Solomon King (born Allen Verner Levy; August 13, 1930 – January 20, 2005) was an American 1960s and 1970s

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

. He is best remembered for his 1968 British

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single, or simply hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record'' ...

, "

She Wears My Ring La golondrina (English: "The Swallow") is a song written in 1862 by Mexican physician Narciso Serradell Sevilla (1843–1910), who at the time was exiled to France due to the French intervention in Mexico. Background The lyrics come from a poe ...

", which charted in 40 countries.

Early life

Born Allen Verner Levy in Lexington,

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

, as a teenager he attended the

Cincinnati Conservatory of Music The Cincinnati Conservatory of Music was a conservatory, part of a girls' finishing school, founded in 1867 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It merged with the College of Music of Cincinnati in 1955, forming the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, w ...

, and was offered a scholarship to study Cantatorial Music by Jan Peerce.

Career

He first started singing professionally in 1952. Under his first pseudonym, Randy Leeds, his records such as "I'm Gonna Live Til I Die" did not sell. King was the first

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

singer taken on tour by

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday made significant contributions to jazz music and pop ...

, as well as working with

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

's backing group the

Jordanaires The Jordanaires were an American vocal quartet that formed as a gospel group in 1948. Over the years, they recorded both sacred and secular music for recording companies such as Capitol Records, RCA Victor, Columbia Records, Decca Records, V ...

, whom he used as his own backing group when recording his first version of "

" in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. King's

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

success in the UK began with "She Wears My Ring", which was a top three hit there in 1968, and was also a hit in 40 other countries, but failed to reach the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100

. "She Wears My Ring", based on "La Golondrina (The Swallow)" by the Mexican

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

Narciso Serradel Sevilla, was written by the Nashville husband and wife team Boudleaux and

Felice Bryant Felice Bryant (born Matilda Genevieve Scaduto; August 7, 1925 – April 22, 2003) and Diadorius Boudleaux Bryant (; February 13, 1920 – June 25, 1987) were an American husband-and-wife country music and pop songwriting team. They were be ...

. Also in 1968, "When We Were Young", written by songwriting duo Les Reed and

Barry Mason John Barry Mason (12 July 1935 – 16 April 2021) was an English singer and songwriter. A leading songwriter of the 1960s, he wrote the bulk of his most successful songs in partnership with Les Reed. Mason gained many gold and platinum awar ...

was a number 21 hit in the UK Singles Chart. In 1970, he released "This Wonderful Day" (under the name "Levi Jackson") on the Columbia record label which is still popular on the

Northern soul Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged in Northern England and the Midlands in the early 1970s. It developed from the British Mod (subculture), mod scene, based on a particular style of African American music, Black American ...

scene. In 1972, he released the single " When You've Gotta Go", written by

Lynsey de Paul Lynsey de Paul (born Lyndsey Monckton Rubin; 11 June 1948 – 1 October 2014) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. After initially writing hits for others, she had her own chart hits in the UK and Europe in the 1970s, starting ...

and Ron Roker on the Polydor label and it made the Australian chart, as well as the Dutch "Tipparade", where it peaked at No. 17. It received UK radio air play and was covered by Ricki disoni, a former "New Faces" contestant. At tall, some television interviewers refused to have him on their shows unless he sat down. King continued singing in

clubs Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Club (magazine), ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands a ...

in the United States, after returning in 1980.

Personal life

King married

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

Henny Lowy in 1960, and they spent 20 years living in Higher Crumpsall,

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, England, where the couple had four children. After a divorce with Lowy in 1980, he moved back to the United States, where he wed a further two times. King died in

Norman, Oklahoma Norman () is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, 3rd most populous city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,026 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the most populous city and the county seat of Clevel ...

, of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

, on January 20, 2005, at the age of 74.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:King, Solomon 1930 births 2005 deaths American male pop singers Burials at Arlington National Cemetery Musicians from Lexington, Kentucky Deaths from cancer in Oklahoma 20th-century American singers Singers from Kentucky American expatriates in the United Kingdom 20th-century American male singers