mike Pritchard, original lead singer and percussionist.

"He loved this state, and he loved performing. He made people feel good about themselves. If it wasn't for him, I would have never had any musical success. He always made me feel like, man, I was the best thing to ever hit the stage when I knew I wasn't. He had that ability about him to make people join him in having fun.”

In addition to playing a variety of vintage rock 'n' roll songs, Harvey and the Wallbangers recorded several discs of original music, including 1990's "I Wish I Was a Kid Again” and 1999's "Nothing Takes the Place of You.”

"He was very generous, loved his family more than anything,” said Brenda Stockton-Hiss, a friend of the Burdg family. "I think everybody remembers hearing some of the oldies with Harvey at the festival or at a reunion. They were some rockin' good times with Harvey.”

His music in his words

In a 1987 interview with The Oklahoman, Burdg offered a jovial description of the attitude at a Harvey and the Wallbangers show:

"We do a lot of athletics, aerobics, dancing, a little martial arts with fun kicks and high kicks. Occasionally, I'll even do a split to ‘Johnny B. Goode,'” Burdg said. "Rather than just being another '50s and '60s type of solid-gold music, we see ourselves as trying to get into the mood of the era.

Burdg is survived by his wife, Linda; his son, Aaron; his daughters, Bevin and Catherine Burdg; his mother, Susie Burdg; two sisters, Letitia Marek and Emma Sue Burdg; and two grandsons, Chandler and Keaton Burdg.