Solomon Burke and Erin...

Soul is the deep feeling that is expressed from the heart and the mind: from a musician, an artist, a dancer, a photographer or from a writer. When your open your heart and pour out your spirit, and you feel something that makes a difference in your life: that is the meaning of soul.

Solomon Burke

I think I met Elvis two times. The first time I met him was a very brief situation in Tennessee. He remarked about my singing. He liked my singing and my style of singing and things like that. I said 'Hey man, we all love what you're doing. You're doing it baby.' It was that type of situation. And the next time he asked me about my gold suit. I had a gold suit that I wore. He asked me where I got it and I told him. Next thing I know, Elvis had his own gold suit. When I went back to my tailor to get another gold suit made, which I was only paying $450 for, which was big money in those days, my tailor said "Oh no man, I make suits for Elvis now. Those suits are $900." I can't believe you man. I'm the guy who started it. But, that's the way life is, man.

Solomon Burke on Elvis Presley

I was here in Los Angeles, visiting Sam. That evening, we ate at a local restaurant. Afterwards, I went back to the hotel he'd booked for me. There I got a call saying he was dead. I said, 'That can't be. I was with him an hour ago.' That same day, Delores (wife number two) had told me that she wanted a divorce. I sat down and started to write '"Got To Get You Off My MInd." I never want to go through anything like that again.

Solomon Burke on visiting with Sam Cooke, December 11, 1964

***From The Heart*** (1981) signed by Solomon Burke

During that period a man by the name of Andy Kaulkin was watching that show that Saturday and he stayed over Sunday to see what would happen. He came over to us and my daughter said 'Dad, this guy is trying to talk to you. He's with Fat Possum or something', and I said 'Oh God, I hope it's not one of those football teams'. They had asked me to be a mascot and a sponsor for a group called the Big Bears earlier. Can you imagine me in a big bear costume? I said 'I'll give money, but I'm not gonna put the costume on to be a mascot. You have to get another guy running out as a Fat Possum'. I didn't ignore him, but kinda tried to get away from him. How lucky for myself that we met at the airport at the same time catching the same plane, and he was sitting right behind me....That’s the beginning of that story. We hit it off, had lunch, and made a record. It was one of the greatest moments in my career and the first record company that was ever sincere and dedicated and real; it has left an everlasting memory in my mind. We had a two-page contract; they lived up to every word of that contract and they did everything they possibly could for that record to bring it home and they gave me my first Grammy. But they gave me great songs—Elvis Costello, Van Morrison, come on, that was an incredible CD.

Solomon Burke on signing with Fat Possum and recording Don't Give Up On Me

***Don’t Give Up On Me*** (2002) signed by Solomon Burke

I remember being in the studio, recording that album. I'd told everybody I'd allow no smoking or drinking. The studio is a holy place when I am recording. There are candles. There are flowers. My throne is there. Visible. That is where I record from. God has set me down. It was time to do "The Judgment." I hadn't rehearsed these songs, I did them as they were handed to me. I heard people shouting, 'Elvis is here! Elvis is here!' At first, I thought they must be smoking crack. Anyhow, Costello came in and told me he wanted to hear me sing the song. I said, 'Hear It? You're going to teach it to me.' When he sang it, it was just wonderful. I said, 'Right, OK, let's record that right now.' What people fail to realize is that a great song has no color. That's a beautiful song that he wrote.

Solomon Burke recording "The Judgment", Don't Give Up On Me 2002

I'd sit with Don Covay writing those songs and just cry. I'd say, 'Don, you have such a beautiful wife, but mine is probably out somewhere slashing my tires because I was off with some chick.' I was a young man, girls were coming from every angle. I couldn't love 'em all, but I certainly tried.

Solomon Burke

Father of twenty-one children, Grandfather to ninety, Solomon Burke, "The King of Rock 'n' Soul", lived life large. It was said that his favorite scripture was "Be fruitful and multiply" to which he readily ascribed, admitting "I got stuck on that verse." Born in West Philadelphia, Solomon started in the church when he was only seven years old, testifyin' and proselytizin'. He was dubbed "The Boy Wonder Preacher" for his magnetic and engaging sermons, and by the time he was twelve, Solomon was preaching on the radio and traveling to cities, performing in tent revivals carrying his Gospel message. Joel Osteen clearly had nothing on him! His Grandmother, Eleanor Moore, a seer and spiritualist, ran a church out of her home, The United House Of Prayer For All People. It was a ripe and fertile music environment that affected Solomon deeply, "Every day they had a service, and the music never stopped. There was always a band with two or three trombones, tubas, tambourines, cymbals, guitars, pianos. When I speak of the music, I get choked up. It was a message to God, something you feel down to your bones and your soul and your heart." Grandmother Eleanor also foretold Solomon's prominence: "She predicted my career, the size of my family, the people I would meet, how I’d travel. She told me so often that I thought I would have to be Superman to do it all.”

Indeed, Solomon Burke was a super man who lived a remarkable life. Solomon wrote his first song as a tribute to his Grandmother when he was fourteen. "God gave me the song on December 10, I finished the song on December 17, and on the 18th she said that she wanted to speak to me. She said, 'I want you to see your Christmas present.' And I said, 'Now?' She said, 'Yes, look under my bed.' And I looked under her bed, and there was a guitar wrapped in a pillow case. And then I sang my little song that I had written for her, called 'Christmas Presents From Heaven', not knowing that it was a prophecy for me, to alert me to the future. Then on the morning of the 19th my grandmother passed in her sleep, so she only heard the song one day - but that whole day she was briefing me and telling me the different things that were going to happen and all the children that I would have, the loves in my life, just laying it out: 'You'll have big homes, fancy cars' - but I'll never forget the most exciting thing she said to me, and then the most depressing thing, too. The most exciting thing was that I would be able to reach out and touch people and help them spiritually, thousands of people, millions of people, and then she said to me that I would go down to the pits of Hell and submerge at will, and I've been there a couple of times... I've been there you know."

Whatever fantastical vision Grandmother Eleanor had for Solomon pales in comparison to what actually transpired, as his descent came almost as rapidly as his ascent. Solomon signed with Apollo Records as a fifteen year old, wrote and released nine singles with limited success, but scored a hit with "You Can Run, But You Can't Hide", a riff on retired Heavyweight Boxing Champ Joe Louis' mantra, "He can run, but he can't hide." Joe Louis' wife smartly held a trademark and she insisted that Solomon give a co-writer credit to her husband. Solomon acquiesced and he ended up touring with Joe for nearly a year which culminated with an appearance on the Steve Allen Show in 1957, heady national television exposure for a seventeen year old! Years later, Solomon remembered the circumstances, "Joe Louis was supposed to introduce me. Steve Allen said to Joe, 'And who did you bring with you tonight as a special guest?' And Joe Louis couldn't remember my name, but he remembered the song, of course. And at the same time, Dick Haymes had covered this record.....so he said 'Dick Haymes.' The record company people must've had a heart attack! It was so funny. Joe was such a wonderful person. His personality and charm was unbelievable...It was a year that I will always remember, It was a very beautiful year."

Shortly thereafter, Solomon got into a violent argument with his manager over royalties and he was dropped from Apollo Records rather abruptly. The next few years were difficult as Solomon endured homelessness when his parents kicked him out of their house for his worship of "the devil's music." Estranged from his church and family, Solomon lived in abandoned cars, "There was no place I could turn. I was shamed. I was a bum." It got worse. Leaving a club, Solomon was hit by a car and the driver, Othella Thompson, the wife of a dentist, took him home and helped nurse him back to health. Solomon ended up marrying her niece, Delores, and before resuming his singing career, he became an apprentice mortician, learning a valuable trade. As he said, "I loved the work. At a moment when there is no hope for the family, a mortician can give them hope." Later, Solomon opened a string of funeral homes in Los Angeles and his daughter, Victoria ran a lucrative business. As fellow soul singer Joe Tex wryly observed, "Solomon Burke knock you dead from the bandstand. Then he gift wrap you for the trip home."

In November 1960, Solomon re-entered the music business, joined Atlantic Records and the hits soon followed. His second single, "Just Out Of Reach (Of My Two Open Arms)", a Patsy Cline cover, was his first million seller. If Atlantic Records was "The House That Ruth (Brown) Built" in the early 1950s, Solomon certainly did his part to keep it afloat in the early 1960s, especially since Ray Charles and Bobby Darin had recently departed the label. "If You Need Me", "Cry To Me", "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love", "Tonight's The Night", and his only number one hit "Got To Get You Off My Mind" made Atlantic Records millions. Like many artists, Solomon gave away some of his publishing to his producers. Unseemly, unscrupulous and unfortunately, not an uncommon industry practice, Solomon explained, "That's how they got a piece of the song. They didn't write a word. In those days, it didn't make any difference. You wanted to get your product out....We didn't know what publishing was. We thought we had to give our publishing to the record company so the record could get out."

***Back To My Roots*** (1976) signed by King Solomon Burke

Solomon's rewriting of a country song in the public domain, "Down In The Valley" yielded an unlikely hit and an even more unlikely fan base. He got mistakenly booked at a Ku Klux Klan rally in Mississippi with 30,000 wrong-minded attendees. "My drummer was saying to me, 'Will we ever get out of here alive?' I said, 'Just keep playing until they say we're done.' I think we played 'Down In The Valley' for forty-five minutes." After the show, a police escort spirited them to the highway out of town. Solomon's music cut across blues, country, gospel, rock and soul, but that cross over was almost too much.

Solomon's career ebbed in the 1970s as music tastes changed and disco music became prevalent. Then, The Blues Brothers movie came out in 1980. It featured Wilson Pickett singing "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love." At the end of the film, the credits scrolled and Solomon was shocked to see his producer Jerry Wexler and Wilson Pickett listed as the songwriters. Solomon's attorneys threatened an injunction to stop the hit movie. As Solomon related, "We started calling and the producers said, 'We thought Solomon died.' Well, he has risen....and he would like a check!" A check for $20,000 from Atlantic Records showed up the next day. To that end, Solomon became very protective of his copyrights as a result or his early mistreatment, however, he did license "Cry To Me" in the Dirty Dancing movie in 1987. With all due respect to Baby, nobody puts Solomon in the corner!

King Solomon testfyin’ BB Kings, March 4, 2005

Erin and I went to see Solomon perform at BB King's Club in New York City on March 4, 2005. As a special treat, our great friends from Washington, DC, Danny and Karen Callahan joined us at a nice red leather banquette about fifteen feet from the stage. The curtain was closed on stage as we enjoyed some pre-show libations. Just then, the house lights dimmed, and the curtain slid open to reveal the mighty King Solomon in all his splendor and munificence, perched on a throne. He was regal and stately, even though he remained seated for the duration of the show. And what a show! Fueled by a twelve piece band which included his daughter Candy on back up vocals, Solomon launched into his hits, "Cry To Me", "If You Need Me", "Down In The Valley", a beautiful soul meets country take on Eddy Arnold's "I Really Don't Want To Know", and the sublime gospel of "A Change Is Gonna Come" from the pen of his friend Sam Cooke. Then, Solomon spent time talking about how lucky he was to meet Joe Henry, the producer of his (first!) 2003 Grammy award winning album, Don't Give Up On Me. Joe had requested that some of his favorite songwriters contribute tracks that Solomon might record, and Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Van Morrison, Tom Waits, and Brian Wilson all responded. With his deep, buttery baritone, Solomon transformed these songs into his own. They were equal parts soul shoutin' and soul testifyin', the profane never straying too far from the sacred.

Solomon Burke handing out roses, BB Kings, March 4, 2005

For his encore, Solomon invited all the ladies on stage to join him on "Everybody Wants Somebody To Love." Even in his sixties and confined to a wheelchair, his unerring eye and appetite for the ladies remained intact. Of course, Erin and Karen bounded up on stage and sang back up with a bevy of other beauties. The chorus never sounded better. After the show ended, the curtain closed and Solomon was whisked by wheelchair to his dressing room. Erin followed in hot pursuit with some vinyl.

Here's what she told me:

She followed Solomon into his dressing room with the albums, and he received her with a warm bear hug and a solicitation to sit on his lap while they looked at the albums. Erin declined his gracious invitation and told him what a terrific show he had just performed. He again requested that she sit on his lap, tapping on his thigh. She laughed and wisely handed him the albums, placing them in his lap. Then, Solomon signed the albums with beautiful inscriptions, "You are the best, May God's blessings be yours", "You are God's blessed" and "To Erin, Love & God's blessings." While others were now in the dressing room, including his daughter, and other back up singers, Solomon was still trying to get a lap dance. Even off stage, the sacred Solomon never strayed far from the profane. Erin thanked Solomon for the show, grabbed the vinyl and left. Without a lap dance!

Solomon Burke, business man, ladies man, minister, mortician, singer, songwriter, soul shouter. As producer and "co-writer" Jerry Wexler described him, "A piece of work, wily, highly intelligent, a salesman of epic proportions...the best soul singer of all time."

Amen. Long live the reign of King Solomon!