Burden attended The King's School in Peterborough as a boarding pupil, where he played in several amateur bands.
Formerly of Sheffield band Graph, Burden was employed as a session keyboard player for the Human League's October 1980 tour, covering for Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh's keyboards after their departure.
The band called themselves Deep Down Crazy, and consisted of Dan Boulton on vocals, Chris Broadhead on drums, Russell Dennett on guitar/keyboards/vocals and Burden on bass/keyboards.
Burden played bass guitar on the 2006 debut eponymous release for the Tenth Stage, a Melbourne-based band, and also on their second album, Grand Guignol.
Burden also contributed bass guitar to Parralox's State of Decay album, released in Germany in 2009.