Grammy-winning singer Solomon Burke, 70, dies

AMSTERDAM – Solomon Burke was born to the sound of music in an upstairs room of a Philadelphia church and went on to become one of the greatest soul singers of the 1960s, renowned as among music’s premier vocalists.

Yet his popularity never matched that of those he influenced, contemporaries including James Brown and Marvin Gaye, a reality he accepted with grace and some frustration, colleagues said.

Burke, 70, died early Sunday of natural causes at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, his family said in a statement on the singer’s website.

Schiphol arrived early Sunday on a flight from Los Angeles and had been scheduled to perform a sellout show on Tuesday in a church converted into a concert hall in Amsterdam with local band De Dijk.

Legendary Atlantic Records producer Jerry Wexler called Burke “the best soul singer of all time.”

Anti- Records President Andy Kaulkin, whose label produced Burke’s comeback record, “Don’t Give Up On Me,” which won him his first and only Grammy, said, “Popular music today wouldn’t be where it is without Solomon Burke.”

Burke, a giant man with a powerful soulful voice to match, joined Atlantic in 1960 and went on to record a string of hits in a decade with the label.

Two of Burke’s best-known songs reached a wider audience when they were featured in hit movies.

He wrote “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love” in 1964 and it was later featured in movie “The Blues Brothers.” The Rolling Stones and Wilson Pickett also recorded it.

A bare-chested Patrick Swayze danced seductively with Jennifer Grey to Burke’s “Cry To Me” in one of the most memorable scenes from the movie “Dirty Dancing.”

Burke was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001 and won a Best Contemporary Blues Album Grammy a year later for “Don’t Give Up On Me.”

Burke combined his singing with the role of preacher and patriarch of a huge family of 21 children, 90 grandchildren and 19 great grandchildren.