Solomon Burke |
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Solomon Burke Biography |
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Solomon Burke was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 21, 1940. Some sources claim that he was born in 1936, others say 1938, but in a 2002 interview with Philadelphia Weekly Burke stated himself that he was indeed born in 1940.[1] He began his adult life as a preacher in Philadelphia, and soon moved on to hosting a gospel radio show. In the 1960s, he signed with Atlantic Records and began moving towards more secular music. His first hit was "Just Out Of Reach Of My Open Arms", a cover of a country song. Though well-received by both peers and critics, and attaining a few moderate pop and several major R&B hits, Burke never could quite break through into the mainstream as did Sam Cooke or Otis Redding, who covered Burke`s "Down in the Valley" for 1965`s Otis Blue. His best known song is Cry to Me, used in the dance and seduction scene in the film Dirty Dancing.
In 1964 he wrote and recorded "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love," Burke`s most prominent bid for an enduring soul standard. Almost immediately covered by The Rolling Stones the same year, other well-known versions include one by Wilson Pickett and another, a decade and a half later, in the 1980 film by The Blues Brothers. Burke has enjoyed a special relationship with the Catholic Church throughout his life and in 2000, he and his family were invited to perform at the Jubilee of the Family at the Vatican. Since then, he has been invited back to the Vatican by both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI for Vatican`s Christmas celebration. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. His career was to some degree revived in 2002, with the release of Don`t Give Up On Me on Fat Possum Records and produced by Joe Henry,[2] where he sang songs written specifically for the album by various top-rank artists, including Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, Van Morrison, Elvis Costello and Tom Waits. Don`t Give Up On Me won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album. In 1987, he appeared in the movie The Big Easy (film) as Daddy Mention and he is featured in the 2004 movie Lightning in a Bottle, singing "Turn on Your Love Light" and "Down in the Valley". Also in 2004, Solomon appeared on Junkie XL`s album, Radio JXL: A Broadcast From the Computer Hell Cabin, performing "Catch Up To My Step". Also in 2004 he was featured on the song "I Pray On Christmas" from the Blind Boys Of Alabama album Go Tell It On The Mountain, which won a Grammy for Best Traditional Gospel Album. In 2004, Burke also recorded a duet with Italian soul singer Zucchero. The two artists performed Zucchero`s hit "Diavolo in me" (Devil in Me), on the duets album Zu & Co. Burke was also a guest at a London show in May 2004 in which Zucchero presented the album. This performance is included on Zucchero`s DVD Zu & Co. - Live at the Royal Albert Hall. In 2005, he appeared as a special guest with Jools Holland on his autumn tour of the United Kingdom, including two sell-out shows at London`s Royal Albert Hall. In September 2006, Burke returned to his country roots with the release of a 14-track country album titled Nashville, produced by Buddy Miller. It included guest vocals from Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, Patty Griffin, Gillian Welch and Patty Loveless. Solomon was joined by a host of top country stars and backed by Buddy Miller and his Band at the Belcourt Theatre in Nashville, Tennessee on September 25, 2006 for a one-off concert to celebrate the releas Biography Credit: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_Burke |
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Quotes The secret was to just be cool, stay in God`s graces, and work it out. But we didn`t have the financial structure, like the right attorneys, the right managers, the right accountants, and we were going against the grain of what black entertainers is supposed to do. I didn`t need to borrow money from the record company, because if I had my own publishing company, and I had my own writers, I`d have enough to get and do whatever I wanted to do. I walked out of the Chinese restaurant with a fat check, a record deal, and a box of shrimp egg foo yung! He knows what He`s doing, and sometimes we project what we can`t see, but only God knows what`s going to happen, and He knows the best. For all of us. We started the publicity, we started moving in the same direction with them, and then the devil came in and just turned that right around. I was signed to MGM. I was in Vegas for sixteen weeks at the Sands Hotel. We had some problems - my children were kidnapped during that time, and it just changed my whole way of thinking, from being in show business and everything else. Sometimes its controversy, but we all have our choices that we make. That was my choice at that time, and I still say Nixon was a great president. A very beautiful and wise man. If we could buy these properties and then invest in the Black community, with our own McDonald`s, with our own Kentucky Fried Chickens, it was gonna be a great move. We were grooving, at that point, in the same direction, but remember, Roy Hamilton and myself were going into a path and a direction that had no programming. My manager was Buddy Glee, who put me together with Mike Curb, and was basically the idea to bring some soul to the label and bring something different to the label besides the Hank Williams situation. I should have my own publishing companies. I want to be a soul singer. I learned a great deal from Atlantic. Atlantic taught me how to walk in this life of music, it taught me how to fall and how to get myself back up. As you grow older, you learn to understand life a little better. We were using the record as a tool to invest money into real estate all through the South, because we were living in an era where the South was changing. Apollo Records signed me for my gospel ability. Leonard Chess passed, and that was the end of the Chess label for that time. I didn`t do the marching down the streets, jumping in front of the lines and holding hands... that wasn`t me. The deals that were made for Black artists at that time were not the deals that were made for white artists. You gotta do it with class and integrity. If not, you`re gonna drag yourself through the mud. I don`t need to make a fortune, I need to survive. I`m still amazed people remembered and didn`t give up on me. I didn`t need to depend on the record company to publish my records.Trivia In 2005, he appeared as a special guest with Jools Holland on his autumn tour of the United Kingdom, including two sell-out shows at London`s Royal Albert Hall. is an American Grammy Award-winning Singer/songwriter. During the half-century that he has performed, he has drawn from his roots: gospel, soul, and blues, as well as developing his own style in a time when R&B, and rock were still in their infancy. Recorded the song "Tommorrow is Forever" with Dolly Parton for his 2006 CD, "Nashville". Parton was the composer of the song. Other duet partners on the project included Emmylou Harris, Patty Loveless, Nancy Griffith, and Gillian Welch Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA | ||
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