What an incredible talent. I really have enjoyed his last few albums.

AMSTERDAM — Soul singer Solomon Burke, who wrote "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love" and recorded the hit "Cry To Me" used in the movie "Dirty Dancing," has died at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. He was 70.

Airport police spokesman Robert van Kapel confirmed the death of the singer Sunday and referred further questions to the performer's management.

Dutch national broadcaster NOS said he died on a plane early Sunday after arriving on a flight from Los Angles. The cause of death was not immediately clear.

Burke, who was both a Grammy winner and a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, had been due to perform at a well-known club in Amsterdam on Tuesday.

Most popular Early rescue planned for Chile miners Soul singer Solomon Burke dies in Amsterdam North Korea's heir apparent makes public debut 'Overwhelming feeling,' says rescuer Duke alum’s sex-rating report goes viral He was said to have been named the "king of rock and soul" by a Baltimore disc jockey in 1964 and he adopted the title as his own, even sitting in a large throne.

A Philadelphia native highly acclaimed by music critics, fellow musicians and many loyal fans, Burke never reached the same level of fame as soul performers like James Brown or Marvin Gaye.

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

He wrote "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" in 1964 and it was quickly recorded by the Rolling Stones and Wilson Pickett, and later and perhaps most famously by the Blues Brothers.

According to a 2002 interview with Philadelphia Weekly, Burke fathered 21 children and has scores of grandchildren. He lived in Los Angeles.

Sad to hear this. I saw Burke in concert several years ago and he put on a fantastic show. What a voice, what a talent. Loved his latest album, "Nothing's Impossible", which was also the last production for Willie Mitchell. RIP SB.

I was pleased to see Burke's relative resurgence over the past few years... I hope he enjoyed his success. RIP.

I've enjoyed Burke's last several albums and was hoping for a chance to see him perform at some point.

Here's Rolling Stone's article.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/51942/217990

Always sad to lose one of the greats.

Family confirm Solomon Burke died of natural causes
They also thank singer's fans and friends for 'support and well wishes' following his death

October 11, 2010
http://www.nme.com/news/solomon-burke/53364



Solomon Burke's family have announced that he died of natural causes.

The 70 year-old singer's passing was announced yesterday (October 10). However, a cause of death was not confirmed at the time.

Writing on Thekingsolomonburke.com, Burke's family expained that "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."

The family - Burke had 21 children and 90 grandchildren - also thanked fans for their support following the announcement of the singer's death.

"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," they wrote. "Although our hearts and lives will never be the same, his love, life and music will continue to live within us forever. As our family grieves during this time of mourning, thank you for respecting our privacy."

70 isn't young, but it's not exactly that old, either these days. RIP, Mr. Burke.

According to the LA Times, he might have been 74.
Sorry to lose another one of the greats. Besides all the great music we can all listen to, I was lucky to meet him twice.

NASHVILLE SKYLINE: Why Solomon Burke Was Also a Great Country Singer
He Had the Biggest Country Soul Ever

October 14, 2010; Written by Chet Flippo
http://www.cmt.com/news/nashville-skyli ... nger.jhtml

Solomon Burke was once booked to play a large outdoor event in the South. When he got there, he found a decent welcome. His employers offered him and his band a barbecue dinner.

Then the event boss told him, "When the sun goes down, you boys hit it with your 'Down in the Valley' song, and you sing it till you bring all the people in."

The sun went down and they hit it. Then, Burke and his band started noticing that the people coming in were all dressed in white sheets and were wearing white hoods and masks. He had been booked into a Ku Klux Klan rally. Apparently, the Klan had thought that he was white.

"I was the only black artist in the world having country-western hits," he later said, as for the reason that he had been booked by the KKK. "My drummer said to me, 'Are we gonna get out of here alive?' I told him, 'Don't quit playing till they say quit!' We played 'Down in the Valley' for at least 45 minutes."

One of country music's redeeming attributes is that it tends to sometimes attract unlikely but wonderful soulmates. Solomon Burke and country music were a perfect fit from the day in 1961 when he recorded the song "Just Out of Reach," later recorded by Patsy Cline, among others. Nothing could have sounded more country than that. That could easily have been a Jim Reeves or Eddy Arnold hit, but Burke nailed it. And he cut it before Ray Charles' own soulful country album in 1962, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music. Burke also covered Reeves' 1959 hit "He'll Have to Go" and Eddy Arnold's 1954 hit "I Really Don't Want to Know," among others. Country soul had truly arrived.

Burke, who died Sunday (Oct. 10) at the Amsterdam airport en route to yet another gig, was 70. He was the last of the great male soul singers. But he also greatly loved country music, "because of its stories," and he remained close to Nashville.

His 2006 album Nashville remains one of the better records ever produced in Nashville. And his interpretation of the Tom T. Hall song "That's How I Got to Memphis" on that CD remains, for me, the definitive version of that great composition. And Burke and Emmylou Harris joining voices together make "We're Gonna Hold On" into an almost transcendental country hymn.

His most recent Nashville concert at the Belcourt Theatre was the most electric in town -- even by an artist who was confined to sit on a throne onstage. Due to his size and arthritis, Burke sang from his massive throne. Well, he was, after all, long ago crowned the King of Rock and Soul. He often performed wearing an ermine robe and gold crown and wielded a scepter. Nashville's elite musicians and artists -- the real artistes -- from Harris and Buddy Miller to Patty Griffin and Gillian Welch and Sam Bush and Dolly Parton and Patty Loveless, always turned out in droves to work with him.

He has appropriately been called one of the last "fabulists" for his occasional enhancements of some of his tales and exploits. But he genuinely lived a decidedly rich and full and exotic and not always easy life. He worked as a mortician. He was a working minister and was ordained at age 7. Early in his career, he made money selling sandwiches to hungry artists and musicians on his tours, especially when black artists couldn't find a place to eat in the segregated South. He performed at the Vatican more than once. He said he didn't know that his song "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" was in the movie The Blues Brothers until he went to see it. He himself appeared in the movie The Big Easy. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

I first spoke with him when he called me on my cell phone (where did he get the number?) after I had written something about him that he liked. I could tell he appreciated the fact that I addressed him as "Bishop" (his actual title). He was a man you immediately liked and respected.

He leaves 21 children, 90 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren. As he often said, the Bible instructs us to "be fruitful and multiply."

(Sigh)!

Another classic talent taken from us far too soon. I agree with Chris' earlier point about the age of 70 being not exactly ancient (by today's standards), and this is why I'm not trying to be ironic when I say "too soon."