Solomon Burke - Everybody Needs Somebody To Love

The U.S. soul legend Solomon Burke is dead. He died at Amsterdam airport on Sunday. Burke was 70 years old.

The self-proclaimed "The King of Rock 'N Soul" traveled from Los Angeles to Amsterdam on Sunday to perform at a club on Tuesday. But shortly after landing at Schiphol Airport on Sunday declared the death. The cause of death was not immediately clear. According to his family, Burke died of natural causes.

Burke was 70 years old and is survived by 21 children and 90 grandchildren. Soul-legend is best known for songs like "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" and "Cry To Me" - it later became a hit in both 1962 and 25 years later when it was in the movie "Dirty Dancing".

Burke was elected to the Rock And Hall of Fame 2001. The following year his career took a decisive boost from the new album "Do not Give Up On Me", where he sang songs written by, among others, Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson and Van Morrison.

So today we dedicate a tune for Solomon, R.I.P.

Todays tune "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" is a song written by Bert Berns, Solomon Burke and Jerry Wexler, and recorded by Solomon Burke under the production of Bert Berns at Atlantic Records in 1964.

In August 2008, Burke said in an interview with Mojo magazine that he hired musicians from Charlotte, North Carolina, to play in Long Island and he got them in to do the instrumental riff for the song. This riff was the money march he performed at church where the congregation marches down the aisle to the front to make offerings. Burke recalled: "Got the band cooking, get a bit of echo, we went through it, came back out, said to (record executive/producer) Jerry (Wexler), 'Whaddya think?' He said, 'Too fast. Doesn't have any meaning.' (Engineer) Tommy (Dowd) says, 'What can we lose? His band's here, let's just cut it.'

Live UK performance from Solomon Burke on Top of the Pops with his classic signature tune "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love"



Listen to "Solomon Burke - Everybody Needs Somebody To Love" on Spotify

Follow tuneoftheday.blogspot.com on Spotify