Solomon King (born Allen Verner Levy, August 13, 1930 – January 20, 2005) was an American 1960s and 1970s popular music singer. He is best remembered for his 1968 British

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a 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", which charted in 40 countries.

Early life

Born Allen V. Levy in Lexington, Kentucky, as a teenager he attended the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, 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 singer taken on tour by Billie Holiday, as well as working with Elvis Presley's backing group the Jordanaires, whom he used as his own backing group when recording his first version of " She Wears My Ring" in Nashville, Tennessee. King's

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a 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 represent tabu ...

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 Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

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 Defi ...

Narciso Serradel Sevilla, was written by the Nashville husband and wife team Boudleaux and Felice Bryant. 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 " scene. In 1972, he released the single "When You've Gotta Go", written by Lynsey de Paul and Ron Roker on the Polydor label and it made the Australian charts, as well as becoming a UK radio hit and being covered by Ricki diSoni. At tall, some television interviewers refused to have him on their shows unless he sat down. King continued singing in clubs in the United States, after returning in 1980.

Personal life

King married Canadian journalist Henny Lowy in 1960, and they spent twenty years living in Higher Crumpsall, Manchester, 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, of cancer, 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