Donnie Burks

American vocalist and musical actor. Born in Long Island, New York. Died in 2008. Donnie Burks, though fairly obscure as a singer, had a multi-layered career in his lifetime, starting out as a college basketball star, and moving on to appear in movies and on the Broadway stage. When he passed away at the age of 66, his glory days were long behind him.
Burks first came to prominence playing basketball for St John’s University in the late 50s and early 60s. He went on to appear in movies (The Pawnbroker, Shaft, Without a Trace*) and TV, as well as in a number of Broadway musicals (Hair, the Tap Dance Kid).