To the editor:
Whatever one may think of Solomon Burke’s latter-day success as a “crossover” artist, he’s hardly just a “minor R & B or soul ‘legend'” as Keith Harris labeled him last week [Section Three, January 16]. Burke, whom Atlantic Records’ Jerry Wexler has called “the best soul singer of all time,” was in his heyday one of the genre’s most prolific and popular recording artists, enjoying a run of 16 chart hits between 1961-’66 alone.
In my opinion (and that of many others), Burke’s gifts remain intact and worthy of commendation on their own terms. In any case though, snide sideswipes like Harris’s prove nothing and benefit no one.
David Whiteis
Chicago