Music videos at the bottom of the post – ed.
This week, the passing of a King and Queen mark the end of a page in the history of Gospel and Soul music. Albertina Walker, the “queen of Gospel” passed away on October 8th in Chicago, and Bishop “King” Solomon Burke, native of Philadelphia, passed away on October 10 at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport.
The contribution of both Walker and Burke to the development of gospel music and performance is undeniable. Walker’s good friend, Mahalia Jackson, encouraged her to go on the road and quit singing background for her. Walker took the advice, creating a group called The Caravans which in turn launched the careers of such greats like James Cleveland and Shirley Caesar. Walker, singing in one of my favorite movies “Leap of Faith,” wowed the film crew so much that her granddaughter Tina Nance said Steve Martin sent her a bouquet of flowers with a card saying “you are the greatest gospel singer in the world.”
For all that, she didn’t win a Grammy until 1995 for her album “Songs of the Church.” Walker’s voice and presence filled many a church, but it was her generous spirit that supported the careers of many singers that made her an exceptional woman and gospel singer.
Burke’s influence on country western music, as well as the Rolling Stones, Al Green and others, was a seamless marriage of the sacred and secular. Burke, ordained at the age of 7, also was a licensed mortician, coupling two of the historic occupations for African American men in the early portion of the 20th century. Born into a family of female preachers, Burke’s grandmother started a church in West Philadelphia, Solomon’s Temple: The Church of God for All People, twelve years before his birth, because of a dream she had about him. His godfather was Sweet Daddy Grace.
Accompanying that masterful voice was his majestic presence, all 400-plus pounds of it, usually sitting on a throne with a cape and scepter. His entrepreneurial instinct had him not only singing at the Apollo, but selling Solomon’s magic popcorn in the aisles. Traveling and singing throughout the Jim Crow South that refused to serve traveling black musicians like Walker and Burke, he sold pork chop sandwiches to other musicians on tour. His prodigious family of 21 children, 90 grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren testifies to his love of both scripture and women. Joking about his love of women, he said: “I just got stuck on that bible verse that said be fruitful and multiply.”
The passing of these two greats should be mourned not only for their contributions to the musical world, but for their contributions to helping keeping slick, overproduced, vapid praise songs from taking over every black church. Nothing irks me more than to attend a service with soulless worship music being sung by folks who want an easy life. Both Walker’s and Burke’s lives and musical talent represent a gospel and soul music era that is rapidly dwindling away, pushed aside by both commercialism and a quest to homogenize worship experiences in larger churches. Both will be sorely missed.
Albertina Walker:
Bishop Solomon Burke:
