(August 4, 2025) Solomon Burke is one of the most under appreciated singers of any genre. If you watched John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd perform the song “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love” in the film “The Blues Brothers,” you were listening to a Solomon Burke song. Burke played a significant role in developing soul music in the 1960s and is viewed as a founding father of the music, although he did not have the chart success of singers such as Sam Cooke, Otis Redding or Wilson Pickett.
Burke recorded and toured until the end of his life. He released several critically acclaimed albums in the early 2000s, including the Grammy Award winning Don’t Give Up on Me in 2002, and it is from that album that Jo Harman gives us a faithful and heartfelt rendition of the title track featured in this First Listen.
In staying true to the arrangement and tone of this song, Harman captures the plaintive and and stripped emotionally naked plea for understanding and forgiveness contained in the lyrics. Harman sing “Don’t Give Up On Me” with the gravitas the tune deserves, by making it a plea from someone who realizes their sins of commission or omission placed them uncomfortably close to the point of no return. She’s trying to sing her way back. Check out Jo Harman’s take on the Solomon Burke classic “Don’t Give Up on Me” here.
By Howard Dukes
