Sam Cooke

Sam Cooke (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964) was a popular and influential American gospel, R&B, soul and pop singer, songwriter and entrepreneur. Musicians and critics today recognize him as one of the founders of soul music and as one of the most important singers in soul music history. He has been called 'the king of soul' by many, and while some may dispute this title, Sam Cooke's legacy is an extensive one and his impact and influence on soul music is undeniable.

He had 29 Top 40 hits in the US between 1957 and 1965. He is therefore seen by many as 'the creator' of the genre. Major hits like 'You Send Me', 'Chain Gang', 'Wonderful World' and 'Bring It on Home to Me' are some of his most popular songs.

Cooke was also among the first modern black performers and composers to attend to the business side of his musical career. He founded both a record label and a publishing company as an extension of his careers as a singer and composer. He also took an active part in the Civil Rights Movement, using his musical ability to bridge gaps between black and white audiences.

Sam Cooke was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He added an "e" onto the end of his name because he thought it added a touch of class. He was one of seven children of Annie Mae and the Reverend Charles Cook, a Baptist minister. The family moved to Chicago in 1933. Cooke began his musical career as a member of a quartet with his siblings, the Singing Children, and as a teenager, he was a member of the Highway QCs, a gospel group. In 1950 at the age of 19, he joined the Soul Stirrers and achieved significant success and fame within the gospel community.

His first pop single, 'Lovable' (1956), was released under the alias of 'Dale Cooke' in order not to alienate his fan base; there was a considerable taboo against gospel singers performing secular music. However, the alias failed to hide Cooke's unique and distinctive vocals. No one was fooled. Art Rupe, head of Specialty Records, the label of the Soul Stirrers, gave his blessing for Cooke to record secular music under his real name, but he was unhappy about the type of music Cooke and producer Bumps Blackwell were making. Rupe expected Cooke's secular music to be similar to that of another Specialty Records artist, Little Richard. When Rupe walked in on a recording session and heard Cooke covering Gershwin, he was quite upset. After an argument between Rupe and Blackwell, Cooke and Blackwell left the label.

In 1957, Cooke signed with Keen Records. His first release was 'You Send Me', the B-side of his first Keen single (the A-side was a reworking of George Gershwin's 'Summertime') which spent six weeks at number one on the Billboard R&B chart. The song also had massive mainstream success, spending three weeks at number one on the Billboard pop chart. In addition to his success in writing his own songs and achieving mainstream fame, a truly remarkable accomplishment for an R&B singer at that time, Cooke continued to astonish the music business in the 1960s with the founding of his own label, SAR Records which soon included the Simms Twins, the Valentinos, Bobby Womack and Johnnie Taylor. Cooke then created a publishing imprint and management firm, then left Keen to sign with RCA Victor. One of his first RCA singles was the hit 'Chain Gang'. It reached number two on the Billboard Pop chart. This was followed by more hits, including 'Sad Mood', 'Bring it on Home to Me' (with Lou Rawls on backing vocals), 'Another Saturday Night' and 'Twistin' the Night Away'.

Like most R&B artists of his time, Cooke focused on singles; in all he had 29 Top 40 hits on the pop charts and more on the R&B charts. In spite of this, he released a critically acclaimed blues-inflected LP in 1963, Night Beat. He was known for having written many of the most popular songs of all time in the genre and is often unaccredited for many of them by the general public.

Cooke died at the age of 33 under mysterious circumstances on December 11, 1964, in Los Angeles, California. Though the details of the case are still in dispute, the official story was that he was shot to death by Bertha Franklin, manager of the Hacienda Motel in South Los Angeles, who claimed that he had threatened her and that she killed him in self-defense. The verdict was justifiable homicide, though many believe that crucial details did not come out in court, or were buried afterward.

Erik Greene's Our Uncle Sam: The Sam Cooke Story from His Family's Perspective is an introspective look into Cooke's life, music and controversial death. Voted "Best of 2006" by Soul-Patrol.com, Our Uncle Sam compiles the intimate memories and never-before-seen photographs of Cooke.

Cooke was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Glendale, California. Some posthumous releases followed, many of which became hits, including 'A Change Is Gonna Come', an early protest song which is generally regarded as his greatest composition.

Shortly following his passing, Motown Records released We Remember Sam Cooke, a collection of Cooke covers recorded by the Supremes.

Cooke was inducted as a charter member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. In 1999  he was honoured with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2004 Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him number 16 on their list of the '100 Greatest Artists of All Time'.