Had the unadulterated pleasure of interviewing Solomon last year. What an absolute charmer he was. We could have talked all day. So sad he couldn't have hung around on this planet a little while longer. Here's the final version of the interview...

Solomon Burke
The soul music heavyweight on preaching, pork chops and being a grandfather 90 times over

First time you realised you could make a living from singing...
I haven’t realised that yet – I’m still working on it! Early in my career, when I was 15 or 16, I thought ‘Oh my, this is going to be the thing to do. It’s wonderful.’ But then I began to learn that it wasn’t as easy as I thought it was. There was more to it than being a singer and going some place to sing and get paid. It’s been a lesson, a journey, a university. I have several other things I’m involved in – the mortuary business, which my daughter’s in charge of now; being a minister in my church; our record and publishing company. Showbusiness isn’t about being a star, it’s about being prepared.

First record you ever bought...
A gospel record by Clara Ward called Surely God Is Able. I bought it because as a teenager I had a radio show once a week in Philadelphia and needed a record to play on the radio. I was on the air for 15 minutes with a gentleman by the name of Randy Dixon who was a very popular and famous disc jockey in Philadelphia. I would sing or play a record of my choice. And my choice was the Ward Singers. I loved that song and I would comment on that song as a young minister that God was able to see you through and ease your pains and your pressures.

First time you worked with legendary Atlantic Records producer Jerry Wexler...
It was in the early 1960s. It was very exciting to be signed to a label like Atlantic – the home of Ruth Brown and LaVern Baker and Ivory Joe Hunter and Big Joe Turner and Clyde McPhatter and Ray Charles... It was a good little family there in the beginning. To meet Jerry Wexler was very exciting – we got along pretty well. After a while it got a little strange and I began to open up to what was going on in the business. I learned a few things the hard way. I learned that you don’t give people a piece of your songs because then they take them and they misuse you. Then you have to fight for your rights and sometimes it takes almost a century to get back what belongs to you!

First reaction to being told that the likes of Tom Waits, Van Morrison and Elvis Costello were going to write a record for you [2002’s Don’t Give Up On Me]...
I was shocked and delighted at the same time. I met this gentleman and had no idea he was the president of a record company. I thought he was a football coach or something. He’d been watching me for two days at a festival in Portland, Oregon and caught up with me at the airport. He said ‘I’d like to make a deal with you. If I can get these artists to write these songs for you, would you record an album?’ ‘Of course I would. Are you kidding? You get these people and you call me.’ How wonderful it was when it was true. I first met the producer Joe Henry for lunch. Anyone who orders a grilled pork chop has got to be ok. Keep the resume, eat the pork chop! I’ll see you in the studio!

First time you won a Grammy...
It was for that record. I’d waited 40 years for that. We’d been nominated for our gospel albums a couple of times but never won. The record company Fat Possum did what they had to do to make it happen. And they were the first record company that ever gave me a royalty cheque. I saw cheques right away. God bless them.

Last time you were in a recording studio...
I finished an album with Willie Mitchell [Al Green’s producer and creator of Hi Records’ Memphis sound] just a few weeks ago. We’re mastering it as we speak. It’s R&B with a little bit of country. Willie is an incredible producer. I waited almost 30 years to do something with him and how blessed I am to have had a chance to do that. It was so much fun.

Last time you gave a sermon...
I’m giving you one right now! You just don’t hear the choir singing! Actually it was just yesterday. I try to preach as often as possible, wherever we have major congregations – Philadelphia or Detroit or New Jersey or down south. We have about 180 churches that are established under our charter. We’re non-sectarian, non-denominational. Ours is an open door.

Last time you embalmed a body...
It must be twenty-something years ago. My daughter and my little nephews do that now. I just talk to the bereaved on the phone, try to heal as many wounds as possible and lift the spirits of the families. We’ve got a slogan – ‘We’re the first ones to pick you up and the last ones to let you down’. It’s all about comfort, compassion and dignity.

Last time you welcomed a new addition to your family...
I have 21 children, 90 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren. They just keep coming! My oldest grandchild’s about 33 and the newest edition, the 90th grandchild, is four months old. But I do keep track of them. I call them Sweetheart, Honey, Darling, Baby, Boo-Boo, Cookie, Princess... If you start saying ‘Richard’, ‘Harry’, ‘James’, you’re going to get the names mixed up. And that’s the worst thing you can do!

Hi all

Having been greeted by deafening silence when I originally posted this, I'm making a re-request for help. This time, rather than posting it in the middle of the night when everyone was slumbering, I've opted for the make-the-plea-while-everyone-is-on-the-site-at-lunchtime tactic. Here's the original post...

I need to call upon your collective wisdom/contacts for something I'm working on at the moment. Does anyone out there have a pal or acquaintance who touts gig tickets, either operating in the old-fashioned way on street corners or doing so online? I need to get in touch with people for whom touting is their only/main source of income.

If so, could you get in touch at nigetassell at gmail dot com please? And for reasons too dull to go into here, it would be handy to know in which part of the country they operate.

And, worry ye not, all names will be changed to protect the innocent. I am neither undercover CID nor News Of The World reporter.

thanks all

Nige

Greetings WORD massive

I need to call upon your collective wisdom/contacts for something I'm working on at the moment. Does anyone out there have a pal or acquaintance who touts gig tickets, either operating in the old-fashioned way on street corners or doing so online? I need to get in touch with people for whom touting is their only/main source of income.

If so, could you get in touch at nigetassell at gmail dot com please? And for reasons too dull to go into here, it would be handy to know in which part of the country they operate.

And, worry ye not, all names will be changed to protect the innocent. I am neither undercover CID nor News Of The World reporter.

thanks all

Amy Winehouse's minor scuffle with the Glastonbury front row at the weekend set me thinking about great fights/skirmishes/fisticuffs there have been over the years involving the great and the good. Bjork's undignified arrival at Bangkok Airport is at the front of the queue, but what other cracking scraps can you Worders recall? (Best if there's some online footage so we can compare and contrast.)

I'll land the first punch with this extraordinary clip of Rip Torn and Norman Mailer getting down and dirty on-set in 1970. Warning for the squeamish: neither is playing by the Queensbury Rules. Teeth and a hammer are involved. And there's blood.