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Today's artist never had a big crossover hit, "the King of Rock and Soul" is not as widely known as others from the golden age of soul music. But his dramatic, sonorous voice — seasoned by his days as a boy preacher — is unrivaled in its ability to move effortlessly between R&B, pop, country and gospel. "My grandmother made sure that we listened to a variety of music, and that always stayed with me,". Recently, he's picked up a Grammy and long-overdue recognition, and tracks such as "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" are now part of the soul canon. "He is Solomon the Resonator," Tom Waits has said, "the golden voice of heart, wisdom, soul and experience."  . ..... N'joy

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He was proclaimed the “King of Rock and Soul” in 1964 and has also been anointed “the Bishop of Soul.” No less an authority than Jerry Wexler, the legendary Atlantic Records producer, has proclaimed, “The best soul singer of all time is Solomon Burke.”

Burke’s versatile, force-of-nature voice combines gospel fervor, country gentility and R&B grit. He can swing from a satiny croon to gruff soul shout to a deep, caressing baritone. From 1961 to 1968, Burke released 32 memorable singles on Atlantic. These included six Top 10 R&B hits, four of which crossed over to the pop Top 40: “Cry to Me” (Number Five R&B), “Just Out of Reach (Of My Two Open Arms)” (Number Seven R&B, Number 24 pop), “Got to Get You Off of My Mind” (Number One R&B, Number 22 pop), “You’re Good for Me” (Number Eight R&B), “Tonight’s the Night” (Number Two R&B, Number 28 pop) and “If You Need Me” (Number Two R&B, Number 37 pop).

Many more of Burke’s singles cracked both the R&B Top 40 and the Top Pop 100 charts. Yet his lasting significance as a recording artist and performer goes beyond numbers. Burke was a consummate showman who adopted the role of “King of Rock ‘n’ Soul” onstage by adorning himself in a regal robe of velvet and ermine. One of the greatest vocalists of the soul era, Burke has been credited for helping to keep Atlantic Records solvent from 1961 to 1964 with his steady run of hit records. Jerry Wexler pronounced Burke a “vocalist of rare prowess and remarkable range. His voice is an instrument of exquisite sensitivity.” He is also a colorful and even eccentric figure - one of the true characters in the world of popular music.

Burke was born in Philadelphia and gravitated to the church through the influence of his grandmother, preaching his first sermon at age seven. He was broadly exposed to music, absorbing the varied likes of jazz-pop vocalist Nat King Cole, cowboy singers Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, bluesmen Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker, gospel queen Clara Ward, and R&B kingpins Ray Charles and Big Joe Turner. This accounts for Burke’s stylistic breadth as a soul singer. He recorded for the New York-based Apollo Records from 1955-1958, where he scored a minor hit with “You Can Run (But You Can’t Hide),” a song whose authorship was co-credited to Burke and boxer Joe Louis

In 1960, Burke signed to Atlantic Records, where it was believed that his flexible voice and roots in gospel and country would earn him a wide, bi-racial audience. His first hit for the label was the uptempo “Just Out Of Reach (Of My Two Open Arms)” in the fall of 1961. Burke’s first single to cross over from R&B to pop was a soulful cover of the country song “Just Out of Reach (Of My Two Open Arms).” Burke wrote or cowrote much of his material, and he also recorded songs by soul singers Wilson Pickett (“If You Need Me’) and Don Covay (“You’re Good for Me”). Burke and Covay cowrote one of his biggest hits, “Tonight’s the Night.” Burke’s signature song, “Got to Get You Off of My Mind,” stands as one of the premier soul hits of the Sixties. “Got to Get You Off of My Mind” and “Tonight’s the Night” appeared in 1965, Burke’s biggest year, and hit Number One and Number Two on the R&B charts, respectively.

In 1968, Burke teamed with fellow Atlantic artists Don Covay, Ben E. King, Arthur Conley and Joe Tex to record a single ("Soul Meeting") as the Soul Clan, an expression of solidarity and mutual support by five pillars of soul music. “We wanted to interlock ourselves as a group, to express to the younger people how strong we should be and to help one another, work with one another and support one another,” Burke has said of the Soul Clan’s lone single.

After leaving Atlantic, Burke signed with Bell Records where he released five singles in the next eighteen

months. In 1969 he had a small hit with his second release for Bell, a reworking of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary" b/w "What Am I Living For" (Bell 783). This was co-produced by Tamiko Jones, who was being rehabilitated after a bout of polio, and was at the time Burke's manager. Burke recorded a cover of "Proud Mary" prior to Ike & Tina Turner's version, and according to Burke was the one who convinced the duo to record it. The song became a brief hit reaching #15 R&B and #45 pop. All but four of the tracks Burke recorded during an 18-month stay with Bell Records were packaged on the Proud Mary LP. After this album and the two following singles - his own "Generation of Revelations", and the Mac Davis song "In the Ghetto", which had previously been a hit for Elvis Presley - failed to chart, his contract was not renewed.

Through the efforts of his manager, Buddy Glee, by November 1970 Burke signed with Mike Curb's MGM label, and formed MBM Productions, his own production company. Burke's record debut for MGM, "Lookin' Out My Back Door", another Creedence Clearwater Revival song, had disappointing sales. His first MGM album, Electronic Magnetism, also failed to chart. In 1972 Burke had a #13 R&B hit for MGM with "Love Street and Fool's Road" (MGM 14353).[13] In 1972, he recorded the soundtrack to two films, Cool Breeze and Hammer. He left MGM for ABC-Dunhill Records in 1974, recording the album, I Have a Dream, which produced the #14 R&B hit, "Midnight and You". By 1975 Burke was signed to Chess Records. He recorded two albums for Chess: Music to Make Love By and Back to My Roots, and had a top 20 R&B hit in 1975 with "You And Your Baby Blues". However, his follow-up single "Let Me Wrap My Arms Around You" only reached #72 on the R&B chart. In 1978 Burke released an album Please Don't Say Goodbye To Me, which was produced by Jerry "Swamp Dogg" Williams, though Amherst Records.[78] On September 23, 1978, Burke charted for the 31st and last time when "Please Don't Say Goodbye to Me" reached #91 on the R&B chart. He released the album Sidewalks, Fences and Walls on Infinity Records in 1979 (reissued as Let Your Love Flow in 1993 by Shanachie Records).

Between 1979 and 1984, Burke recorded four gospel albums for Savoy Records, starting with the album, Lord I Need a Miracle Right Now. He was nominated for his first Grammy in the Best Male Gospel Soul category for his rendition of "Precious Lord, Take My Hand", but complained later that he did not receive royalties from his Savoy work. He then recorded for smaller labels such as Rounder, MCI/Isis, Bizarre/Straight, Black Top, Point Blank and GTR Records. Burke was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 19, 2001 in New York City by Mary J. Blige, after eight previous nominations since 1986.

In 2002, Burke signed with Fat Possum Records and released the album, Don't Give Up on Me. The album became critically acclaimed and later resulted in Burke's first Grammy Award win. Burke later signed with Shout! Factory to release the album, Make Do With What You Got, which became another critically acclaimed success. In 2006, Burke returned to his country roots with the album, Nashville. In 2008, he received another Grammy nomination for the album, Like a Fire. That same year, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Burke as #89 on its list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time". In 2010, Burke came out with the Willie Mitchell-produced Nothing's Impossible for E1 Entertainment. Later in 2010, he released his final album, Hold on Tight, a collaboration album with De Dijk, a Dutch band.


A lifelong entrepreneur, Burke also owned a string of mortuaries and attended to a lifelong ministry from his home in Beverly Hills, California, up until his death in Amsterdam in 2010. Burke was married four times. In total Burke fathered at least 14 children (9 daughters and 5 sons), including at least two fathered outside any of his marriages. He had 7 step children, 90 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren at the time of his death
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16 tracks recorded between 1955 and 1957 for Apollo in New York by the legendary soul singer, Solomon Burke, accompanied by Howard Biggs and his Orchestra. Hits include "When I'm All Alone", "Walking in a Dream", "You Can Run But You Can't Hide" and "You Are My One Love." Personnel: Solomon Burke - (vocals) with Howard Biggs and his Orchestra featuring King Curtis - (tenor saxophone), Mickey Baker - (guitar) and others

Solomon Burke - No Man Walks Alone 1955-1957    (flac  204mb)

01 Christmas Presents from Heaven 3:03
02 When I'm All Alone 2:11
03 I'm in Love 2:32
04 Why Do Me That Way ? 2:49
05 To Thee 3:04
06 No Man Walks Alone 2:26
07 Walking in a Dream 2:22
08 You Can Run But You Can't Hide 2:37
09 A Picture of You 2:10
10 I Need You Tonight 2:43
11 This Is It 2:55
12 My Heart Is a Chapel 2:46
13 For You and You Alone 2:08
14 You Are My One Love 2:33
15 They Always Say 2:10
16 Don't Cry 2:11

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This early Solomon Burke album is named for the opening cut, his take on Wilson Pickett's "If You Need Me," which was a successful single for Burke, almost reaching number one on the R&B charts. Recorded between late 1959 and early 1963, these mostly mid-tempo songs find Burke's somewhat gritty pleas at home in sultry, bluesy surroundings ("Send Me Some Loving") and sweetened up for the occasional exotica-tinged arrangement ("Tonight My Heart She Is Crying").
Solomon Burke's first album for Atlantic Records features three bona fide hits and other treats done as only the soulful, preaching singer with croon-ability can. He defies pigeonholing. Nobody ever talks of what range Burke sings in because it doesn't matter. Like Michael Jordan or Allen Iverson on the basketball court, Burke makes you feel like he's capable of anything and everything in the studio.

Solomon Burke - If You Need Me + Rock 'N Soul    (flac 384mb)

If You Need Me
01 If You Need Me 2:29
02 Words 2:23
03 Stupidity 1:51
04 Go On Back To Him 2:51
05 I Said I Was Sorry 2:22
06 It's All Right 2:25
07 Home In Your Heart 2:01
08 I Really Don't Want To Know 3:28
09 You Can Make It If You Try 2:23
10 Send Me Some Loving 2:19
11 This Little Ring 2:31
12 Tonight My Heart She Is Crying 2:14
Rock 'N Soul
13 Goodbye Baby 3:16
14 Cry To Me 2:27
15 Won't You Give Him (One More Chance) 2:31
16 Hard Ain't It Hard 2:45
17 Can't Nobody Love You 2:30
18 Just Out Of Reach 2:46
19 You're Good For Me 2:45
20 You Can't Love 'Em All 2:40
21 Someone To Love Me 2:59
22 Beautiful Brown Eyes 3:42
23 He'll Have To Go 3:19

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'King Solomon' was Burke's first album in four years, his last one dating back to 1964. But it must have been worth the wait...
Solomon pulls from his strengths on the aptly-titled King Solomon by bringing in some country, gospel and blues influences to support his larger-than-life delivery (and his even larger and more likable personality - which shines through with colours here).  The gospel-heavy "Take Me (Just As I Am)" is just about one of the finest and most moving pieces Solomon has ever lent his talents to, and "It's Just A Matter Of Time" is larger than life in every single way.  Not all of the rest of the material on King Solomon is as top-drawer (it ranges from inspirational to merely head-nod worthy) but each song benefits from Solomon's sense of timing, sense of humility, and sense of humour. That voice... Unbelievable.

Solomon Burke - King Solomon     (flac 197mb)

01 It's Been A Change 2:09
02 Take Me (Just As I Am) 2:58
03 Time Is A Thief 2:41
04 Keep A Light In The Window 3:21
05 Baby, Come On Home 3:17
06 Detroit City 2:54
07 Someone Is Watching 2:50
08 Party People 2:38
09 When She Touches Me (Nothing Else Matters) 2:37
10 Woman, How Do You Make Me Love You Like You Do 2:47
11 It's Just A Matter Of Time 2:45
12 Presents For Christmas 2:40

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I Wish I Knew, Solomon Burke's final album for longtime home label Atlantic, is a desperate mix of R&B oldies, sappy contemporary tunes and a scurrying search for style in the storm. Burke was in the middle of a cultural revolution when this album was made; soul music now crashed with such sonic force to keep up with pop's psychedelic trippings that Burke's blend of Sam Cooke-like cooing and Sunday-morning fervor seemed a bit quaint. The seasoning of I Wish I Knew is misguided at best. There's a forced "grooviness" to the tunes that makes them dusty relics of their era and a somewhat desolate end to a golden age of R&B. Burke sounds fine throughout (his singing, in fact, is nearly as fervent as it was on the previous year's treasure King Solomon), but aside from "I Wish I Knew (How It Would Feel to Be Free)," too much of the album lacks.

Solomon Burke - I Wish I Knew     (flac 190mb)

01 I Wish I Knew ( How It Would Feel To Be Free ) 2:50
02 Get Out Of My Life Woman 3:15
03 Meet Me In Church 3:26
04 By The Time I Get To Phoenix 2:50
05 Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye 3:10
06 What'd I Say 4:45
07 Since I Met You Baby 3:40
08 Save It 2:25
09 Shame On Me 2:30
10 Why, Why, Why 2:24

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