January 22: Jan 22: The late great Sam Cooke was born in 1931

“I don’t even know why I do what I do,….when I do it, it just comes.”
~Sam Cooke (to Bobby Womack)

You Send Me:


Crossing Over (documentary):

Wikipedia:

Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), better known under the stage name Sam Cooke, was an American gospel,R&B, soul, and pop singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. He is considered to be one of the pioneers and founders of soul music. He is commonly known as the King of Soul for his distinctive vocal abilities and influence on the modern world of music. His contribution in pioneering soul music led to the rise of Aretha Franklin, Bobby Womack, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and popularized the likes of Otis Redding and James Brown.

Bring It On Home To Me – Live At The Harlem Square Club, 1963:

Cooke had 30 U.S. top 40 hits between 1957 and 1964, and a further three after his death. Major hits like “You Send Me”, “A Change Is Gonna Come”, “Cupid”, “Chain Gang”, “Wonderful World”, and “Twistin’ the Night Away” are some of his most popular songs. Cooke was also among the first modern black performers and composers to attend to the business side of his musical career. He founded both a record label and a publishing company as an extension of his careers as a singer and composer. He also took an active part in the American Civil Rights Movement.

On December 11, 1964, Cooke was fatally shot by the manager of the Hacienda Motel in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 33. At the time, the courts ruled that Cooke was drunk and distressed, and that the manager had killed Cooke in what was later ruled ajustifiable homicide. Since that time, the circumstances of his death have been widely questioned.

A Change Is Gonna Come:

There been times that I thought I couldn’t last for long
But now I think I’m able to carry on
It’s been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

Posthumous honors:

• In 1986, Cooke was inducted as a charter member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
• In 1999, Cooke was honored with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him #16 on their 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.

Album of the day: Night Beat (1963):

emagazine ranked it No. 4 on “The 100 Best Albums of the Last Twenty Years.” In 2012, Rolling Stone ranked it No. 23 on their The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.

• Hallgeir & Egil