TSMSS - A Tribute in Memory

Probably my all-time favorite instrument is the piano. My iPod contains quite a few piano hymns and other songs. I enjoy lively piano music, and when I don't feel good nothing relaxes me like quiet piano music. I beg your indulgence as I've posted several songs below in memory of a wonderfully gifted pianist who blessed so many and, thanks to technology, still touches lives today.

Tomorrow marks the third anniversary of the homegoing of Anthony Burger. If you are familiar with any of the Gaither Homecoming or Gaither Vocal Band recordings, many of which I've featured here for TSMSS, you've seen him accompanying the musicians. Born on June 5, 1961 (just a couple of months before I was!), he died suddenly on February 22, 2006 at the age of 44 while performing with the Gaithers on a cruise in the Caribbean.

His giftedness at the piano would be laudable under any circumstances. However, when you consider what happened to him as a baby, it is a miracle and an amazing testimony to the grace and power of God working in his life.

When Anthony was just eight months old as he was learning to walk in a walker, one of the wheels of the walker got caught on the furnace grate and the walker turned over, throwing him down on the heater. He sustained third degree burns throughout his legs, face and hands. He had to be carried on a pillow for an entire year, during which time he received three medicated baths a day for the burns. Doctors who treated him said he would never be able to move his hands. But God had a plan for his life and his hands. At age 3, Anthony played his first song, The Old Rugged Cross, and was just five years old when he became the youngest student ever to be accepted by the Chattanooga Cadek Conservatory.

Anthony died suddenly during a piano performance, on Wednesday evening, February 22 [2006] aboard a Caribbean cruise, as it sailed in the Atlantic Ocean. According to the official medical examiner's report, Burger's heart simply burst. He was on board the ms Zuiderdam with his wife LuAnn, Bill & Gloria Gaither, many of his Homecoming friends and more than 1500 passengers, doing exactly what he loved best, playing the piano.

His life could easily be summed up with a quote that he himself once stated, "I am a simple man, with a majestic instrument and the power of God behind me." That's the life he lived. That's the life he loved, and that's the legacy he leaves.

Source: http://www.anthonyburger.com/biography.html

He talks about the accident and how he would like to be remembered here in an interview interspersed with some of his playing:


In another interview, regarding the fact that he wasn't supposed to be able to use his hands, he says "I still can't move them. He does." He won numerous awards and his CDs are still available, both on Amazon and his website. Now he's playing the piano in glory.

I love this video of his last Christmas Homecoming performance, filmed in South Africa just two months before he died. Of course, there's no song like the Hallelujah Chorus and he absolutely tears up the piano! I love the absolute joy on his face as he's playing.



Finally, here is an unbelievable medley of Great is Thy Faithfulness, How Big is God, and How Great Thou Art. He starts out simply and by the end he raises the roof!



He truly worshipped God with his playing. As I am stirred by these videos and yet realizes that it pales in comparison to what he's experiencing now, it boggles my mind. But my heart also aches for his wife, daughter, and 2 sons that he left behind, for I can imagine how difficult these past 3 years have been.

Find more songs for your Saturday at Amy's!