The American singer Sam Cooke was called the ‘King of Soul’. A fitting title because in the early 1960s he laid the foundations for the success of contemporary R&B and soul music. Hence, his death is still mourned today. Sam Cooke died in 1964 at the age of 33 during a mysterious shooting. This brought an untimely end to the life of one of the greatest pioneers of soul music.
Church choir
Sam Cooke was born on 22 January 1931 as Samuel Cook in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He was one of eight children of the minister couple Charles and Anne Mae Cook. Two years after Sam's birth, the Cook family moved to Chicago. There, Sam started his singing career in his parents' church choir. Together with his brothers and sisters, he sang as The Singing Children various church and other religious songs. In his teenage years, Sam sang in various gospel groups, including The Teen Highway QC’s.
Boundaries
In 1950, Sam was asked to become the singer of The Soul Stirrers, one of the most important American gospel groups of those years. Soon, Sam became the new lead singer of The Soul Stirrers and developed an inimitable singing style. Under his leadership, The Soul Stirrers had great success with gospel songs like 'Peace In The Valley' and 'Jesus Paid The Debt'. But Sam wanted to push his boundaries. He wanted to reach a larger audience and recorded the pop song 'Lovable' under the pseudonym Dale Cook. But his distinctive voice betrayed him. Everyone heard that Dale Cook was actually Sam Cook, including the record boss and the members of The Soul Stirrers. They were not happy with this solo action by Sam. Eventually, Sam left the group and signed a solo contract with another record company, Keen Records. He also added the letter ‘e’ to his surname.
B-side
Through Keen Records, Sam Cooke released his own version of George Gershwin’s Summertime on single in 1957. On the B-side of the single was 'You Send Me', a soul song he wrote himself. And as often happened at the time, the B-side became more popular than the A-side. In no time, 'You Send Me' reached number one on the American black rhythm & blues charts. But also in the Billboard HOT 100 chart, dominated by white artists, the song reached number one. You Send Me was the first in a long series of hits, many written by Sam himself, including big successes like 'Only Sixteen', 'Cupid' and 'Wonderful World'.
Sorrow
In 1961, Sam started his own record company, SAR Records (Sam, Alex, Roy), together with his producer J.W. ‘Alex’ Alexander and manager Roy Crain. Sam signed artists like Bobby Womack, Billy Preston and his old ‘brothers in arms’ The Soul Stirrers. Meanwhile, he remained extremely successful as a singer with big hits like 'Chain Gang', 'Twistin’ The Night Away', 'Another Saturday Night' and 'Bring It On Home To Me', the latter recorded with a young Lou Rawls in the backing choir. Sam was also actively committed to equal civil rights for all Americans. He was strongly opposed to any form of racism or apartheid. In 1963, Sam was struck by great sorrow when his one-and-a-half-year-old son drowned in the pond in front of his house. Sam tried to cope with his grief by performing a lot. His marriage came under severe pressure.
Mystery
On 11 December 1964, Sam Cooke rented a room in a hotel in Los Angeles. He was accompanied by a lady who was not his wife. What exactly happened that evening remains a mystery to this day. The most likely story is that the lady in question stole Sam’s money and clothes, after which the angry and largely undressed singer tried to confront the female hotel manager. She felt so threatened by Sam that she shot him in self-defence. ‘You shot me, lady’, the surprised singer still managed to say before he died from his injuries. The then 33-year-old Sam Cooke left behind a wife and little daughter. His widow later married Sam’s friend Bobby Womack; Sam’s daughter Linda married his brother Cecil Womack, after which they scored a number of big hits in the 1980s and ’90s as Womack & Womack.
President
After his death, many of Sam’s songs were recorded by famous artists such as Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Diana Ross, Otis Redding, Rod Stewart, John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Some even scored big hits with them, like Cat Stevens with Another Saturday Night, The Animals with 'Bring It On Home To Me' and Herman’s Hermits with 'Wonderful World'. Sam himself also managed to score posthumous hits years after his death. For example, in 1986, when he had a posthumous worldwide hit with 'Wonderful World', which was used in a TV commercial for jeans manufacturer Levi’s. In the Netherlands, Sam even reached number one with Wonderful World. In 2008, Sam’s song 'A Change Is Gonna Come' was used during Barack Obama’s election campaign, who was elected the first black president of America.
Influence
So many years after his tragic death, Sam Cooke’s influence is still noticeable in today’s popular music. Because, led by contemporary stars like Adele and Beyoncé, a new generation of young soul artists is taking care of his legacy. They too have discovered Sam’s beautiful voice and fantastic songwriting talent, a combination that has lost none of its power over all these years. That makes Sam Cooke one of the greatest and most influential soul singers of all time.
Top 2000
In the 23rd edition of the Top 2000, Sam is featured with two entries:
Sunday Morning Classic: Ain't That Good News
On 20 March 2022, it was finally Sam Cooke’s turn to be the Sunday Morning Classic on the turntable. For this Sunday Morning Classic, we chose the album "Ain't That Good News". It is the eleventh studio album and also the last album he recorded before his death.
Play Ain't That Good News in winter and guaranteed the sun will shine in your home and the world will seem a little less grey and gloomy for half an hour. Quite nice in these times of brutal warfare. Wonderful soul that proves once again that the oldies often deliver the real stuff and that there are too few artists like this nowadays. Sam Cooke was soul down to his little toe and this album shows that again. The anti-racism song "A Change Is Gonna Come" is the highlight of this album and Sam Cooke’s oeuvre, but "Good Times" and "Rome (Wasn't Built in a Day)" are also very strong songs.
Sam Cooke Live
The live album was recorded in Miami in 1963 and belongs to the category of “Best live albums ever”, which also includes, for example, Get Yer Ya Ya’s Out by The Rolling Stones and It’s Too Late to Stop Now by Van Morrison.
Source: NPO
Photo: Public domain
