Solomon Burke

Solomon Burke - Down In The Valley
Live on German TV I think in late 80's. The lighting is very poor and keeps getting in the camera shots. Nice soundthough. Solomon Burke was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 21, 1940.

Some sources claim that he was born in 1936, others say 1938, but in a 2002 interview with Philadelphia Weekly Burke stated himself that he was indeed born in 1940. He began his adult life as a preacher in Philadelphia, and soon moved on to hosting a gospel radio show.

In the 1960s, he signed with Atlantic Records and began moving towards more secular music. His first hit was "Just Out Of Reach Of My Open Arms", a cover of a country song. Though well-received by both peers and critics, and attaining a few moderate pop and several major R&B hits, Burke never could quite break through into the mainstream as did Sam Cooke or Otis Redding, who covered Burke's "Down in the Valley" for 1965's Otis Blue. His best known song is "Cry to Me", used in the dance and seduction scene in the film Dirty Dancing.

In 1964 he wrote and recorded "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love", Burke's most prominent bid for an enduring soul standard. Almost immediately covered by The Rolling Stones the same year, other well-known versions include one by Wilson Pickett and another, a decade and a half later, in the 1980 film by The Blues Brothers.

Burke has enjoyed a special relationship with the Catholic Church throughout his life and in 2000, he and his family were invited to perform at the Jubilee of the Family at the Vatican. Since then, he has been invited back to the Vatican by both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI for Vatican's Christmas celebration.

Burke was also an undertaker and had a mortuary business in Los Angeles.He was trained as a mortician early in his life and had worked in his uncle's funeral parlor.
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001 - Wikipedia