Narada speaks with American singer, songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist who began his career with four siblings in the 1970s band the Five Stairsteps. 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. During this period he contributed instrumentation to songs by a diverse range of artists such as Sly & the Family Stone, Natalie Cole, Billy Preston, Terry Callier, Curtis Mayfield, Bill Withers, Dusty Springfield, Diana Ross, and Gladys Knight and more. 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 ("Around the Way Girl"), Pete Rock & CL Smooth ("Take You There"), Mary J. Blige ("Love No Limit"), O.C. ("Born 2 Live"), and Sean Price ("Sabado Gigante"), "Rising to the Top" appeared in the soundtrack for the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, on fictional radio station Vice City for Lovers. Throughout the '80s and into the '90s, 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
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