'King of Rock and Soul' silenced

AMSTERDAM - Solomon Burke, 70, the larger-than-life "King of Rock and Soul," who was revered as one of music's greatest vocalists but never reached the level of fame of those he influenced, died early Sunday at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport.

Born to the sound of music in an upstairs room of a West Philadelphia church, Mr. Burke was acknowledged as one of the greatest soul singers of the 1960s, though his popularity never matched that of such contemporaries as James Brown or Marvin Gaye.

In a 1993 profile, Inquirer music writer Tom Moon described Mr. Burke on stage in a New York club.

"He begins to sing: 'If you need me, just call me.' The room is hushed, and it is not just the clarity or the power of the voice that transfixes: Burke's delivery is arrestingly earnest. It's impossible to fake this kind of feeling. You realize: Lots of people have copped his mannerisms, but none has yet caught the compassion, the immersion, the sense that behind the song stood a real person who was aching inside."

Two of Mr. Burke's best-known songs reached a wider audience when they were featured in hit movies. His 1964 "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" was featured in the 1980 Dan Aykroyd/John Belushi hit The Blues Brothers. The Rolling Stones and Wilson Pickett also recorded it. And bare-chested Patrick Swayze danced seductively with Jennifer Grey to Mr. Burke's "Cry to Me" in one of the most memorable scenes in 1987's Dirty Dancing.

Legendary Atlantic Records producer Jerry Wexler once called Mr. Burke "the best soul singer of all time" and acknowledged that the singer's hits "carried" the young label in the early '60s.

Anti-Records President Andy Kaulkin, whose label produced Mr. Burke's 2002 comeback album, Don't Give Up on Me, which won him his first and only Grammy, said: "Popular music today wouldn't be where it is without Solomon Burke. . . . I feel like his music is where it all came together, and when we think of '60s soul music, it all started with Solomon Burke."

Mr. Burke - who weighed as much as 400 pounds - appeared on stage on a throne in later years, partly because of his regal persona (he favored ermine, velvet, and major jewelry) and partly because of health problems. Kaulkin, who once called Mr. Burke "the Sinatra of soul," said he "gracefully" accepted the fact that his fame was eclipsed by singers he influenced.

His family said on his website that the singer died of natural causes, but did not elaborate.

According to the website, Solomon Burke was born March 21, 1940, "to the sounds of horns and bass drums" at the House of God for All People at 38th and Mount Vernon: "From day one, literally God and gospel were the driving forces behind the man and his music."

Mr. Burke began preaching as a child and was traveling the East Coast circuit and had his own radio show by the age of 12. A church talent-show appearance at 14 drew attention from the Apollo label, but a dispute over royalties ended the relationship early.

After some disillusioned time on the streets, he began working in a relative's Philadelphia mortuary - he ultimately owned a chain of them on the West Coast - then made his way back to recording, with Atlantic. Wexler felt his religious background precluded R&B and launched him as a country artist in 1961 with "Just Out of Reach" - a year before Ray Charles took the same route with "I Can't Stop Loving You."

Schiphol Airport police spokesman Robert van Kapel confirmed that Mr. Burke died on a plane at Schiphol. He arrived early Sunday on a flight from Los Angeles and had been scheduled to perform a sold-out show Tuesday in Amsterdam with local band De Dijk.

Mr. Burke was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, sparking a renewed interest in him; he has toured extensively in recent years, including with the Rolling Stones. His 2002 album Don't Give Up on Me made the Top 10 lists of Moon and Inquirer music writer Dan DeLuca, who called it "the comeback album against which all such star-studded reputation rehabs should be measured."

Four years later, The Inquirer's Nick Cristiano put Mr. Burke's Nashville on his Top 10 Country/Roots Albums of 2006, saying: "The self-styled King of Rock and Soul becomes the King of Country-Soul on this sublime set."

Mr. Burke combined his music with the role of bishop and patriarch of a huge family - 21 children (the majority by his second wife, Dolores; he is survived by his third wife, Sunday), 90 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren. "Loving people," he said at a recent performance in London, "is what I do."

That echoed something he told Moon in 1993: "The secret of longevity is people. I learned a long time ago that big people get their records for free. The little people are the ones you pay attention to - the janitors, the cooks, the cabdrivers. They're the ones who have been with you through the thick and thin."