The King of Rock and Soul, Solomon Burke passed away early this morning on a flight from L.A. to Amsterdam. He was 70 years old. You can read a message from Burke’s family on his website.
While I don’t consider myself to be an expert on Burke’s work, I did have the chance to see him perform at the Cannery Ballroom in Nashville at the 2005 Americana Music Conference. Never have I seen a performer with such presence and magnetism on stage as he had that night. He made a connection with every single member of the audience and held everyone in rapt attention as his scheduled 45 minute set stretched into an hour and a half.
Burke kept trying to wrap up his performance, but the crowd wouldn’t let him, as they begged for encore after encore. Even Buddy Miller, who was supposed to follow Burke that night, could be seen backstage motioning for the legend to keep performing. It was quite a scene.
Miller would later produce Burke’s 2006 CD Nashville. Here’s a track from it along with a YouTube clip of one of Burke’s classics.
)
