Solomon Burke - Personal Life

Personal Life

Burke was married four times, and was engaged at least twice. In total Burke fathered at least 21 children (14 daughters and 7 sons), including at least two fathered outside any of his marriages, including Melvia Burke and Elijah Mohammed Burke. He had 90 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren at the time of his death.

Burke was married to Doris P. Williams for two months; the marriage was annulled by August 1958, though it resulted in the birth of one child, Valerie Doris Gresham (born September 16, 1957).

Burke's second wife was Delores Clark Burke Perkins, with whom he had 7 children, including Eleanor Alma (born December 27, 1958), Melanie (born March 1960), Solomon Vincent, Jr. (born October 15, 1961), Carolyn (born September 1962), John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK), Gemini (born September 1, 1964), and Lillian (born August 1966). After they were divorced, Delores and her children moved to Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Burke's third wife was Bernadine Burke.

Burke's fourth wife was Frances Sunday (born 1951), whom he married in about 1970; she was married to him (but separated) when he died, and had three children with him: King Solomon Haile Selassie Burke (born August 7, 1972), Queen Sunday Victoria Burke (born February 24, 1974), and Queen Elizabeth Burke-Maynard (born March 12, 1975).

At the end of 2006 Burke was engaged to his manager, Jane Vickers, of American Royalty Management, who had been his personal assistant since at least 1977.

In a 2006 interview Burke admitted having his first child at age 14: "being a father at age 14 maybe been a little early, but I don’t regret one moment, one second, one day, or one hour. My only regrets are the loss of my twins and my first son." Burke's twin sons were James and David, who both died in infancy. By 1961, Burke had "three kids on the outside, and about four at home", including Melanie Burke (born 1960), Solomon Vincent Burke, Jr. (born October 15, 1961). In an open letter to his children, Burke wrote: "Your love and your strength, and the love of your mothers, have made me the strongest-minded father in the world. I may not be the best father. Maybe I haven’t done everything that I should do, could do, or would do…or desire to do, but by the grace of God, and your prayers, we will make it. Every day is a new way. None of us are perfect and God knows, I have made many mistakes." Burke admitted serial infidelity during his marriages: "I was young. Girls were coming from every angle. I couldn't love them all. But I tried." Burke stated: "I realized in later years that money didn’t solve problems. I realized too that maybe the reason I had problems with my marriages was because I didn’t spend enough time with my children, my family. I thought that sending money home and buying pretty cars and redoing houses, and ordering food by the hundreds of dollars a day, would keep my family together, keep my children happy.... Not being there all the time, being on the road 250 days out of the year, was too much. I was gaining the world and losing my children. And my wife. My love life."