The boy preacher who became the King of Rock 'n' Soul

Solomon Burke was born James Solomon McDonald in 1940 in West Philadelphia, in the home of his grandmother Eleanor Moore. She founded Solomon's Temple, a congregation of the United House of Prayer for All People, and consecrated him a bishop at birth. He credited her as his main spiritual and musical influence, because she coached him to listen to the radio and learn every kind of music.

He began preaching at seven and was soon nicknamed the Boy Wonder Preacher, described as a frantic sermonizer who was spellbinding in delivery. At 12 he became pastor of the congregation, appeared on the radio station WDAS and hosted a gospel show on WHAT-AM, mixing songs and sermons in broadcasts from the temple. When he was nine his mother married the rabbi and butcher Vincent Burke, and the boy took his surname.

His recordings in the early 1960s, among them “Cry to Me”, “If You Need Me”, “Got to Get You Off My Mind”, “Down in the Valley” and “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love”, drew on gospel, jazz, country and blues, and blended sacred and profane themes in a way that helped define soul. He was known as King Solomon, the King of Rock 'n' Soul, the Bishop of Soul and the Muhammad Ali of Soul. The Atlantic executive Jerry Wexler called him the greatest male soul singer of all time.

Burke never matched the chart success of James Brown, Wilson Pickett or Otis Redding, and has been described as the genre's most unfairly overlooked singer of its golden age. Yet over 55 years of performing he released 38 studio albums on at least 17 labels and placed 35 singles on the Billboard charts. He entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, won a Grammy for Don't Give Up on Me in 2003, and by 2005 was credited with 17 million albums sold. He died on 10 October 2010.