Soul Sensation Sam Cooke

Sam Cooke was arguably the most important soul singer in history, and also widely credited as the inventor of soul music. His life and career is also often associated with the Civil Rights movement in America, and was one of the first black performers to be proficient in the entertainment business, founding a record label and publishing company.

Born in 1931 in Mississippi to a preacher, Cooke spent most of his childhood surrounded by gospel music. He was singing in church at six years old, leading some gospel bands such as The Highway QC’s and the Soul Stirrers in his teenage years. He became a popular performer in gospel, combining good looks and a sweet, soulful voice.

Noticing how artists like Ray Charles were bringing religious music into R&B hits, Cooke too used the bible as the inspiration for gospel songs which he penned. When he became a prolific and able song writer, it was producer Bumps Blackwell who convinced him to attempt a pop career.
He soon signed to the Keen record label who released ‘You Send Me’ in 1957. It remains one of Sam Cooke’s most well-known songs, despite the fact that song writing credits were attributed to his brother, and was a crossover success, taking Cooke into the mainstream, even performing on The Ed Sullivan show. Aretha Franklin even covered the song in 1968.

In 1960 he moved to RCA Records where he benefitted from the assistance of pop producers who cranked out hits for the label. In 1963 he released what many argue is his best album, Night Beat. It was recorded over a weekend with a small jazz band including Barney Kessel, Clif White, Hal Blaine Billy Preston. The album mainly consisted of Charles Brown songs, a blues pianist from the 40s who was a big influence on a number of soul and R&B singers.

While Cooke was making important moves in his musical career, there was civil unrest spreading through the United States, and the treatment that he had received as a black singer in the South had given him experience of racial prejudice and inequality. He came friends with influential stars of the movement including Cassius Clay, Malcom X and Martin Luther King Jr. When Cooke heard Bob Dylan’s ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ he decided to pen his own political pop song, and ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ was another defining song of Cooke’s career.

It was unfortunate that in 1964 Sam Cooke was shot dead by the manager of a motel in Los Angeles. The official story cites Cooke as being inappropriate with a female, who then ran to the manager for help. Family maintain that there is a cover-up and that he was actually murdered. Either way it was a tragic loss to music, and we can only be thankful that Cooke managed to write and record a significant amount of material before his tragic death.