Keni Burke

Keni Burke has a three-decade career that includes singing with the Five Stairsteps and being a top session musician. Born Kenneth M. Burke on September 28, 1953, in Chicago, he first tasted musical stardom in his teens as a member of the family group the Five Stairsteps, best known for the 1970 million-selling single "O-o-h Child." The Chicago-based group was dubbed "the First Family of Soul" because of their successful five-year chart run; the moniker was later passed on to the Jackson 5. Initially a teenage five-member brothers and sister vocal group made up of the offspring of Betty and Clarence Burke, the Five Stairsteps (named by Mrs. Burke who thought her kids looked like stair steps when lined up according to their age) featured lead singer Clarence Jr., Alohe, James, Dennis, and 13-year-old Kenneth. Most of the members attended Harlan High School. Clarence Sr. was a detective for the Chicago Police Department and a strict and loving father. Like the Jackson 5's father Joe Jackson, "Papa Burke," as he was called, had a passion for music and honed his children into a talented singing and dancing group. He backed the group on bass guitar, managed them, and co-wrote songs with Clarence Jr. and Gregory Fowler. After winning first prize in a talent contest at the legendary Regal Theater, the Five Stairsteps were beset with recording contract offers. A close neighbor and family friend was Fred Cash of the Impressions, who introduced the group to Curtis Mayfield. Signed to Mayfield's Windy City imprint, which was distributed by Philadelphia-based Cameo Parkway Records, their first single was the Burkes-written ballad "You Waited Too Long" b/w the upbeat "Don't Waste Your Time," a Mayfield song. A double-sided hit in Chicago, the A-side, "You Waited Too Long," charted...