Solomon Burke passes but his voice lives on forever

One of my all time favorite voices in Soul Music. The Late Great Solomon Burke has passed. One of his most popular songs "Cry To Me" was featured in Dirty Dancing and was a lot of folks first time to hear the singer's chops. He also covered one of my dad and Dan Penn's song "Take Me Just as I Am". If you aren't familiar with his work I highly recommend the albums "King Solomon", "Don't Give Up on Me" and the album "Nashville".  RIP Solomon you will be missed.

 Solomon Burke - Don't Give Up On Me by corqsan2

Early this morning, Sunday, October 10, 2010, the legendary King of Rock & Soul, Solomon Burke, our father, passed away due to natural causes.

Solomon had just arrived at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, the Netherlands for a sold out show at Paradiso with Dutch band, De Dijk.  He was on his way to spread his message of love as he loved to do. 

This is a time of great sorrow for our entire family.  We truly appreciate all of the support and well wishes from his friends and fans.  Although our hearts and lives will never be the same, his love, life and music will continue to live within us forever. 

http://www.thekingsolomonburke.com/

Soul singer Solomon Burke has died at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, a Dutch police spokesman has said.

Solomon Burke performing at the Vatican Christmas concert in 2005

Burke, who wrote the hit Everybody Needs Somebody to Love among many others, was both a Grammy winner and a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The singer reportedly died on a plane after arriving on a flight from Los Angeles.

He had been due to perform at a club in Amsterdam on Tuesday.

Burke was born in Philadelphia in an upstairs room at a gospel church.

"Many artists claim to have their roots in the church, but few go back this far and run this deep," he said on his website.

He started recording when he was 14 with his first song Christmas Presents From Heaven.

Burke with Tim Hauser and Alan Paul of Manhattan Transfer

The man who Tom Waits called "one of the architects of American Music" also counted Mick Jagger among his many fans.

Legendary Atlantic Records producer Jerry Wexler once called Burke the best soul singer of all time.

He was busy to the end, having run up more than 130,000 frequent flier miles this year alone, with concerts throughout the UK and Europe.

According to a 2002 interview with Philadelphia Weekly, Burke fathered 21 children and had 90 grandchildren and 19 great grand children. He lived in Los Angeles.