Inducted 2007

Anthony Burger was born June 5, 1961, in Cleveland, Tennessee.  After suffering third degree burns on his hands at eight months of age, Burger’s doctor told his parents he wouldn’t likely be able to move his hands in the future. Despite the odds, Burger was healed. At the age of five, he was accepted as a pinao student at the Cadek Conservatory in Chattanooga, Tennessee. A child prodigy, Burger was playing a classical piano repertoire within a few years.  Burger’s first recording, Anthony Burger At The Lowry Organ, was released in 1975 when he was 14 years old.  He joined the Kingsmen Quartet while still a teen and remained with them until 1992.  During that time, Burger recorded nineteen projects with the group and was voted the Favorite Pianist in the Singing News Fan Awards for an unprecedented ten years.

In 1992, Burger joined the Gaither Homecoming Tour.  The Hazelton Brothers piano company honored Burger just after the turn of the century when they began offering an “Anthony Burger Signature” model.  In 2005, Steinway & Sons announced that Burger was being added to their exclusive roster of endorsing artists, making him the first Southern Gospel pianist to ever hold that honor.

On February 22, 2006, Burger died while performing aboard a cruise ship chartered for a Gaither Gospel Cruise.  Burger was playing the Dottie Rambo song "We Shall Behold Him" on the piano when he suffered a fatal heart attack.

His life can easily be summed up by a quote he himself 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.