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Eric Victor Burdon (born 11 May 1941, in Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne) was the lead singer of The Animals, and War before becoming a solo artist.

He was a founding member and vocalist of the Animals, a band originally formed in Newcastle in the early 1960s. The Animals were one of the leading bands of the “British Invasion”, and the band had quite a following around the world. Along with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Dave Clark Five, and Gerry and The Pacemakers, they introduced British music and fashion to an entire generation in an explosion of great tunes and outspoken attitude on, and off the stage. Burdon sang on such Animal classics as “The House of the Rising Sun”, “Good Times”, “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”, “Bring It On Home to Me”, “A Girl Named Sandoz,” and “We Gotta Get Out of this Place”. The Animals combined the traditional blues with rock to create a unique sound.

Original Animals members keyboardist Alan Price and drummer John Steel quit, and were replaced by Dave Rowberry and Barry Jenkins respectively. By 1966 the other members had left, except for Barry Jenkins, and the band was reformed as Eric Burdon and the Animals, which featured future Family member John Weider and future The Police guitarist Andy Summers. This incarnation had hits with songs such as “When I Was Young”, “Sky Pilot” and “Monterey”.

This ensemble lasted until 1969, going through several line-up changes, and changing the name from Eric Burdon and the Animals to Eric Burdon and the New Animals.

When the New Animals disbanded, Burdon joined forces with funky California jam band War. The resulting album, Eric Burdon Declares “War” yielded the classics “Spill the Wine” and “Tobacco Road”. A second Burdon and War album, a two-disc set, The Black-Man’s Burdon, was released later in 1970.
In 1971 Burdon began a solo career. Around this time, he also recorded the album Guilty! (later released on CD as Black & White Blues) with the great blues shouter Jimmy Witherspoon and also featuring Ike White & the San Quentin Prison Band.

Burdon rejoined briefly with the other original Animals in 1976 and 1983, but neither union lasted, although the 1983 reunion yielded the ignored single “The Night”.

He has led a number of groups named Eric Burdon Band or some variation thereof, with constantly changing personnel. His popularity has remained stronger in continental Europe than in the UK or U.S. Today he continues to record and tour either on his own, or in front of yet another version of “Eric Burdon and the Animals”. In 1990, a re-formed “Eric Burdon and the Animals” recorded a cover of the Merle Travis single “Sixteen Tons” for the film Joe Versus the Volcano, which played over the opening credits of the film.

As of 2007 he was touring as the headlining act of the “Hippiefest” lineup, produced and hosted by Country Joe McDonald.

The Twain Shall Meet is an album released in 1968 by Eric Burdon and The Animals. It includes “Sky Pilot,” one of the most famous anti-war songs of the Vietnam War era, including the sound of a plane crashing and a terrific guitar riff by Vic Briggs, and “Monterey,” the band’s tribute to the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. Reviewer Bruce Elder of All Music Guide describes the song, “All Is One,” as “unique in the history of pop music as a psychedelic piece, mixing bagpipes, sitar, oboes, horns, flutes, and a fairly idiotic lyric, all within the framework of a piece that picks up its tempo like the dance music from Zorba the Greek while mimicking the Spencer Davis Group’s “Gimme Some Lovin’.”

“Sky Pilot” is a 1968 song by Eric Burdon and The Animals, released on the album The Twain Shall Meet. When released as a single the song was split across both sides, due to its length. As “Sky Pilot (Parts 1 & 2)” it reached number 14 on the U.S. pop charts.

The war in question is usually assumed to be the Vietnam War, though the bagpipes and apparent sounds of a dive bomber in the interlude, taken with the UK nationality of the artists, may suggest an earlier era.

Differences between the mono and stereo mixes:
The mono single version is unique as it features several effects not included in the stereo version, including more echo in the a cappella introduction, heavy reverb effect at the end of the line “How high can you fly?” (Part 1 only), and an extra bagpipe passage at the end of the fadeout on Part 2. Also, the airstrike and battle sounds are both moved forward in the instrumental break.