MUSIC HISTORY 101 JANUARY 22, 1931 - Born on this day in Clarksdale, Mississippi: Soul music singer/songwriter/musician/producer SAM COOKE (d. December 11, 1964) Born as Samuel Cook, the artist later added an e onto the end of his name, though the reason for this is disputed. Sam was one of eight children of the Rev. Charles Cook, a Baptist minister, and his wife, Annie Mae. He had a brother, L.C., who some years later would become a member of the doo-wop band Johnny Keyes and the Magnificents. The family moved to Chicago in 1933. Cooke attended Wendell Phillips Academy High School in Chicago, the same school that Nat King Cole had attended a few years earlier. Sam Cooke began his career with his siblings in a group called The Singing Children when he was 9. He first became known as lead singer with the Highway QCs as a teenager joining at the age of 14. During this time, Cooke befriended fellow gospel singer and neighbor Lou Rawls, who sang in a rival gospel group. In 1950, Cooke replaced gospel tenor R.H. Harris as lead singer of the gospel group The Soul Stirrers, founded by Harris. Under Cookes leadership, the group signed with Specialty Records, where their first recording was for the song Jesus Gave Me Water in 1951. They also recorded other gospel tracks, such as Peace in the Valley, How Far Am I From Canaan?, Jesus Paid the Debt and One More River, among many other gospel songs, some of which he wrote. Cooke was often credited for bringing gospel music to the attention of a younger crowd of listeners, mainly girls who would rush to the stage when the Soul Stirrers hit the stage just to get a glimpse of Cooke. His first pop single was Lovable (1956), which was a remake of the gospel song Wonderful and was released under the alias Dale Cook in order not to alienate his gospel fan base; there was a considerable stigma against gospel singers performing secular music. However, it fooled no one, as Cookes unique and distinctive vocals were easily recognized. Art Rupe, head of Specialty Records, the label of the Soul Stirrers, gave his blessing for Cooke to record secular music under his real name, but he was unhappy about the type of music Cooke and producer Bumps Blackwell were making. Rupe expected Cookes secular music to be similar to that of another Specialty Records artist, Little Richard. When Rupe walked in on a recording session and heard Cooke covering Gershwin, he was quite upset. After an argument between Rupe and Blackwell, Cooke and Blackwell left the label. Later in 1957, Cooke appeared on ABCs The Guy Mitchell Show and signed with Keen Records. Cooke soo released You Send Me. Music fans loved this ballad so much that it toppled Elvis Jailhouse Rock from the top of the Billboard R&B charts and spent six weeks at #1. The song also had mainstream success, spending three weeks at #1 on the Billboard pop chart. Before long he put his crystal-clear, velvet-smooth voice to work on such up-tempo tunes as Only Sixteen and Everybody Loves To Cha Cha Cha. In addition to being a talented singer and songwriter, Cooke had business smarts. He established his own publishing company for his music in 1959 and negotiated an impressive contract with RCA in 1960. Not only did he get a substantial advance, but Cooke would also get ownership of his master recordings after 30 years. Getting this was a remarkable feat for any recording artist at the time. He continued to be a pioneer behind the scenes, founding his own record label in the early 1960s. Working with other artists on his label, Cooke helped develop the careers of Bobby Womack and Billy Preston, among others. In 1961, Cooke started his own record label, SAR Records, with J.W. Alexander and his manager, Roy Crain. The label soon included The Simms Twins, The Valentinos, Bobby Womack and Johnnie Taylor. Cooke then created a publishing imprint and management firm before leaving Keen to sign with RCA Victor. More hits followed Cookes move to RCA, including 1960s Chain Gang. Behind the songs catchy rhythm mimicking the sound of prisoners breaking rocks, the song also served as a social commentary by Cooke. It reached #2 on the Billboard pop chart and was followed by more hits, including Sad Mood, Cupid, Bring it on Home to Me (with Lou Rawls on backing vocals), Another Saturday Night and Twistin the Night Away. He continued to win over fans with a variety of musical styles, from the 1960 ballad Wonderful World to the 1962 dance track Twistin the Night Away. In 1963, Cooke once again charted with his ode to loneliness, Another Saturday Night. Like most R&B artists of his time, Cooke focused on singles; in all, he had 29 top 40 hits on the pop charts, and more on the R&B charts. He was a prolific songwriter and wrote most of the songs he recorded. He also had a hand in overseeing some of the song arrangements. In spite of releasing mostly singles, he released a well-received blues-inflected LP in 1963 Night Beat, and his most critically acclaimed studio album Aint That Good News which featured five singles, in 1964. Cookes first marriage was to singer-dancer Dolores Mohawk, who was killed in an auto accident in Fresno, California in 1959. Although he and Mohawk were divorced, Cooke paid his ex-wifes funeral expenses. Cooke and his second wife, Barbara, had three children: Linda (b. 1953); Tracy (b. 1960); and Vincent (1961 - 1963). Cooke died at the age of 33 on December 11, 1964, at the Hacienda Motel at 9137 South Figueroa Street, in Los Angeles, California. Answering separate reports of a shooting and of a kidnapping at the motel, police found Cookes body, clad only in a sports jacket and shoes but no shirt, pants or underwear. He had sustained a gunshot wound to the chest, which was later determined to have pierced his heart. The motels manager, Bertha Franklin, said she had shot Cooke in self-defense after he broke into her office residence and attacked her. Her account was immediately questioned and disputed by friends and acquaintances. The official police record states that Franklin fatally shot Cooke, who had checked in earlier that evening. Franklin claimed that Cooke had broken into the managers office-apartment in a rage, wearing nothing but a shoe and a sports coat, demanding to know the whereabouts of a woman who had accompanied him to the hotel. Franklin said the woman was not in the office and that she told Cooke this, but the enraged Cooke did not believe her and violently grabbed her, demanding again to know the womans whereabouts. According to Franklin, she grappled with Cooke, the two of them fell to the floor, and she then got up and ran to retrieve her gun. She said she then fired at Cooke in self-defense because she feared for her life. Cooke was struck once in the torso and, according to Franklin, he exclaimed, Lady, you shot me, before mounting a last charge at her. She said she beat him over his head with a broomstick before he finally fell, mortally wounded by the gunshot. The motels owner, Evelyn Carr, claimed that she had been on the telephone with Franklin at the time of the incident. Carr claimed to have overheard Cookes intrusion and the ensuing conflict and gunshot. Carr called the police to request that officers go to the motel, telling them she believed a shooting had occurred. A coroners inquest was convened to investigate the incident. The woman who had accompanied Cooke to the motel was identified as Elisa Boyer, who had also called the police that night shortly before Carr had. Boyer had called the police from a telephone booth near the motel, telling them she had just escaped being kidnapped. Boyer told the police that she had first met Cooke earlier that night and had spent the evening in his company. She claimed that after they left a local nightclub together, she had repeatedly requested that he take her home, but he instead took her against her will to the Hacienda Motel. She claimed that once in one of the motels rooms, Cooke physically forced her onto the bed, and that she was certain he was going to rape her. According to Boyer, when Cooke stepped into the bathroom for a moment, she quickly grabbed her clothes and ran from the room. She claimed that in her haste, she had also scooped up most of Cookes clothing by mistake. She said she ran first to the managers office and knocked on the door seeking help. However, she said that the manager took too long in responding, so, fearing Cooke would soon be coming after her, she fled from the motel before the manager ever opened the door. She said she then put her clothing back on, hid Cookes clothing, went to a telephone booth, and called police. Boyers story is the only account of what happened between her and Cooke that night; however, her story has long been called into question. Inconsistencies between her version of events and details reported by other witnesses, as well as circumstantial evidence,suggest that Boyer may have gone willingly to the motel with Cooke, then slipped out of the room with Cookes clothing in order to rob him, rather than to escape an attempted rape. However, questions about Boyers role were beyond the scope of the inquest, which purpose was only to establish the circumstances of Franklins role in the shooting. Boyers leaving the motel room with almost all of Cookes clothing, and the fact that tests showed Cooke was inebriated at the time, provided a plausible explanation to the inquest jurors for Cookes bizarre behavior and state of dress. In addition, because Carrs testimony corroborated Franklins version of events, and because both Boyer and Franklin later passed lie detector tests, the coroners jury ultimately accepted Franklins explanation and returned a verdict of justifiable homicide. With that verdict, authorities officially closed the case on Cookes death. Some of Cookes family and supporters, however, have rejected Boyers version of events, as well as those given by Franklin and Carr. They believe there was a conspiracy to murder Cooke, and that the murder took place in some manner entirely different from the three official accounts. Singer Etta James viewed Cookes body before his funeral, and questioned the accuracy of the official version of events. She wrote that the injuries she observed were well beyond the official account of Cooke having fought Franklin alone. James wrote that Cooke was so badly beaten that his head was nearly separated from his shoulders, his hands were broken and crushed, and his nose mangled. No concrete evidence supporting a criminal conspiracy has been presented to date. The first funeral service for Cooke was held in Chicago at A.R Leak Funeral Home, where thousands of fans had lined up for more than four city blocks to view his body. Afterward, his body was flown back to Los Angeles for a second service at the Mount Sinai Baptist Church, which included a much-heralded performance of Angels Keep Watching Over Me by Ray Charles. Cooke was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Two singles and an album were released in the month after his death. One of the singles, Shake, reached the top ten of both the pop and r&b charts. A Change is Gonna Come, considered a classic of Civil Rights Era Protest Music was a top 40 pop hit, and top ten r&b hit. The album, also titled Shake, reached the number one spot for r&b albums. After Cookes death, his widow, Barbara, married Bobby Womack. Cookes daughter, Linda, later married Womacks brother, Cecil. Bertha Franklin said she received numerous death threats after shooting Cooke. She left her position at the Hacienda Motel and did not publicly disclose where she had moved. After being cleared by the coroners jury, she sued Cookes estate, citing physical injuries and mental anguish suffered as a result of Cookes attack. Her lawsuit sought US$200,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. Barbara Womack countersued Franklin on behalf of the estate, seeking $7,000 in damages to cover Cookes funeral expenses. Elisa Boyer provided testimony in support of Franklin in the case. In 1967, a jury ruled in favor of Franklin on both counts, awarding her $30,000 in damages. In 1986, Cooke was inducted as a charter member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1987, Cooke was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 1999, Cooke was honored with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him 16th on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. In 2008, Cooke was named the fourth Greatest Singer of All Time by Rolling Stone. In June 2011, the city of Chicago renamed a portion of East 36th Street near Cottage Grove Avenue as the honorary Sam Cooke Way to remember the singer near a corner where he hung out and sang as a teenager. In 2013 Cooke was inducted into the Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio at Cleveland State Univ. The founder of the Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame Museum LaMont Robinson said he was the greatest singer ever to sing. The Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame Museum will be built in Cookes hometown of Clarksdale, MS. READ MORE: https://rockhall/inductees/sam-cooke/bio/ history-of-rock/cooke.htm imdb/name/nm0177492/ britannica/EBchecked/topic/136091/Sam-Cooke allmusic/artist/sam-cooke-mn0000238115/biography performingsongwriter/mysterious-death-sam-cooke/ biography/people/sam-cooke-9256129#career-highlights history/this-day-in-history/sam-cooke-dies-under-suspicious-circumstances-in-la en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Cooke https://facebook/SamCooke
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 00:00:29 +0000
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