Sam Cooke~ "A Change Is Gonna Come"
Samuel Cook[1] (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), better known under the stage name Sam Cooke, was an American gospel, R&B, soul, and pop singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. He is considered to be one of the pioneers and founders of soul music.[3] He is commonly known as the King of Soul for his distinctive vocal abilities and influence on the modern world of music. His contribution in pioneering soul music led to the rise of Aretha Franklin, Bobby Womack, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and popularized the likes of Otis Redding and James Brown.[4][5][6]
Cooke had 30 U.S. top 40 hits between 1957 and 1964, and a further three after his death. Major hits like "You Send Me", "A Change Is Gonna Come", "Cupid", "Chain Gang", "Wonderful World", and "Twistin' the Night Away" 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 American Civil Rights Movement.[7]
On December 11, 1964, Cooke was fatally shot by the manager of the Hacienda Motel in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 33. At the time, the courts ruled that Cooke was drunk and distressed, and that the manager had killed Cooke in what was later ruled a justifiable homicide. Since that time, the circumstances of his death have been widely questioned.
Sam Cooke |
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Sam Cooke in studio, 1963 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Samuel Cook[1] |
| Also known as | Dale Cook |
| Born | January 22, 1931 Clarksdale, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Origin | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | December 11, 1964 (aged 33) Los Angeles, California, U.S. Interred: Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California |
| Genres | R&B, soul, gospel, pop, jazz[2] |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter, entrepreneur |
| Instruments | Vocals, piano, guitar |
| Years active | 1945–1964 |
| Labels | Specialty, Keen, RCA |
| Associated acts | The Singing Children, The Highway Q.C.'s, The Soul Stirrers, J. W. Alexander, Lou Rawls, Bobby Womack |
Early life and career
Main article: The Soul Stirrers
He was one of eight children of Annie Mae and the Reverend Charles Cook, a Baptist minister. He had a brother, L.C., who some years later would become a member of the doo-wop band Johnny Keyes and the Magnificents. The family moved to Chicago in 1933. Cooke attended Wendell Phillips Academy High School in Chicago, the same school that Nat "King" Cole had attended a few years earlier.[8]
Cooke began his career singing gospel with his siblings in a group called The Singing Children when he was nine. He first became known as lead singer with the Highway QC's as a teenager joining at the age of 14. In 1950, Cooke replaced gospel tenor R.H. Harris as lead singer of the gospel group The Soul Stirrers. Under Cooke's leadership, the group signed with Specialty Records and recorded the hits "Peace in the Valley", "How Far Am I From Canaan?", "Jesus Paid the Debt", and "One More River", among many other gospel songs some of which he wrote himself. Cooke was often credited for bringing the attention of gospel music to a younger crowd of listeners, mainly girls who would rush to the stage when the Soul Stirrers hit the stage just to get a glimpse of Cooke[citation needed].
Crossover pop success
His first pop single, "Lovable" (1956) which was a remake of the gospel song "Wonderful", and was released under the alias "Dale Cook"[3] in order not to alienate his gospel fan base; as there was a considerable stigma against gospel singers performing secular music. However, it fooled no one.[9]Cooke's unique and distinctive vocals were easily recognized. 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 appeared on ABC's The Guy Mitchell Show. That same year, he signed with Keen Records. His first release "You Send Me", (the B-side of a reworking of George Gershwin's "Summertime")[3][10] spent six weeks at #1 on the Billboard R&B chart. The song also had mainstream success, spending three weeks at #1 on the Billboard pop chart.[11]
In 1961, Cooke started his own record label, SAR Records, with J.W. Alexander and his manager, Roy Crain.[12] The label 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 #2 on the Billboard pop chart and 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 twenty-nine top-40 hits on the pop charts, and more on the R&B charts. He was a prolific songwriter, and wrote most of the songs he recorded. He also had a hand in overseeing some of the song arrangements. In spite of releasing mostly singles, he released a well received blues-inflected LP in 1963, Night Beat, and his most critically acclaimed studio album Ain't That Good News, which featured five singles, in 1964.
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