{"id":3049,"date":"2011-08-03T14:32:50","date_gmt":"2011-08-03T21:32:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=3049"},"modified":"2011-08-03T14:32:50","modified_gmt":"2011-08-03T21:32:50","slug":"solomon-burke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2011\/08\/solomon-burke\/","title":{"rendered":"SOLOMON BURKE"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SOLOMON<\/h1>\n

SOLOMON BURKE<\/h1>\n

Still rocking, still rolling, still ruling<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Solomon Burke was dubbed \u201cThe King of Rock and Soul\u201d in the 1960s\u2014and five decades later he is still ruling from the trademark throne he occupies on stage. Burke didn\u2019t find crossover pop success as a young man, but in the 2000s a string of genre-busting albums earned him new respect and new listeners. Now 70, the\u00a0father of 21 and grandfather of 90\u00a0struggles with health problems but nonetheless has plenty on his plate. His\u00a0latest album, Nothing\u2019s Impossible<\/em>, marked his first collaboration with legendary R&B producer Willie Mitchell, who died\u00a0in January.<\/p>\n

Do you have a favorite among your recent albums?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every one was a favorite, because they were all masterpieces within their own rights.\u00a0They were great lessons in learning the next step, the next phase. We learn that in life, the things we thought were so important are no longer important. Changes come and changes go. Life travels on, it doesn\u2019t stand still.<\/p>\n

What makes a good song?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The story. If the story doesn\u2019t mean anything to me personally and spiritually, then I just can\u2019t do it. I\u2019ve tried to sing songs that didn\u2019t have a meaning for me and it doesn\u2019t work well. I turned down some big hits, like \u201cLittle Bit of Soul\u201d and \u201cHang on Sloopy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tell us about Willie Mitchell.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What a great man, what an incredible man. I never met anyone with so much positivity and sincerity in what they were doing. When I met him, it was like seeing your brother that you haven\u2019t seen in all these years. After five hours of laughter and jokes and comparing notes, his words were, \u201cMan, you ain\u2019t leaving this studio \u2019til you record something. I got you here now. Lock the doors!\u201d<\/p>\n

The sound he got was similar to your \u201960s records. <\/strong><\/p>\n

I think he went back and touched upon the time of magic. That was magic for me and magic for Don Covay and Wilson Pickett and Joe Tex, all of those incredible people during that time.<\/p>\n

Did you know then that you were forging a new style of music?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No. We were just doing what we do. It\u2019s just amazing how the legendary status of these people still exists in the hearts and minds of the younger generation today. We know the magic of what Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson did. We know Al Hibbler and Ray Charles and Roy Hamilton. It was there, it was real. This is what I\u2019m hoping some of our younger entertainers will bring back. It\u2019s happening in Europe. I worked with a young lady named Joss Stone. Incredible. Soulful. They come forth with this inner soul that just tastes like collard greens and corn bread and candied yams and macaroni and cheese. It\u2019s just there.<\/p>\n

Did you ever imagine that you would still be singing at 70?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No, I just thank God I made 33. I was very afraid. I lost my grandmother when she was only 54. I didn\u2019t think that I would ever reach that age. And I\u2019m still excited about things that are happening.<\/p>\n

\u2013Richard Cromelin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SOLOMON BURKE Still rocking, still rolling, still ruling Solomon Burke was dubbed \u201cThe King of Rock and Soul\u201d in the 1960s\u2014and five decades later he is still ruling from the trademark throne he occupies on stage. Burke didn\u2019t find crossover pop success as a young man, but in the 2000s a string of genre-busting albums […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[80,970,1872],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3049"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3049"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3049\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3051,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3049\/revisions\/3051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}