Sam Cooke
Samuel "Sam" Cooke (born January 22, 1931 in Clarksdale , Mississippi , † December 11, 1964 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American singer and songwriter . He is considered one of the "fathers" of soul .
Life
Together with his siblings he started in the formation Soul Children , followed by the group Highway QCs , of which he belonged as a teenager. In 1950 he achieved success and fame in the gospel community with the group The Soul Stirrers .
His first single, Lovable (1956), he released under the pen name Dale Cooke . The Soul Stirrers record company, Specialty Records , was annoyed and put Cooke and his producer Bumps Blackwell under pressure, so that both of them dissolved their contracts in 1957 and switched to Keen Records. Cooke had commercial success there with his song You Send Me .
Cooke wrote his own songs and founded his own music label SAR Records in the 1960s . With this he took among others the music groups The Simms Twins , The Valentinos , Bobby Womack and Johnnie Taylor under contract.
Sam Cooke left Keen Records and signed a contract with the major RCA label . His first single, Chain Gang , became one of his most famous songs. Further hits like Cupid , Sad Mood , Bring it on Home to Me , Another Saturday Night , Twistin 'the Night Away and Wonderful World followed.
On December 11, 1964, Sam Cooke was shot dead by motel manager Bertha Franklin at the Hacienda Motel in Los Angeles . Franklin claimed at interrogation that Cooke shot and killed Cooke in self-defense after he broke into her office and attacked her. The exact circumstances of death have not been clarified. His grave is in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California .
aftermath
Posthumously followed by several publications, many of which were hits, including the protest song A Change Is Gonna Come . In the 1980s , his song Wonderful World became immensely popular again through use in advertising. There are also cover versions of Cooke songs by well-known artists such as Rod Stewart , Cat Stevens , Otis Redding , Aretha Franklin , Smokey Robinson , Art Garfunkel , James Morrison , Amy Winehouse , Duffy and Jeff Johnson. In addition, his nephew RB Greaves had a world hit with Take A Letter, Maria in the late 1960s.
- Sam Cooke was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 .
- Sam Cooke was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987.
- Sam Cooke received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999.
- Sam Cooke was voted 16th among the 100 Greatest Musicians of All Time by Rolling Stone magazine in 2004 . The same magazine ranked him fourth for Best Singer of All Time in 2008 and 86th of the 100 Best Songwriters of All Time in 2015 .
- In June 2011, the city of Chicago named part of East 36th Street near Cottage Grove Avenue in "Sam Cooke Way". Cooke had spent time here as a teenager.
- Sam Cooke was inducted into the Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio at Cleveland State University in 2013.
- A Change Is Gonna Come ranks 12 of the 500 greatest songs of all time of Rolling Stone . The civil rights anthem was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2000and the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in 2006. The website Pitchfork voted A Change Is Gonna Come # 3 in the Top 200 Songs of the 1960s.
- You Send Me was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998, (What a) Wonderful World in 2014, and Bring It on Home to Me in 2018.
Discography
Albums
Studio albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
 UK
|
 US
|
R&B
|
|||
| 1958 | Songs by Sam Cooke | - | - | - | - | - | - |
First published: February 1958
|
| Encore | - | - | - | - | - | - |
First published: 1958
|
|
| 1959 | Tribute to the Lady | - | - | - | - | - | - |
First published: 1959
|
| Hit kit | - | - | - | - | - | - |
First published: 1959
|
|
| 1960 | The Wonderful World of Sam Cooke | - | - | - | - | - | - |
First published: 1960
|
| Cooke's tour | - | - | - | - | - | - |
First published: April 1960
|
|
| Hits of the 50's | - | - | - | - | - | - |
First published: August 1960
|
|
| 1961 | Swing low | - | - | - | - | - | - |
First published: March 1961
|
| My kind of blues | - | - | - | - | - | - |
First published: October 1961
|
|
| 1962 | Twistin 'the Night Away | - | - | - | - | - | - |
First published: April 1962
|
| 1963 | Mr. Soul | - | - | - | - | - | - |
First published: February 1963
|
| Night beat | - | - | - | - |
US62 (19 weeks) US |
- |
First published: August 1963
|
|
| 1964 | Ain't That Good News | - | - | - | - |
US34 (19 weeks) US |
- |
First published: March 1, 1964
|
| 1965 | shake | - | - | - | - |
US44 (23 weeks) US |
R&B1 (15 weeks) R&B |
First published: January 1965
|
| Try a little love | - | - | - | - |
US120 (7 weeks) US |
- |
First published: October 1965
|
|
gray hatching : no chart data available for this year
Live albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DE
|
AT
|
CH
|
UK
|
US
|
R&B
|
|||
| 1964 | Sam Cooke at the Copa | - | - | - | - |
US29 (55 weeks) US |
R&B1 (27 weeks) R&B |
First published: October 1964
|
| 1995 | Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963 | - | - | - | - |
US134 (8 weeks) US |
- |
First published: June 1985
# 443 of the Rolling Stone 500 |
gray hatching : no chart data available for this year
Compilations
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DE
|
AT
|
CH
|
UK
|
US
|
R&B
|
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| 1962 | The Best of Sam Cooke | - | - | - | - |
US136 (6 weeks) US |
R&B5 (5 weeks) R&B |
First published: August 1962
|
| 1965 | The Best of Sam Cooke, Volume 2 | - | - | - | - |
US128 (8 weeks) US |
R&B7 (2 weeks) R&B |
First published: July 1965
|
| 1986 | The Man and His Music |
DE21 (15 weeks) DE |
- | - |
UK8th  (27 weeks)UK |
US175 (8 weeks) US |
- |
First published: February 1986
|
| 2003 | Portrait Of A Legend 1951-1964 | - | - | - |
UK19th  (25 weeks)UK |
US135 (1 week) US |
- | |
gray hatching : no chart data available for this year
More compilations
- 1960: I Thank God
- 1965: The Gospel Soul of Sam Cooke with the Soul Stirrers
- 1965: Try a Little Love
- 1966: The Unforgettable Sam Cooke
- 1969: Cha Cha Cha
- 1969: Only Sixteen
- 1969: Sam's Songs
- 1969: So Wonderful
- 1969: The Late & Great Sam Cooke
- 1969: The One and Only Sam Cooke
- 1970: The 2 Sides of Sam Cooke
- 1970: This Is Sam Cooke
- 1972: Golden Sounds
- 1974: The Legendary Sam Cooke
- 1975: Sam Cooke interprets Billie Holiday
- 1976: Golden Age
- 1976: Sings the Billie Holiday Story
- 1979: When I Fall in Love
- 1981: Havin 'a Party
- 1983: Fabulous Sam Cooke
- 1983: His Greatest Hits
- 1984: Solitude
- 1986: Forever
- 1986: Around the World
- 1987: 20 greatest hits
- 1987: An original
- 1987: Swing out Brother
- 1987: Wonderful World: The Best of Sam Cooke
- 1989: World of Sam Cooke
- 1990: Sam Cooke & the Soul Stirrers
- 1991: 24 golden hits
- 1991: His Earliest Recordings
- 1993: You Send Me
- 1994: The SAR Records Story
- 1995: The Rhythm and the Blues
- 1998: 20 great hits
- 1998: Greatest Hits
- 2000: 16 Most Requested Songs
- 2000: Sam Cooke Collection
- 2000: The Man Who Invented Soul
- 2001: hits
- 2002: The Best of Sam Cooke
- 2002: Keep Movin 'On
- 2002: The Complete Specialty Recordings of Sam Cooke
- 2005: The Best of Sam (UK:
silver) - 2011: The RCA Albums Collection
Video albums
- 2003 Sam Cooke-Legend
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | [↑]: treated together with the previous entry; [←]: placed in both charts |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DE
|
AT
|
CH
|
UK
|
US
|
R&B
|
A. C.
|
||||
| 1957 | You Send Me Songs by Sam Cooke |
- | - | - |
UK29 (1 week) UK |
US1 (26 weeks) US |
R&B1 (18 weeks) R&B |
- | ||
| Summertime Songs by Sam Cooke[DE: ↑][AT: ↑][CH: ↑] |
- |
US81 (4 weeks) US |
- | - | ||||||
| I'll come running back to you | - | - | - | - |
US22 (14 weeks) US |
R&B1 (10 weeks) R&B |
- |
A side
|
||
| Forever[DE: ↑][AT: ↑][CH: ↑][UK: ↑] |
US60 (5 weeks) US |
- | - |
B side
|
||||||
| 1958 | (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons Hit Kit |
- | - | - | - |
US43 (11 weeks) US |
R&B15 (1 week) R&B |
- |
A side
|
|
| Desire Me The Wonderful World of Sam Cooke[DE: ↑][AT: ↑][CH: ↑][UK: ↑] |
US47 (12 weeks) US |
R&B17 (1 week) R&B |
- |
B side
|
||||||
| You Were Made For Me The Wonderful World of Sam Cooke |
- | - | - | - |
US39 (13 weeks) US |
R&B7 (2 weeks) R&B |
- |
A side
|
||
| Lonely Island Hit Kit[DE: ↑][AT: ↑][CH: ↑][UK: ↑] |
US39 (7 weeks) US |
R&B10 (2 weeks) R&B |
- |
B side
|
||||||
| Win Your Love For Me Hit Kit |
- | - | - | - |
US33 (17 weeks) US |
R&B4 (17 weeks) R&B |
- | |||
| Love You Most of All Hit Kit |
- | - | - | - |
US26 (16 weeks) US |
R&B12 (15 weeks) R&B |
- | |||
| 1959 | Everybody Likes to Cha Cha Cha Hit Kit |
- | - | - | - |
US31 (13 weeks) US |
R&B2 (14 weeks) R&B |
- | ||
| Only Sixteen Hit Kit |
- | - | - |
UK23 (4 weeks) UK |
US28 (10 weeks) US |
R&B13 (6 weeks) R&B |
- | |||
| There, I've Said It Again The Wonderful World of Sam Cooke |
- | - | - | - |
US81 (5 weeks) US |
R&B25 (1 week) R&B |
- | |||
| 1960 | Teenage Sonata | - | - | - | - |
US50 (7 weeks) US |
R&B22 (2 weeks) R&B |
- | ||
|
Wonderful World The Wonderful World of Sam Cooke |
DE2 (23 weeks) DE |
AT18 (8 weeks) AT |
CH7 (11 weeks) CH |
UK2 (19 weeks)UK |
US12 (15 weeks) US |
R&B2 (10 weeks) R&B |
- |
In 1960 only in UK (number 27) and US chartered
1986 due to a TV advertisement for Levi's in Europe, number one hits re-released in Belgium and number 373 in the Rolling Stone 500 in the Netherlands |
||
| Chain Gang Swing Low |
- | - | - |
UK9 (11 weeks) UK |
US2 (16 weeks) US |
R&B2 (13 weeks) R&B |
- | |||
| Sad mood | - | - | - | - |
US29 (8 weeks) US |
R&B23 (5 weeks) R&B |
- | |||
| 1961 | That's It - I Quit - I'm Movin 'On Twistin' the Night Away |
- | - | - | - |
US31 (8 weeks) US |
R&B25 (4 weeks) R&B |
- | ||
| Cupid | - | - | - |
UK7 (14 weeks) UK |
US17 (12 weeks) US |
R&B20 (6 weeks) R&B |
- |
452nd place in the Rolling Stone 500
|
||
| Feel It | - | - | - | - |
US56 (9 weeks) US |
- | - |
A side
|
||
| It's all right[DE: ↑][AT: ↑][CH: ↑][UK: ↑] |
US93 (1 week) US |
- | - |
B side
|
||||||
| 1962 | Twistin 'the Night Away Twistin' the Night Away |
- | - | - |
UK6 (14 weeks) UK |
US9 (15 weeks) US |
R&B1 (15 weeks) R&B |
- | ||
| Bring It On Home to Me | - | - | - |
UK- |
US13 (11 weeks) US |
R&B2 (18 weeks) R&B |
- |
A-side
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame |
||
| Having a party[DE: ↑][AT: ↑][CH: ↑][UK: ↑] |
US17 (15 weeks) US |
R&B4 (11 weeks) R&B |
A. C.12 (2 weeks) A. C. |
B side
|
||||||
| Somebody Have Mercy Twistin 'the Night Away |
- | - | - | - |
US70 (6 weeks) US |
R&B3 (15 weeks) R&B |
- |
A side
|
||
| Nothing Can Change This Love Mr. Soul[DE: ↑][AT: ↑][CH: ↑][UK: ↑] |
US12 (11 weeks) US |
R&B2 (12 weeks) R&B |
A. C.4 (10 weeks) A. C. |
B side
|
||||||
| 1963 | Send Me Some Lovin ' Mr. Soul |
- | - | - | - |
US13 (9 weeks) US |
R&B2 (10 weeks) R&B |
- |
A side
|
|
| Baby, baby, baby[DE: ↑][AT: ↑][CH: ↑][UK: ↑] |
US66 (7 weeks) US |
- | - |
B side
|
||||||
| Another Saturday Night Ain't That Good News |
- | - | - |
UK23 (13 weeks) UK |
US10 (11 weeks) US |
R&B1 (10 weeks) R&B |
- |
1986 ranked 75th again in the UK
|
||
| Frankie and Johnny | - | - | - |
UK30 (6 weeks) UK |
US14 (11 weeks) US |
R&B4 (11 weeks) R&B |
A. C.2 (9 weeks) A. C. |
|||
| Little Red Rooster Night Beat |
- | - | - | - |
US11 (10 weeks) US |
R&B2 1 (15 weeks) R&B |
- | |||
| 1964 | Good News Ain't That Good News |
- | - | - | - |
US11 (10 weeks) US |
R&B1 1 (14 weeks) R&B |
- |
on the associated album the song title is called Is not That Good News reported
|
|
| Good Times Ain't That Good News |
- | - | - | - |
US11 (10 weeks) US |
R&B1 1 (14 weeks) R&B |
- |
A side
|
||
| Tennessee Waltz Ain't That Good News[DE: ↑][AT: ↑][CH: ↑][UK: ↑] |
US35 (8 weeks) US |
R&B6 1 (15 weeks) R&B |
- |
B side
|
||||||
| That's where it's at | - | - | - | - |
US93 (3 weeks) US |
R&B8 1 (12 weeks) R&B |
- |
A side
|
||
| Cousin of mine[DE: ↑][AT: ↑][CH: ↑][UK: ↑] |
US31 (12 weeks) US |
R&B6 1 (11 weeks) R&B |
A. C.7 (1 week) A. C. |
B side
|
||||||
| 1965 | Shake shake |
- | - | - | - |
US7 (11 weeks) US |
R&B2 (14 weeks) R&B |
- |
A side
|
|
|
A Change Is Gonna Come Ain't That Good News[DE: ↑][AT: ↑][CH: ↑] |
UK- |
US31 (7 weeks) US |
- | - |
B-side
ranked 12th of the Rolling Stone 500 , Rock and Roll Hall of Fame |
|||||
| It's Got the Whole World Shakin ' | - | - | - | - |
US41 (7 weeks) US |
R&B15 (7 weeks) R&B |
- | |||
| When a Boy Falls in Love Try a Little Love |
- | - | - | - |
US52 (5 weeks) US |
- | - | |||
| Sugar Dumpling Twistin 'the Night Away |
- | - | - | - |
US32 (9 weeks) US |
R&B18 (9 weeks) R&B |
- | |||
| 1966 | Let's Go Steady Again Hit Kit |
- | - | - | - |
US97 (1 week) US |
- | - | ||
gray hatching : no chart data available for this year
1 Between December 30, 1963 and January 23, 1965, Billboard Magazine suspended its R&B charts. In his chart statistics for this period, Joel Whitburn switched to the “Top 50 in R&B Locations” of Cashbox magazine.
literature
- Nelson George: The Death of Rhythm & Blues . Translated from the American by Lore Boas. Hannibal Verlag, Vienna 1990, ISBN 3-85445-051-6 , pp. 102-106.
- Peter Guralnick: Dream Boogie. The Triumph of Sam Cooke . Abacus, London 2005, ISBN 0-349-11958-9 (English).
- Irwin Stambler: The Encyclopedia Of Pop, Rock And Soul . 3rd revised edition. St. Martin's Press, New York City 1989, ISBN 0-312-02573-4 , pp. 142 f.
Web links
Commons : Sam Cooke - collection of images, videos and audio files
- Sam Cooke at Discogs (English)
- Sam Cooke at Rock-and-Roll-AG , last accessed on August 5, 2013
- Sam Cooke in the Songwriters Hall of Fame , last accessed August 5, 2013
- Sam Cooke in the Internet Movie Database (English)
swell
- ↑ Tobias Rapp : role model with B-side. In: taz. December 11, 2004, accessed October 19, 2008 .
- ↑ Sam Cooke in the Find a Grave database .
- ↑ Sam Cooke . rockhall.com. Retrieved August 8, 2008.
- ↑ Biography . Archived from the original on February 20, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
- ^ The Immortals: The First Fifty . In: Rolling Stone (Issue 946) . Rolling Stone. April 15, 2004. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
- ↑ Sam Cooke
- ↑ 100 Greatest Singers of All Time . In: Rolling Stone (Issue 1066) . Rolling Stone. November 27, 2008. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
- ↑ The 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. Rolling Stone , August 2015, accessed August 7, 2017 .
- ↑ Chicago Honors Sam Cooke With His Own Street . News One. June 20, 2011. Retrieved February 10, 2012.
- ↑ a b GRAMMY Hall Of Fame on grammy.com (accessed April 16, 2020)
- ↑ Complete National Recording Registry Listing on loc.gov (accessed April 16, 2020)
- ↑ The 200 Best Songs of the 1960s on pitchfork.com (accessed April 16, 2020)
- ↑ a b c d Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
- ↑ a b c d Music Sales Awards: UK
- ↑ a b c The Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll , Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
- ↑ Chart placement by Wonderful World in Belgium
- ↑ Chart placement by Wonderful World in the Netherlands
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Cooke, Sam |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Cook, Samuel (real name); Cooke, Dale (pseudonym) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American singer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 22, 1930 or January 22, 1931 or January 22, 1932 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Clarksdale , Mississippi |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 11, 1964 |
| Place of death | Los Angeles , California |