Kimmel Center Presents Opens 2005/06 Season With a Diverse Weekend of Extraordinary Performers
August 15, 2005
Solomon Burke
Kimmel Center Presents Opening Weekend concludes when Philadelphia’s own preacher, Grammy winner, and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Solomon Burke returns home to perform at the Kimmel Center’s Verizon Hall on Kimmel Center Presents Sovereign Bank World Pop Mix Series on Saturday, September 17, 2005 at 8pm. Opening for Burke will be Gamble & Huff’s MFSB band, the original house band for the Philadelphia International Records label.
The concert is the second in the Sovereign Bank World/Pop Mix series. The next concert in the in the series features Los Lobos with Alejandro Escovedo on October 2, 2005.
Other Opening Weekend performances include An Evening With Tony Bennett on Thursday, September 15, and The Roots & Friends on Friday, September 16 in Verizon Hall.
Tickets for Solomon Burke and the MFSB Band on September 17 are priced at, $72, $65. $50, and $40 and can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999 or online. (Additional fees may apply).
Solomon Burke began his rise to stardom at the age of seven, when he was known throughout Philadelphia and the surrounding regions as the Wonder Boy Preacher, delivering fiery sermons and becoming rooted in the gospel tradition that would go on to profoundly influence his distinct, pioneering soul sound. Later, when mainstream African-American music of the fifties was dominated by rhythm and blues and doo-wop, it was Burke’s connection to gospel that separated him from the rest. Although the King of Soul’s first album, completed when he was fourteen, was a tribute to pure gospel sound, Burke began his reign of the soul genre when he signed with Atlantic Records in 1960. Burke combined gospel technique and spiritual delivery with secular R&B, and it was with this new step in Burke’s musical career that the soul music as we know it today was born.
Now, four decades later, Solomon Burke is still the King, with record sales topping seventeen million, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, and a Grammy award in 2002. Burke’s latest CD, Make Do With What You Got, brings us back to Burke’s earliest days of soul, and reminds audiences of precisely why Solomon Burke is the King. The album features songs by Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, and Hank Williams, and Burke delivers each song with a sense of reverence, spirituality, passion, and sincerity that transcends the generation and genre gap, and comes back to the core of humanity.
The MFSB Band, or “Mother, Father, Sister, Brother” Band, was started in the seventies by the mega production team Gamble & Huff in Philadelphia. The group began as a gathering of studio musicians who played on backing tracks for big-time soul artists on the Philadelphia International Records label and went on to gain independent fame for their instrumental tracks. With the album “TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)”, released in 1974, the MFSB Band gained popularity and fame, and became known as the quintessential, signature “smooth” sound of Philadelphia. Even today, three decades later, the legendary sounds of the MFSB Band continue to live on as material for sampling for popular hip-hop artists.
Tickets for Solomon Burke and the MFSB Band on September 17 are priced at, $72, $65. $50, and $40 and can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online, or at the Kimmel Center box office, open daily from 10am to 6pm and later on performance evenings. (Additional fees may apply). For group sales call 215-790-5883.
A limited number of $10 tickets are available for ever Kimmel Center Presents performance at the Kimmel Center. Tickets go on sale the day of the event and can be purchased at the Kimmel Center box office beginning at 5:30pm for evening performances and 11:30am for matinees.
Sponsors of the 2005/2006 Kimmel Center Presents season include University of Pennsylvania Health Care System, Mellon Financial Corporation, Sovereign Bank, The American Express Company, and Verizon Pennsylvania, Inc. American Airlines is the Official Airline of Kimmel Center Presents. Toyota is the Official Vehicle of Kimmel Center Presents.
KIMMEL CENTER PRESENTS
Sovereign Bank World/Pop Mix
September 17, 2005, 8pm
Verizon Hall
Solomon Burke, Vocals
MFSB Band:
Keith Benson, Drums
James Williams, Bass
Damon Bennett, Keyboards
Barton French, Guitar
Dennis Harris, Guitar
Carla Benson, Vocals
John Ingram, Vocals
Michael Clark, Vocals
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