The Legacy of Sam Cooke.
One of my favourite singers of all time has to be Sam Cooke.
In the relatively short time that he was recording music he managed to create some truly excellent songs. Tunes such as; ‘Wonderful World’, ‘Cupid’, ‘Chain Gang’, ‘You Send Me’ and ‘Bring it on Home to Me’ sound just as good today as they did all those years ago.
Cooke’s career began properly when he took over as lead singer of the Gospel group, ‘The Soul Stirrers’. They were signed by Speciality Records and went on to record, ‘How Far am I from Canaan?’, ‘Peace in the Valley’, ‘One More River’ and ‘Jesus Paid the Debt’. In 1956, Sam Cooke released his first secular song, ‘Lovable’ under the pseudonym of Dale Cooke so as not to upset die-hard Gospel fans. Because his voice was so distinctive, however, he was recognised straight away.
In 1957, Sam Cooke released, ‘You Send Me’/’Summertime’ as a single. It was an instant success and made the number one slot in both of Billboard’s R&B and Pop charts. Four years later Cooke formed his own record label and went on to release many more hits such as; ‘Sad Mood’, ‘Twistin’ the Night Away’ and ‘Another Saturday Night’. In all, Sam Cooke went on to have 29 Top Forty hits in the Pop charts alone.
On December 11, 1964, Sam Cooke was shot and killed at the Hacienda Motel in Los Angeles; he was thirty-three years old. There was a lot of controversy surrounding his death and it continues even today. According to the motel manager, who pulled the trigger, Cooke was semi-dressed and threatening her. There have been a great deal of conspiracy theories about his death and many of these hinge on the fact that he played such an important role in the Civil Rights movement. There was an awful lot of unrest in America at the time and a lot of people think Cooke was removed because he was seen as a threat.
Whatever the truth is concerning the death of Sam Cooke, he has left us with some beautiful pieces of music. Personally, I find it difficult to believe there was anything nasty about someone who came across as being such a deeply sensitive man.
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