As a member of the Five Stairsteps, Burke wrote the group's first minor hit "You Waited Too Long" in 1966, but the group would see their biggest success with the million-selling song "O-o-h Child" in 1970. The group went on to sign with George Harrison's Dark Horse Records in 1975, and had their next hit with the Burke-penned "From Us to You", from their 1976 album 2nd Resurrection. The group reemerged for two albums as the Invisible Man's Band but disbanded soon after.[2]
Skilled as a guitarist and bassist, Burke continued to work for the Dark Horse label as a session musician, while burgeoning a solo career of his own. In 1977, he released his self-titled debut album, which featured the songs "Keep on Singing", "Give All You Can Give", and "From Me to You".[2]
In 1981, Burke released his self-produced follow-up solo album, You're the Best, but it was his third album, Changes, which appeared the following year, that made a more significant impact.[2] This album included the singles "Hang Tight" and his signature hit "Risin' to the Top," a big success in Chicago.[2] The latter song has become a popular sampling choice for hip hop artists, having been borrowed by artists such as Doug E Fresh ("Keep Risin to the Top"), Big Daddy Kane ("Smooth Operator"), LL Cool J featuring Amerie ("Paradise"), Pete Rock & CL Smooth ("Take You There"), Mary J. Blige ("Love No Limit"), O.C. ("Born 2 Live"), and Sean Price ("Sabado Gigante"), though a lot of these songs have been mistakenly thought to use the bass line from the 1983 song "All Night Long" by the Mary Jane Girls.[1] In 2006, "Rising to the Top" appeared in the soundtrack for the video gameGrand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, on fictional radio station Vice City for Lovers.[3]
Throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, Burke continued his session and production work for artists such as Peabo Bryson, The O'Jays, The Jones Girls and Keith Sweat, and in 1998 released his last album to date Nothin' but Love, containing the hit "Indigenous Love", which was popular in the United Kingdom via the Expansion Records Label.[2]
On April 3, 2022, Burke received a Lifetime Achievement Award from The National Rhythm and Blues Music Society at The Claridge Hotel, in Atlantic City, NJ.[4]
