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 He was born Sam Cook, but changed his last name to
Cooke he added the "e" when he started recording.Sam
Cooke was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi on January 22, 1931, he moved to
Chicago as a young kid, and was raised there. Sam grew up in an environment
off gospel music and as a young teenager joined a gospel group The Highway Q.C.s. In the meantime a group The Soul Stirreres had a American hit
with "By And By" with lead vocals by Ray Harris. When Ray left the
group in 1950, Sam took over the built himself a following with his fresh
vocal interpretations of gospel standards. After six years of building to the
peak of popularity on the gospel scen he turned to
secular r&b/soul, and the group took on Johnnie
Taylor(who later who became famous in the late 60s and 70s.) as their new
lead singers. For Specialty Records in Los Angeles, Sam recorded a debut solo single
"Loveable" as Dale Cooke, which was his fathers' name prior to
using his real name. In 1957 he officially launched his solo career with
"You Send Me", a number 1 single in America on the Keen Label and a
UK Top 30 for London Records. After two further UK Top 30 Hits on HMV, "Only Sixteen" which
came out in 1959 and "Wonderful World" in 1960, Sam signed with
RCA. Here his classic soul hits continued with "Chain Gang" Top 10,
1960, "Cupid" a Top 10, 1961, "Twistin'
The Night Away, Top 10, 1962, "Another Saturday Night" Top 30,
1963, and "Frankie and Johnny" Top 30, 1963,m although he was
nearly killed in an air crash in 1960. Across America he also scored hits with "Bring It On Home To
Me" and "A Change is Gonna Come"
which came out in 1964. A lot of people believed " A Change is Gonna Come was about Sam's life, People thought he wrote
that song because he knew something bad was going to happen to him, because
that song came out right after his death and he recorded the same month of
his death. In 1963 he had formed his own label SAR Records with his manager
and good friend J.W. Alexander, his artists including Johnnie Taylor, The
Sims Twins and The Valentinos(which included Bobby
Womack and Cecil Womack and his other brothers.). In December 1964 he was
shot dead by Bertha Franklin, the owner of a motel in Los Angeles, in order to protect Elisa Boyer from an alleged secual offence, a case both the media and the music
business appeared to cover up at the time. In 1984 RCA were excited to find a
master tape of a concert recorded ten months before Sam' death. "Live At
The Copa" was released for the first time in
1985. Sam Cooke was a very sweet, considerate guy, he would help anyone out.
He discovered and helped a lot of singing groups. He taught some groups and
singers such as Johnnie Taylor, Bobby Womack, Lou Rawls, and Aretha Franklin
about the "Music Business", groom them and helped them anyway he
could. He just had to help at least one person out a day or he couldn't sleep
at night. Helping people was one of his "Good Habits". When someone
asked him to do something, he never did it when a frown or sigh, he did it
with a smile. Sam Cooke was basically the first black man to be so powerful in
the Music Business, he knew what he wanted and he how he was gonna get it. He was a business, suave, and he had a lot
of charisma, he was be tough but he rather be gentle. Sam Cooke's vocal syle was considered to be unique at the time and a great
influence on Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke and other artists of
the day and beyond. He also had a brother L.C. Cooke, who at one time was a protege of Aretha Franklin, and his daughter Linda is now
the wife of Cecil Womack and one half of Womack & Womack and the brother
of Bobby Womack. Even though Sam Cooke's Music Life was going well, his home
life wasn't. Between 1960 and until his death he went through a lot. For
Instance, he reported on the road his wallet, and later a sportscar,
stolen in Chicago; a $3,000 wardrobe lifted in Washington, a gold medallion heisted in Detroit. But there were minor irritations. He went through a
bad marriage to a singer-dancer named Delores Mohawk, who was killed in an
auto accident in Fresno, California, in 1959. Though divorced from her, Sam paid for the
funeral. Sam Cooke himself almost had one brush with death when a car in
which he was riding crashed into a trailer truck near Marion, Arkansas, his
valet-chauffeur was killed and Sam and two others went to a hospital was was bruised quite badly. One day in 1963 a fan demaded entrance at the Howard Theater in Washington to Sam Cooke's backstage quarters. Charles Cooke,
Sam's brother, barred the way. Moments later, Sam saw Charles with a knife
buried in his abdomen. His brother recovered. One Summer day in 1963. The
youngest daughter of Sam and his wife Barbara, drowned in the family swimming
pool. Everyone agreed that he had his share of tragedy and his pain that he
felt was in his music. The way Sam died is still a mystery to people still.
The girl that he supposedly been with said that he tried to rape her,but no one really knows what happen that night. Elisa
Boyer said that she wanted to go home,but Sam
wouldn't take her,he took her to a cheap motel
room, but what makes people wonder is why didn't she leave when he was in the
shower, but she did run but after he came out,and
as she was running she had his pants(a lot of people believed that she was
trying to steal his money),he ran after her into the the
office of Bertha Franklin and she said all kind of things like that Sam was
trying to threaten the girl and she was scared to death, and Bertha Franklin
asked him to leave but he wouldn't,and they
supposedly had a struggle or fight and she shot him and beat him with a
broom(she has had some history of violence and bad temper),and she beat him
so bad, you can tell by his casket how much his nose and face was disfigured.
Elisa Boyer was known as a "Party Girl" and she was with a lot of
famous guys of that time. But this will always remain a mystery to us fans.
Because think about it, How can he rape her, if he has been "loving on
that girl for months". Sam Cooke was brought down by demons and by the
bad side of the Music Business, a lot of people felt he was set up. Sam Cooke's
funeral was very sad, it was held in Chicago were he was raised and in Los Angeles where he's buried. The streets were packed with more
then a thousand people, it looked like a parade, it was fist fights outside,
people would go in and take snapshoots of Sam in
the casket and try to sell them, women fainted and swooned, young kids and
onlookers shouted, tears came out of mens eyes. It
was a very sad occasion. But as Sam's mother said, let's not cry, let's
celebrate a new life, because he's in heaven, she said "God has found a
new, to sing with the angels", That was so sweet. Sam Cooke death was a
sad one, no one knew what happen, no one had any evidence or anything. Around
the time of his death, a lot of bad things were beginning to happen to Sam, a
lot of his belongings and money were stolen and his car, a lot of people were
turning their backs on him.There are so many
stories, and lies surrounding his death, no one knows who to blaim, but the evidence surround his wife Barbara, Elisa
Boyer, and the people who he worked with from day to day, everyone believes
they know something until this day. Only Sam and God could tell what really
happen that night.
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Sam Cooke was inducted into the Rock N' Roll Hall of
Fame in 1986. Sam was like silk and very smooth, we will never forget that.
He has helped and produced and wrote a lot of songs for a lot of singers who
became famous after his death. Sam was very classy,his
was the Life of the Parties when he went to clubs and parties. He wasn't much
of a dancer, but by the way he sing, he would and could sing you into another
dimension. When he would sing at churches all the front room seats would fill
with young girls who never sat in the front,but sat
there when Sam was there to hear his voice swoon from left to right
hypnotizing the girls and making them faint. Sam always treatd
his female fans with respect and never used them, he would take 3 or 4 girls
out on the town after a show and shower them like they never have been
before. Women loved him, and did anything to get close to him. This is a
short biography of Sam Cooke, Sam Cooke broke a lot of the boundaries of
black music, and he was one of the first Black entrepreneur. If it wasn't for
his death, he would of became the first to open a succesful
Black studio like Motown. In his music, he wanted everyone to dance and sing
to it, and his dream came true. When his music came on blacks and whites
crossed the ropes and danced together like it wasn't nothing, all they knew
was that it was good music. It was very rare in the 60s to hear a black
singer on a white radio station, but for Sam that was different, they played
his songs more then any other black singers.Young
White Teenagers would call in requesting his music. What made Sam happy is
everyone dancing to his music and enjoying it,and
he knew they knew what real music was. A lot of the grown-ups who listen to
Sam when he was in Gospel Music loved him but when he changed he lost a lot
of fans but he gained a lot of fans. Sam Cooke may you rest in peace, and
your Music will live on for years to come. The day the music died, was when
Sam Cooke left us with so many memories.
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