Solomon Burke's Birth Card: The 2 of Diamonds

In the record

Solomon Vincent McDonald Burke (born James Solomon McDonald, March 21, 1940 – October 10, 2010) was an American singer who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues as one of the founding fathers of soul music in the 1960s. The birth-card coordinate for March 21 is the 2 of Diamonds — a calendar position, not a forecast of the 2001 Performers induction.

Rock Hall record

• 2001 Performers — Solomon Burke

The 2 of Diamonds coordinate

Solomon Burke's birthday maps to the 2 of Diamonds (The Financial Partner). Card Blueprints treats that as a 365-day coordinate: solar value = 55 − (2 × month + day), and the year is unused. It is not a prediction about a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame vote and not a verdict on Solomon Burke. The card's own language, quoted as system copy rather than biography: You name the exchange out loud and keep it fair for both sides.

Live 2 of Diamonds meaning page

Solomon Burke in the public record

He has been called "a key transitional figure bridging R&B and soul", and was known for his "prodigious output". He had a string of hits including "Cry to Me", "If You Need Me", "Got to Get You Off My Mind", "Down in the Valley", and "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love". Burke was referred to honorifically as "King Solomon", the "King of Rock 'n' Soul", "Bishop of Soul", and the "Muhammad Ali of Soul". Due to his minimal chart success in comparison to other soul music greats such as James Brown, Wilson Pickett, and Otis Redding, Burke has been described as the genre's "most unfairly overlooked singer" of its golden age. Atlantic Records executive Jerry Wexler referred to Burke as "the greatest male soul singer of all time". Burke's most famous recordings, which spanned five years in the early 1960s, bridged the gap between mainstream R&B and grittier R&B. Burke was "a singer whose smooth, powerful articulation and mingling of sacred and profane themes helped define soul music in the early 1960s." He drew from his roots—gospel, jazz, country, and blues—as well as developing his own style at a time when R&B, and rock were both still in their infancy. Described as both "Rabelaisian" and also as a "spiritual enigma", "perhaps more than any other artist, the ample figure of Solomon Burke symbolized the ways that spirituality and commerce, ecstasy and entertainment, sex and salvation, individualism and brotherhood, could blend in the world of 1960s soul music." During the 55 years that he performed professionally, Burke released 38 studio albums on at least 17 record labels and had 35 singles that charted on the Billboard charts, including 31 singles that made the Billboard R&B charts and 26 that made the Billboard Hot 100.

Summarised from the lead section of the Wikipedia article Solomon Burke (CC BY-SA 4.0). No biographical facts were written for this page beyond that article.

Where the record meets the 10 of Hearts

A card is a calendar coordinate, not a cause. What follows sets one line of the card's own published language beside one sentence of the sourced record, paired by a documented rule. It is a resemblance offered for the reader to weigh — not a claim about Solomon Burke, and not a forecast of induction.

You make room for a lot of people and still keep a self inside the room. Your heart works at scale—you create belonging for families, groups, and communities, not just individuals. You're the one who makes everyone feel included, the emotional center of gravity in a room. Love, for you, is something you build collectively.

He had a string of hits including "Cry to Me", "If You Need Me", "Got to Get You Off My Mind", "Down in the Valley", and "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love".

Paired on shared wording: including, love. This line comes from the Saturn position of the 2♦'s Life Spread.

Also on the record

1. In 2001, Burke was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a performer.
2. His album Don't Give Up on Me won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards in 2003.
3. By 2005 Burke was credited with selling 17 million albums.
4. Rolling Stone ranked Burke as No.

Other inductees with this card

• Al Rex — 2012 Performers with The Comets
• Alan Price — 1994 Performers with The Animals
• Ali Shaheed Muhammad — 2024 Performers with A Tribe Called Quest
• Andy Bell — 2026 Performers with Oasis
• Art Garfunkel — 1990 Performers with Simon & Garfunkel
• Bernie Worrell — 1997 Performers with Parliament-Funkadelic
• Bill Bruford — 2017 Performers with Yes
• Brad Whitford — 2001 Performers with Aerosmith
• Bruce Palmer — 1997 Performers with Buffalo Springfield
• Chris Vrenna — 2020 Performers with Nine Inch Nails
• Dave Stewart — 2022 Performers with Eurythmics
• Etta James — 1993 Performers
• 15 more inductees share this card.

FAQ

What is Solomon Burke's birth card?

The 2 of Diamonds. March 21 maps to that card through the public Card Blueprints formula. The year of birth is not used.

Does a birth card predict a Rock Hall induction?

No. These pages are coordinates, not fortune-telling. A birth card names a calendar day in a 52-card year. It does not forecast awards, character, or fate.

Where do Solomon Burke's dates come from?

Birth date 1940-03-21 is the day-precision date on Solomon Burke's Wikipedia infobox, verified against Wikidata P569 (CC0, day precision, Gregorian preferred). The two sources match. Inductee identity comes from the Wikipedia Performers list, which cites RockHall.com. Year-only dates and Wikipedia↔Wikidata conflicts are dropped, not guessed. Page hooks and evidence come from the Wikipedia REST summary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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