Solomon Burke Video | Celebrity Interview and Paparazzi

Solomon Burke (March 21, 1940 – October 10, 2010) was an American singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, mortician, and an archbishop of the United House of Prayer For All People. Burke was known as "King Solomon," the "King of Rock 'n' Soul," and as the "Bishop of Soul," and described as "the Muhammad Ali of soul," and as "the most unfairly overlooked singer of soul's golden age." Burke was "the founding father of what was defined as soul music in America in the 1960s," and "a major architect of 1960s soul, infusing post-World War II R&B with [his] gospel roots." and "a key transitional... MORE

Solomon Burke (March 21, 1940 – October 10, 2010) was an American singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, mortician, and an archbishop of the United House of Prayer For All People. Burke was known as "King Solomon," the "King of Rock 'n' Soul," and as the "Bishop of Soul," and described as "the Muhammad Ali of soul," and as "the most unfairly overlooked singer of soul's golden age." Burke was "the founding father of what was defined as soul music in America in the 1960s," and "a major architect of 1960s soul, infusing post-World War II R&B with [his] gospel roots." and "a key transitional figure bridging R&B and soul," Burke's "sound was a bold merger of orchestrated sophistication and countryish, down-home grit, and his best singles built a Gothic sense of drama and heartbreak. These tracks bridged the gap between the more mannered mainstream rhythm and blues of the Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller songwriting team of the 1950s, as exemplified by the Coasters and Drifters, and the gruffer Southern styles of the later '60s, as heard on the Stax Records sides of Otis Redding and Sam & Dave. At one time considered by Jerry Wexler to be "the greatest male soul singer of all time," Burke was "a LESS