Solomon Burke. He was a very fertile individual as a recall.
Some people are born to reproduce and others aren’t. I know my cousin Nigel
tried for years to have his first child. Years. Although he would have been
handing out the cigars considerably earlier if he’d managed to overcome his
distaste for sexual intimacy and actually consummated his marriage, but still,
it took a long time. Solomon Burke had his first child at the age of 14.
Fourteen years old! When I was fourteen I could barely speak to the fairer sex
let alone proposition one for activities that were definitely considered
unseemly for a Bedford boy to be indulging in. If my ardour was inflamed in any
way then it was quickly settled with a vigorous net session and a cold shower.
I certainly didn’t go looking for a young girl who was equally excitable.
There is some debate
about the number of children Burke actually produced.
Yes, I’m led to believe it’s still an open subject with a
final and definitive tally still not fully decided. He had three marriages?
Four.
Four marriages, each of which sired offspring. And then
there are numerous children he produced outside of the marital bed.
He’s claimed
parentage of several but many others are still a subject of discussion.
Now what I can’t understand is how this doesn’t exclude him
from conducting a practising and financially lucrative Christian ministry1.
I can understand a singer of popular songs having numerous illegitimate children,
that sort of thing is essentially par for the course and in no way affects
their ability to sell recorded material. But when you’re a man of the cloth
there are certain standards that you would think should be upheld, for no other
reason than the fact that they’re specifically prohibited in the bible you
preach from every Sunday. If Reverend Daintree, the rector at St Cuthberts on
the Hill, had produced an illegitimate offspring then the Bishop would have
stepped in and pointed out his days as a clergymen were well and truly over.
Americans have a very
different attitude to religion than the rest of us.
This is something I’ve noticed.
1. Burke was not only
a priest, he was a bishop. He ran a church called Solomon’s Temple: The House
of God for All People, which he sometimes called The Church of Let it All Hang
Out. Both names are quite catchy. At its peak, Burke’s church had 40,000
members, which sounds impressive but was no doubt bolstered considerably by his
children and their offspring.
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