Cooke, Sam

Cooke, Sam , one of the most popular and influential black singers to emerge in the late 1950s; b. Clarksdale, Miss., Jan. 2 or 22, 1931 (although some claim Chicago, Jan. 2 or 22, 1935); d. Los Angeles, Calif., Dec. 11, 1964. The son of Reverend Charles Cooke, Sam Cooke was raised in Chicago where he was a member of the family gospel quartet, the Singing Children, at age nine. Performing in the gospel group The Highway Q.C.s in high school, Cooke joined the Soul Stirrers, one of the most popular and influential gospel quartets of the 1940s, as lead vocalist around 1950. He remained with the Soul Stirrers until 1956. Cooke also briefly manned the Pilgrim Travelers with Lou Rawls.

In 1956 Sam Cooke, under the name Dale Cook, began recording pop material for Specialty Records. In late 1957 he scored a top R&B and pop hit on Keen Records with "You Send Me," written by his brother Charles "L.C." Cooke. Subsequent smash R&B and major pop hits through 1960 included "I'll Come Running Back to You" on Specialty and "You Were Made For Me, "Win Your Love for Me, "Everybody Loves to Cha Cha Cha, the classic "Only Sixteen" and "Wonderful World" on Keen.

In 1960 Sam Cooke accepted a lucrative offer to join RCA Records. Recorded with cloying pop arrangements featuring strings and horns under producers Hugo (Peretti) and Luigi (Creatore), Cooke scored a series of hits between 1960 and 1964. These included the pop and R&B smashes "Chain Gang, "Twistin7 the Night Away" and "Another Saturday Night"; the hits "Cupid, "Bring It on Home to Me" backed with "Having a Party, "Nothing Can Change This Love, "Send Me Some Lovin', "Frankie and Johnny, and "Little Red Rooster. "(Ain't That) Good News" and "Good Times" became major R&B and pop hits.

In 1961 Sam Cooke launched Sar Records, followed by Derby Records in 1963. R&B/pop hits on Sar included "Lookin7 for a Love" (1962) and "It's All Over Now" (1964) by the Valentinos (later covered by the J. Geils Band and the Rolling Stones, respectively), "Soothe Me" by the Sims Twins (1961), and "Meet Me at the Twistin7 Place" by Johnnie Morisette (1962). "When a Boy Falls in Love" became a moderate hit for Mel Carter on Derby in 1963.

In early 1964 Cooke announced that he was going to cut back on his touring to concentrate on running his record labels. Later that year the live set At the Copa was issued, but a far more representative set, Feel It! Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963, recorded with saxophonist King Curtis, was eventually released in 1985.

Sam Cooke's career was secure by 1964, with enormous promise for the future, but on Dec. 11, 1964, he was shot to death in Los Angeles. Posthumously, his "Shake" (covered by Otis Redding in 1967) became a near-smash hit in 1965, followed by his most enduring composition, "A Change Is Gonna Come, only a few days later.

Cooke was one of the first black recording artists to successfully synthesize a popular blend of gospel music styling and secular themes. Eschewing the harsher shouting style of Ray Charles and emphasizing his high, clear, sensual tenor voice, Cooke, along with Charles, helped pioneer the sound that became known as soul music, influencing black singers from Smokey Robinson to Al Green, and Otis Redding to Aretha Franklin, and white British singers such as Mick Jagger and Rod Stewart. Along with James Brown, Cooke was one of the first black artists to write his own songs and gain control over his recording career (also founding two record labels). He demonstrated a growing sense of social consciousness with the moving "A Change Is Gonna Come." Cooke was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in its inaugural year, 1986, and the Soul Stirrers were inducted into the Hall as Early Influences in 1990.

Discography

SAMCOOKE : Two Sides of Sam Cooke (1957); Sam Cooke Sings (1958); Encore (1958); Tribute to the Lady (1959); Encore, Vol. 2 (1959); Hit Kid (1960); I Thank God (1960); Wonderful World (1960); Cooke's Tour (1960); One and Only (1960); Sam's Songs (1961); Only Sixteen (1961); So Wonderful (1961); Sam Cooke—Swing Low (1961); My Kind of Blues (1961); You Send Me (1962); Cha Cha Cha (1962); Twistin' the Night Away (1962); Mister Soul (1963); Night Beat (1963); Ain't That Good News (1964); At the Copa (1964); Shake (1965); Try a Little Love (1965); The Unforgettable Sam Cooke (1966); The Man Who Invented Soul (1968); One and Only (1968); This Is Sam Cooke (1970); Sam Cooke (1970); The Unforgettable Sam Cooke (1973); Golden Sound (1973); Sings the Billie Holiday Story (1973); Interprets Billie Holiday (1975); You Send Me (1975); Right On (1975); Feel It! Live at the Harlem (1985); Forever (1986); The Man and His Music (1986); The Rhythm and the Blues (1995). SOUL STIRRERS : Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers (1959); The Gospel Soul of Sam Cooke, Vol. 1 (1970); The Gospel Soul of Sam Cooke, Vol. 2 (1971), The Original Soul Stirrers (1971); That's Heaven to Me (1972); In the Beginning (1989); Jesus Gave Me Water (1992); Heaven Is My Home (1993); The Last Mile of the Way (1994).

Bibliography

J. McEuen, S. C.: A Biography in Words and Pictures (N.Y., 1977); D. Wolff with S. R. Grain, C. White and G. David Tenenbaun, You Send Me: The Life and Times ofS. C. (N.Y., 1995).

—Brock Helander