Thursday, May 30, 2002 7:33:37 AM
Rock 'n' Roll Artists A-Z...Sam Cooke
(1935 - 1964)
From 1957 until his premature death in 1964, Sam Cooke was one of America's most popular vocalists of any race or style, creating a stream of classic hit recordings that blended R&B and pop elements without losing sight of his gospel roots. That he did so, by and large, on his own terms, writing much of his material and maintaining a firm direction over much of his production and business affairs, makes his achievements all the more remarkable.
Cooke was born on January 22th 1931 in Clarksdale, Mississippi (his birthdate was amended to 1935 after he became a star), but his family moved to Chicago shortly after he was born. Singing in gospel groups from his teens, Cooke was so prodigious a talent that he was offered a spot to replace lead singer R. H. Harris in one of the top American gospel groups, The Soul Stirrers, in 1950, shortly before he turned twenty. He became a huge star in the gospel circuit, recording many sides with The Soul Stirrers for Specialty Records (famous as the home of Little Richard and many other R&B and rock'n'roll pioneers) during the first half of the 1950s.
Cooke decided to try and replicate his success in gospel within the larger world of pop. Specialty owner Art Rupe was so upset at Cooke for branching out beyond gospel that he told the singer to take his solo outings elsewhere, firing arranger Bumps Blackwell in the same motion. Cooke and Blackwell took the song they had been working on when Rupe excommunicated them - a plaintive, Cooke-penned ballad called "You Send Me" - to the tiny Keen label, who took it to #1 in 1957, launching Sam's solo career.
Like many of his early hits, "You Send Me" was at least as much pop as R&B, with its gentle guitar strums, crooning white backing vocalists, and simple romantic lyrics. With his smooth phrase, clean articulation, and easy-on-the-ear arrangements (aided by Blackwell and others), Cooke found greater pop success than most of his talented fellow soul pioneers. He gained a few other hits for Keen ("Only Sixteen" being the most famous) before signing with RCA in the beginning of the 1960s, as one of the major label's first popular black singers.
Some of Cooke's RCA hits and albums, particularly the earliest ones, now sound dated and innocuous. While this was in part a reflection of the tastes of Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore, who directed some of Cooke's early RCA sides, there's no question that Cooke himself harboured major crossover aspirations, playing the Copacabana, an elite New York nightclub, as early as 1958. There's also no question that some of these early 60s hits remain classics despite some lightweight elements, especially "Chain Gang", "Wonderful World", and "Cupid".
But Cooke could also get bluesy or even downright funky; furthermore, he found he could do so and continue to score heavily with pop and R&B audiences. On "Twisting The Night Away" and "Shake", he worked up a sweat with the best of them; on "Having A Party" and "Another Saturday Night", he found a midtempo groove between pop and soul. And on "Sad Mood", "Feel It", his cover of "Little Red Rooster", "Good Times" (covered by the Rolling Stones on a 1965 album), and especially the moaning, gospel-pop hybrid "Bring It On Home To Me" (a call-and-response number on which he trades lead vocals with Lou Rawls), he brought his earthiest traits to the fore. Cooke was not satisfied with just being a star; he wrote much of his most popular material, ran his own publishing and management companies, and established his own independent label, Sar Records, for other gospel and soul artists (including early sides by Johnnie Taylor and Bobby Womack). He was also committed to fighting segregation, both on tour and on record, notably on one of his final hits, the supremely moving "A Change Is Gonna Come". By the time that record was issued, however, Cooke was dead, shot by a hotel manager in a seedy part of Los Angeles on December 11th 1964. The details of the incident remain cloudy. Cooke, married and a father, had picked up a woman and driven her to the hotel; according to the official investigation, Cooke got into a fatal fight with the manager after his acquaintance had absconded with his clothes. (The mystery surrounding his death, along with all other facets of his professional career and personal life, are examined in the excellent 1995 biography, You Send Me.) The mourning in the music community, and indeed in the black American community as a whole, was monumental. Soul had lost one of its greatest performers, one who influenced scores of rock and soul musicians. Al Green and Rod Stewart are just a couple of the singers heavily indebted to Cooke's gliding phrasing and gritty, yearning tone.
The Man And His Music (1986; RCA). Cooke deserves an even wider retrospective than this 28-song best-of, which misses some key cuts like "Sad Mood", "Feel It" and "Little Red Rooster". However, it's the best compilation of his work available, including all of the biggest hits, and a couple of his gospel sides with The Soul Stirrers.
Night Beat (1963; ABKCO). Cooke's best album, finally issued on CD in 1995, is a collection of bluesy standards aimed, as the title implies, at creating an after-hours atmosphere. Highlighted by his hit cover of Willie Dixon's "Little Red Rooster"; none of the tracks are duplicated on the The Man And His Music.
Live At The Harlem Square Club, 1963 (1986; RCA). Recorded at a chitlin circuit nightclub in North Miami, this is Cooke's most get-down-and-dirty, R&B-oriented set, with energetic, rougher versions of several of his most popular hits.
by Richie Unterberger
Sam Cooke's Billboard Charts entries
http://home.wanadoo.nl/rock_and_roll/cooke.htm
]
Breaking Clay Makes My Day!
(1935 - 1964)
From 1957 until his premature death in 1964, Sam Cooke was one of America's most popular vocalists of any race or style, creating a stream of classic hit recordings that blended R&B and pop elements without losing sight of his gospel roots. That he did so, by and large, on his own terms, writing much of his material and maintaining a firm direction over much of his production and business affairs, makes his achievements all the more remarkable.
Cooke was born on January 22th 1931 in Clarksdale, Mississippi (his birthdate was amended to 1935 after he became a star), but his family moved to Chicago shortly after he was born. Singing in gospel groups from his teens, Cooke was so prodigious a talent that he was offered a spot to replace lead singer R. H. Harris in one of the top American gospel groups, The Soul Stirrers, in 1950, shortly before he turned twenty. He became a huge star in the gospel circuit, recording many sides with The Soul Stirrers for Specialty Records (famous as the home of Little Richard and many other R&B and rock'n'roll pioneers) during the first half of the 1950s.
Cooke decided to try and replicate his success in gospel within the larger world of pop. Specialty owner Art Rupe was so upset at Cooke for branching out beyond gospel that he told the singer to take his solo outings elsewhere, firing arranger Bumps Blackwell in the same motion. Cooke and Blackwell took the song they had been working on when Rupe excommunicated them - a plaintive, Cooke-penned ballad called "You Send Me" - to the tiny Keen label, who took it to #1 in 1957, launching Sam's solo career.
Like many of his early hits, "You Send Me" was at least as much pop as R&B, with its gentle guitar strums, crooning white backing vocalists, and simple romantic lyrics. With his smooth phrase, clean articulation, and easy-on-the-ear arrangements (aided by Blackwell and others), Cooke found greater pop success than most of his talented fellow soul pioneers. He gained a few other hits for Keen ("Only Sixteen" being the most famous) before signing with RCA in the beginning of the 1960s, as one of the major label's first popular black singers.
Some of Cooke's RCA hits and albums, particularly the earliest ones, now sound dated and innocuous. While this was in part a reflection of the tastes of Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore, who directed some of Cooke's early RCA sides, there's no question that Cooke himself harboured major crossover aspirations, playing the Copacabana, an elite New York nightclub, as early as 1958. There's also no question that some of these early 60s hits remain classics despite some lightweight elements, especially "Chain Gang", "Wonderful World", and "Cupid".
But Cooke could also get bluesy or even downright funky; furthermore, he found he could do so and continue to score heavily with pop and R&B audiences. On "Twisting The Night Away" and "Shake", he worked up a sweat with the best of them; on "Having A Party" and "Another Saturday Night", he found a midtempo groove between pop and soul. And on "Sad Mood", "Feel It", his cover of "Little Red Rooster", "Good Times" (covered by the Rolling Stones on a 1965 album), and especially the moaning, gospel-pop hybrid "Bring It On Home To Me" (a call-and-response number on which he trades lead vocals with Lou Rawls), he brought his earthiest traits to the fore. Cooke was not satisfied with just being a star; he wrote much of his most popular material, ran his own publishing and management companies, and established his own independent label, Sar Records, for other gospel and soul artists (including early sides by Johnnie Taylor and Bobby Womack). He was also committed to fighting segregation, both on tour and on record, notably on one of his final hits, the supremely moving "A Change Is Gonna Come". By the time that record was issued, however, Cooke was dead, shot by a hotel manager in a seedy part of Los Angeles on December 11th 1964. The details of the incident remain cloudy. Cooke, married and a father, had picked up a woman and driven her to the hotel; according to the official investigation, Cooke got into a fatal fight with the manager after his acquaintance had absconded with his clothes. (The mystery surrounding his death, along with all other facets of his professional career and personal life, are examined in the excellent 1995 biography, You Send Me.) The mourning in the music community, and indeed in the black American community as a whole, was monumental. Soul had lost one of its greatest performers, one who influenced scores of rock and soul musicians. Al Green and Rod Stewart are just a couple of the singers heavily indebted to Cooke's gliding phrasing and gritty, yearning tone.
The Man And His Music (1986; RCA). Cooke deserves an even wider retrospective than this 28-song best-of, which misses some key cuts like "Sad Mood", "Feel It" and "Little Red Rooster". However, it's the best compilation of his work available, including all of the biggest hits, and a couple of his gospel sides with The Soul Stirrers.
Night Beat (1963; ABKCO). Cooke's best album, finally issued on CD in 1995, is a collection of bluesy standards aimed, as the title implies, at creating an after-hours atmosphere. Highlighted by his hit cover of Willie Dixon's "Little Red Rooster"; none of the tracks are duplicated on the The Man And His Music.
Live At The Harlem Square Club, 1963 (1986; RCA). Recorded at a chitlin circuit nightclub in North Miami, this is Cooke's most get-down-and-dirty, R&B-oriented set, with energetic, rougher versions of several of his most popular hits.
by Richie Unterberger
Sam Cooke's Billboard Charts entries
http://home.wanadoo.nl/rock_and_roll/cooke.htm
] Breaking Clay Makes My Day!
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