About Cry to Me (Single Version)

"Cry to Me" is a song written by Bert Berns (listed as "Bert Russell") and first recorded by American soul singer Solomon Burke in 1961. Released in 1962, it was Burke's second single to appear in both Billboard magazine's Hot R&B Sides and Hot 100 singles charts. Several other artists recorded the song, including Betty Harris (1963), the Pretty Things (1965), the Rolling Stones (1965), Freddie Scott (1967), Tom Petty (1979), Precious Wilson (1980), Marc Broussard (2016), and IDLES (2018). AJ Croce (Album: Fit to Serve).

Released in 1962, "Cry to Me", backed with "I Almost Lost My Mind" (Atlantic 2131), became Burke's second entry in the US charts, peaking at number five on the R&B charts and number 44 on the Hot 100. On March 20, 1962, Burke sang "Cry to Me" on American Bandstand.

After "Cry to Me", Burke became one of the first performers to be called a soul artist.[15] In "Cry to Me", and in his "most popular recordings from 1962 onward, elements of the African-American folk-preaching style", which incorporated "the fusion of speech and song", "the use of repetition or elongation for emphasis", and the improvisation of "hollers and vocal melismas", the "flowers and curlicues of gospel singing", are salient. Burke always had his pulpit in the recording studio.