Legendary Blues and Soul singer Solomon Burke died early today of a heart attack on a plane at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands. He was 70 years of age.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee was scheduled to perform in the Netherlands this week. Burke and his band were famous for not using set lists, instead they preferred to play whatever the audience requested.
“It’s like turning back the hands of time instantly,” he said on his website. “We can be in the middle of singing something from my recent ‘Like A Fire’ album, and they’ll call out ‘Stupidity’ from 1957 and we’re back 50 years!”
Burke started out as a preacher in Philadelphia where he was born. He soon moved on to Gospel radio and then to Atlantic Records in the 1960s, where he began his recording career.
Burke was best known for his hits “Cry to Me”, and “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love”, which was re-recorded by the Rolling Stones in the 1960s and the Blues Brothers for their 1980s film of the same name.
Burke is survived by 21 children (14 daughters and 7 sons), 90 grandchildren and 19 great grandchildren.
