Paula Cole is a piano-playing poet and provocateur, a loving daughter and mother, a Grammy winner and seven-time nominee, a dramatic voice of afflicti...

Happy New Year, darlings. All of you reading this piece have something in common: you survived 2010. Not everyone was so lucky, and a lot of people, as always, took the off-ramp from Life.

AMSTERDAM — Solomon Burke was born to the sound of music in an upstairs room of a Philadelphia church and went on to become one of the greatest ...

Solomon gave me unconditional love before I even knew the meaning of the words. He had a huge body which finally couldn't stand him up. But his voice was bigger and his heart overshadowed them both.

Solomon Burke was not only one of the most soulful singers in history; he was quite possibly the single most soulful man who I ever met. I had the honor of sharing time with this timeless soul giant and inspiring preacher twice.

Here's a special birthday playlist for Little Van to help him into his father's sublime music and some of the enduring influences who help make Van the Man in the first place.