Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 - December 11, 1964), professionally known as Sam Cooke , is a singer, songwriter, and American businessman.
Influential both as a singer and composer, he is commonly known as King of Soul because of his vocals and his distinctive interests in popular music. She started singing since childhood and joined The Soul Stirrers before moving on to a solo career where she scored a string of hit songs like "You Send Me", "A Change is Gonna Come", "Wonderful World", "Chain Gang", "Twistin 'the Night Away ", and" Bring it at Home for Me ".
His pioneering contribution to soul music contributed to the emergence of Aretha Franklin, Bobby Womack, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and Billy Preston, and popularized the likes of Otis Redding and James Brown. AllMusic biographer Bruce Eder writes that Cooke is "the inventor of soul music," and has "an amazing sound of natural singing and subtle and easy submission that is never exceeded".
On December 11, 1964, at the age of 33, Cooke was shot and killed by Bertha Franklin, manager of Hacienda Motel in Los Angeles, California. Upon examination, the court decides Cooke's death as a justifiable murder. Since then, the circumstances of his death have been questioned by the Cooke family.
Video Sam Cooke
Early life and career
Cooke was born Samuel Cook in Clarksdale, Mississippi, in 1931. In 1957 he added "e" at the end of his name to mark a new beginning in his life. He is the fifth of eight children of Rev. Charles Cook, a pastor of Christ's Church (Holiness), and his wife, Annie Mae. One of his younger brothers, L.C. (1932-2017), then became a member of the doo-wop band Johnny Keyes and Magnificents.
The family moved to Chicago in 1933. Cooke studied at Doolittle Elementary and Wendell Phillips High School in Chicago, the same school as Nat "King" Cole had attended several years before. Sam Cooke started his career with his siblings in a group called Kids Singing when he was six years old. She was first known as the lead singer with QC Highway when she was a teenager, joining the group at the age of 14. During this time, Cooke befriends fellow Gospel singers and neighbors Lou Rawls, who sings in competing gospel groups.
The Soul Stirrers
In 1950, Cooke replaced the tenor of the Gospel R. H. Harris as vocalist of the Gospel group, Soul Mixer, founded by Harris, who had signed a contract with Specialty Records on behalf of the group. Their first recording under Cooke's leadership was the song "Jesus Gave Me Water" in 1951. They also recorded the gospel songs "Peace in the Valley", "How Far Me Can from Canaan?", "Jesus Paid the Debt" and " One More Rivers ", among many others, some of which he wrote. Cooke is often credited for bringing gospel music to the attention of a group of younger listeners, especially the girls who will be rushing to the stage when Soul Stirrers crashes into the stage just to catch a glimpse of Cooke.
Crossover success
Cooke had 30 top 40 US impressions between 1957 and 1964, plus three more posthumously. Big hits like "You Send Me", "A Change Is Gonna Come", "Cupid", "Chain Gang", "Wonderful World", "Another Saturday Night", and "Twistin 'the Night Away" are some of the popular songs. Twistin 'the Night Away is one of his biggest selling albums. Cooke is also one of the first modern black players and composers to be present on the business side of his musical career. He founded record labels and publishing companies as an extension of his career as a singer and composer. He also takes an active part in the Civil Rights Movement.
His first pop/soul single was "Lovable" (1956), a remake of the gospel song "Wonderful". It was released under the alias "Dale Cook" in order not to alienate his Gospel fan base; there is a considerable stigma against gospel singers featuring secular music. However, it does not fool anyone - Cooke's unique and distinctive voice is easily recognizable. Art Rupe, the head of Special Records, the Mortar Stylist label, gives Cooke the blessing to record secular music under his real name, but he is unhappy with the type of Cooke music and producer Bumps Blackwell. Rupe hopes that Cooke's secular music is similar to another Special Recording artist, Little Richard. When Rupe entered the recording session and listened to Cooke covering Gershwin, he was quite upset. After the debate between Rupe and Blackwell, Cooke and Blackwell left the label.
In 1957, Cooke appeared on ABC The Guy Mitchell Show . That same year, he signed a contract with Keen Records. His first song, "You Send Me," was released as B-side of "Summertime," spending six weeks at No. 1 on Billboard R & amp; B. This song also has mainstream success, spending three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart.
In 1961, Cooke started his own record label, SAR Recording, with J. W. Alexander and his manager, Roy Crain. The immediate label includes Simms Twins, Valentinos (the Bobby Womack and his siblings), Bobby Womack and Johnnie Taylor. Cooke then created a publishing and management publishing company named Kags before leaving Keen to sign with RCA Victor. One of his first RCA singles was "Chain Gang", which reached No. 1. 2 on the Billboard charts. This was followed by more hits, including "Mood Sad", "Cupid", "Bring Me at Home for Me" (with Lou Rawls in backing vocals), "Another Saturday Night", and "Twistin 'the Night Away".
Like most R & amp artists B in his time, Cooke focused on singles; in all, it has 29 top 40 hits on the pop charts and more on the R & D charts. B. He is a prolific songwriter and writes most of the songs he records. He also has controls in organizing multiple songs. Apart from releasing most of the singles, he released LP well received by the blues in 1963, Night Beat , and his most famous studio album, That's Not Good News , which featuring five singles, in 1964.
In 1963 Cooke signed a five-year contract for Allen Klein to manage Kags Music and SAR Documents and make him his manager. Klein negotiated a five-year contract (three years plus two year options) with RCA in which the parent company, Tracey, Ltd., named after Cooke's daughter, owned by Klein and managed by J. W. Alexander, will produce and record Cooke. RCA will get exclusive distribution rights in return for a 6 percent royalty payment and payment for recording sessions. For tax reasons, Cooke will receive preferred shares in Tracey instead of an initial deposit of $ 100,000. Cooke will receive a cash advance of $ 100,000 for the next two years, followed by an additional $ 75,000 for each of the two year options if the deal expires.
Maps Sam Cooke
Death
Cooke died at the age of 33 on December 11, 1964, at Hacienda Motel, at 9137 South Figueroa Street, in Los Angeles, California. Responding to a separate report about the shooting and kidnapping at the motel, police found Cooke's body, wearing only a sports jacket and shoes but no clothes, pants or underwear. He suffered a gunshot wound to the chest, which then decided to pierce his heart. The motel manager, Bertha Franklin, said he had shot Cooke in self-defense after he entered his office home and attacked him. His account was immediately denied by Cooke's contacts.
Official police records state that Franklin fatally shot Cooke, who checked in last night. Franklin claims that Cooke has broken into the apartment manager's office in anger, wearing nothing but shoes and a sports coat, demanding to know the whereabouts of a woman who accompanied her to the hotel. Franklin says the woman is not in the office and he tells Cooke this, but angry Cooke does not believe in him and violently seizes him, demands again to know where she is. According to Franklin, he wrestled with Cooke, they both fell to the floor, and he then got up and ran to get the gun. He said he later fired Cooke to defend himself because he was afraid for his life. Cooke was hit once on the torso. According to Franklin, he exclaimed, "Madam, you shot me," before putting the last charge on him. He said he hit his head with a broom before finally falling, badly wounded by a shot.
The motel owner, Evelyn Carr, claimed that she had phoned Franklin at the time of the incident. Carr claims to have heard of Cooke's intrusion and the conflict and subsequent shots. He called the police to ask the officers to go to the motel, telling them that he believed the shooting had happened.
Coroner investigations were held to investigate the incident. The woman who accompanied Cooke to the motel was identified as Elisa Boyer, who also called the police that night shortly before Carr. Boyer called from the phone booth near the motel, informing them that he had just escaped being kidnapped.
Boyer told police he first met Cooke earlier that night and spent the night at his company. He claims that after they left the local nightclub together, he repeatedly requests that he take him home, but instead he takes him against his wishes to Hacienda Motel. He claims that once in one of the motel rooms, Cooke physically forced him into bed, and that he was sure he would rape her. According to Boyer, when Cooke stepped into the bathroom for a moment, he quickly took his clothes and ran from the room. He claims that in his haste, he has also scooped up most of Cooke's clothes by mistake. He says he ran first to the manager's office and knocked on the door looking for help. However, he says that the manager takes too long in response, so, fearing Cooke will come soon after him, he runs away from the motel before the manager opens the door. He says he then puts on his shirt, hides Cooke's clothes, goes to the phone booth, and calls the police.
Boyer's story is the only story of what happened between him and Cooke that night; However, his story has long been questioned. The inconsistency between the event version and the details reported by visitors at Martoni's Restaurant, where Cooke had dinner and drinks earlier in the evening, indicated that Boyer might have gone to the motel with Cooke, then slipped out of the room in his clothes to rob him, rather than escaping from attempted rape. Cooke reportedly brought more money in Martoni than the $ 108 money found at his place of death, and Boyer was arrested for prostitution in January 1965, even though the charges were dismissed and he no longer gained fame.
However, the question of Boyer's role is beyond the scope of the examination, a goal that is only to establish the state of Franklin's role in shooting. Boyer left the motel room with almost all of Cooke's clothes, and the fact that the test showed Cooke was drunk at the time, giving a reasonable explanation to the examining judge for his strange behavior and Cooke's dress condition. In addition, since Carr's testimony reinforces the version of Franklin's show, and since Boyer and Franklin later passed the lie test, the coroner's jury finally accepted Franklin's explanation and returned a justifiable verdict. With the verdict, the authorities officially closed the case on Cooke's death.
However, some of Cooke's family and supporters reject the version of Boyer's incident, as well as those provided by Franklin and Carr. They believe that there is a conspiracy to kill Cooke and that the murder took place in a completely different way than three official accounts. Singer Etta James saw Cooke's body before his funeral and questioned the accuracy of the official event version. He wrote that the injuries he observed were far beyond the official report of Cooke who had fought alone in Franklin. James wrote that Cooke was beaten so badly that his head was almost separated from his shoulders, his hands were broken and crushed, and his nose was broken. Some people speculate that Cooke's manager, Allen Klein, may have a role in his death. Klein owns Tracey, Ltd, which ultimately has all the rights to recording Cooke.
There is no concrete evidence supporting the criminal conspiracy that has been presented to date.
Aftermath
The first burial service for Cooke was held on December 18, 1964, at A. R. Leak's Cemetery in Chicago; 200,000 fans lined up for more than four city blocks to see his body. After that, his body was flown back to Los Angeles for a second service, at the Mount Sinai Baptist Church on December 19, which included the much-heralded performances by "The Angels Keep Watching Over Me" by Ray Charles, who supported the sadness. -stikken Bessie Griffin. Cooke is buried in Garden of Honor, Lot 5728, Space 1, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.
Two singles and albums were released in the month after his death. One single, "Shake", reached the top ten of the pop and R & amp; B. Side-B, "Upcoming Changes", is considered a classic protest song from the era of the Civil Rights Movement. It was a pop pop top 40 and top 10 R & amp; B hit. The album, also titled Shake , reached number one spot for the R & amp; B. After Cooke's death, his widow, Barbara, married Bobby Womack. Princess Cooke, Linda, later married Womack's brother, Cecil.
Bertha Franklin said she received a number of death threats after shooting Cooke. He left his position at Motel Hacienda and did not publicly disclose where he moved. After being cleared by a coroner jury, he sued Cooke's property, citing the physical injury and mental anguish he suffered as a result of Cooke's attack. The lawsuit seeks US $ 200,000 in compensation and punishment. Barbara Womack fights Franklin on behalf of the estate, looking for $ 7,000 in damages to cover Cooke's funeral expenses. Elisha Boyer testified in favor of Franklin in this case. In 1967, a jury decided to support Franklin on both counts, giving $ 30,000 in damages.
Marriage and family
Cooke married twice. His first marriage was the singer and dancer Dolores Elizabeth Milligan Cook, who was killed in a car accident in Fresno, California, in 1959. Although he and Dolores were divorced, Cooke paid the burial fees of his ex-wife. Cooke and his second wife, Barbara Campbell Cooke, had three children, Linda (b.1953), Tracy (b.1960), and Vincent (1961-1963). Vincent drowned in the family pool when he was only 18 months old. Cooke also inherited at least three other children out of wedlock.
Posthumous grace
- In 1986, Cooke was sworn in as a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame charter.
- On January 22, 1986, funk group Cameo performed a concert in Los Angeles to commemorate Cooke's 55th birthday. The show consists of Sam Cooke and Cameo hits with lyrics changes in honor of the singer. The show closed with Cooke's mash-up "Twistin 'the Night Away" and Cameo "Word Up" and the band that led the audience in singing Happy Birthday to Cooke.
- In 1987, Cooke was sworn in to Songwriters Hall of Fame.
- On February 1, 1994, Cooke received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to the music industry, located at 7051 Hollywood Boulevard.
- In 1999, Cooke was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2004, Rolling Stone ranked 16th in the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" list.
- In 2008, Cooke was named the fourth "Biggest Singer of All Time" by Rolling Stone .
- In June 2011, the city of Chicago was renamed East 36th Street near Grove Avenue Cottages as an honorary "Sam Cooke Way" to remember the singer near the corner where she hangs out and sings as a teenager.
- In 2013 Cooke was inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, at Cleveland State University. Founder of Rhythm & amp; Blues Music Hall of Fame Museum, LaMont Robinson, says he is the greatest singer ever to sing. The Rhythm & amp; The Blues Music Hall of Fame Museum will be built in Cooke's hometown of Clarksdale, MS. Discussion
- Song by Sam Cooke (1957)
- Encore (1958)
- Tribute to the Lady (1959)
- The Extraordinary World of Sam Cooke (1960)
- Cooke Tour (1960)
- Hits 50s (1960)
- Swing Low (1961)
- My Kind of Blues (1961)
- Drive Around The Night (1962)
- Sir. Soul (1963)
- Night Beating (1963)
- That's Not Good News (1964)
- Sam Cooke in Copa (1964)
- Live in Harlem Square Club, 1963 (1985)
- Boogie's Dream: Sam Cooke's Victory by Peter Guralnick (2005) ISBNÃ, 0-316-37794-5
- Uncle Sam Us: The Story of Sam Cooke from His Family Perspective by Erik Greene (2005) ISBN: 1-4120-6498-8
- You Send Me: The Life and Time of Sam Cooke by Daniel Wolff, SR Crain, Clifton White, and G. David Tenenbaum (1995) ISBNÃ, 0-688-12403-8
- One More River to the Cross: The Redemption of Sam Cooke by B. G. Rhule (2012) ISBN 978-1-4675-2856-6
- Sam Cooke on IMDb
- Sam Cooke at AllMusic
- Sam Cooke's Discography in MusicBrainz
- Sam Cooke Discography at Discogs
- Sam Cooke (ABKCO Website)
- Rosco Gordon's interview on the Wayback Machine (archived November 14, 2007)
- "Black Elvis" by The Village Voice
- "Sam Cooke". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame .
- Sam Cooke at Discover the Mausoleum
Note
References
Further reading
External links
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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