About Jeff Burlingame

Photo by Kevin Hong

Hello,

I’m Jeff Burlingame.

A little more than a decade ago, the favorable reviews of the book I wrote about a childhood friend who went on to forever change the face of rock and roll music catapulted me into a career field I had longed to join since I was a young child stealing Stephen King novels from a sweaty trailer park Laundromat in Aberdeen, Washington.

I have been on TV shows and in documentaries. I owned a music public relations firm, the clients of which went on to win Grammys. I founded a nonprofit that received international attention. And my work has been an answer to a Jeopardy! question. Twice. I won the NAACP’s top award in 2012 and was nominated for it another time, finishing in the Top 5 but ultimately losing to Condoleezza Rice. I won a national award from the Society of Professional Journalists in 2013. I have written more than thirty books.

Yet rarely have I taken time to reflect on my accomplishments. That is because where I always have been the happiest in life is when I am in the place I am now as I write this: alone in front of a computer screen or with paper and pen. I see words as a composer might see a set of instruments — as tools to be manipulated to achieve a harmonious end.