Keni Burke - Stay Close To Me

Keni was the lead singer of The Five Stairsteps on this stone killer Northern Soul classic, produced and written by Curtis Mayfield and released on Curtom Records, and one of the defining records of my own youth in the 1960s. It was such a pleasure to film him in his hometown of Atlanta, for The Strange World Of Northern Soul. Keni was born on the 28th September 1953, in Chicago, Illinois. He began his career in the 1960's with brothers James, Clarence, Dennis and sister Aloha in his family group the Stairsteps. When they split up in 1971 he moved to Los Angeles in search of session work. In 1974, he toured with Billy Preston who was a friend of ex-Beatle George Harrison. George met Keni at a time The Stairsteps were discussing a reunion album, and signed the group to his Dark Horse label. The result was one Billy Preston produced album '2nd Resurrection' including Keni's song 'Pasado' (later recorded by the band Pockets). In 1977, the group split up again, but, determined to succeed as a solo artist, Keni recorded a solo album for Dark Horse. The album 'Keni Burke' (1977), including 'Keep On Singing' and 'You Are All Mine', wasn't a great success so Keni returned to session work with his bass guitar. He played with Smokey Robinson, Sly and The Family Stone ('On The Right Track', 1979), Terry Callier, Linda Clifford ('Runaway Love' 1978), Dusty Springfield, Diana Ross, Ramsey Lewis ('Routes', 1980), Gladys Knight, The Four Tops, Curtis Mayfield, Eugene Record, The Emotions and Bill Withers among many more. He later recorded two albums for RCA, 'You're The Best' (1981) and 'Changes' (1982).The latter included 'Risin' To The Top' which has become a cult song on the UK soul scene although it has never charted. As a songwriter / producer he has worked with The Jones Girls (1984's Keep It Comin' including 'You Can't Have My Love' and 'Ah Ah Ah Ah'), The O'Jays ('Put Our Heads Together'), The Whitehead Brothers, Mavis Staples ('Chocolate City'), The Whispers (co-writing 'Let's Go All The Way'), Perri (co-writing 'I'm The One', also playing bass on 'The Flight'), and Bill Withers. After many years tracking down Keni Burke, my best friend Ralph Tee, persuaded Keni to get back into the recording studio with the resulting album 'Nothing But Love'. The album was missed by many of the critics although the tune 'Indigenous Love' seems to be destined for 'rare groove' status in years to come. In 1999 we filmed this performance of his classic in Atlanta, then in 2002 had him perform it at The Rocket. In 2003, Keni worked with the singer Kalvin Bishop and sang on a single for Acid Jazz Records entitled '(Love Is) Alive In My Heart'. Curtis Mayfield was his mentor, and it really shows here.