MEMORIES:
GuitarPlaya2000 remembers...I vaguely remember watching Sam Cooke perform in the Apollo Theater in New York with my mother. He was so ... More »
Posted on 07/15/08
That’s the sound of the men working on the chain… ga-a-ang…
That’s the sound of the men working on the chain… gang.” – “Chain Gang”
Recognized today as one of the founders of soul music, Sam Cooke has gone down as one of the most popular music acts of all time. Often called “The King of Soul” Sam Cooke’s legacy was enormous. He was an active supporter of the Civil Rights movement, helping to bridge the gap between white and black music fans, and was among the first black artists to play an active role on the business side of his career, launching his own record label and publishing company. In his career, he had twenty-nine Top 40 hits between 1957 and 1965, launching the sounds of soul into the mainstream.
He was brown in 1931 in Clarksdale, Mississippi, one of the eight children of a Baptist minister. He got his start in music as a part of a quartet with his siblings. By the age of 19, he joined a gospel group, The Soul Stirrers. His first pop single as a solo artist was the song “Lovable” which he released under the alias “Dale Cooke” in order not to alienate his religious fan base. The name change failed to hide his distinctive vocals, and eventually Sam Cooke left Specialty Records (the label of The Soul Stirrers) and joined Keen Records in 1957.
His first release, “You Send Me” found great crossover success and spent time at the top spots in both the R&B and pop charts in 1957. Rare in the R&B community, Sam Cooke found acclaim in writing his own songs, and continued to wow the music industry by forming his own label, SAR Records, which would eventually include The Valentinos, Bobby Womack and Johnnie Taylor. He soon left Keen to join RCA. His career with RCA would include hits like “Chain Gang,” “Sad Mood,” “Twistin’ the Night Away” and “Bring it on Home to Me” which featured Lou Rawls on back-up. Cooke focused on singles, as did many R&B artists of his time. Despite this, he released a critically acclaimed LP in 1963, Night Beat.
Sam Cooke died at the age of 33 under mysterious circumstances in 1964 in Los Angeles, California. The details of his death are continuously in dispute, but his legacy isn’t. Sam Cooke’s influence would carry on in later generations. Even those who have never heard of him can hear inflections of his phrasing with Rod Stewart or Southside Johnny. Artists such as The Animals, Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen, John Mayer, Steve Perry, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, Lou Rawls, Al Green and countless others will forever be indebted to the imprint Cooke left on popular music.
