Featured Album
- JUN 17, 2003
- 31 Songs
- A Change Is Gonna Come - EP · 1964
- The Best of Sam Cooke · 1962
- The Best of Sam Cooke · 1957
- The Best of Sam Cooke · 1962
- The Best of Sam Cooke · 1960
- The Best of Sam Cooke · 1961
- The Best of Sam Cooke · 1962
- Twistin' the Night Away · 1962
- Ain't That Good News · 1964
- Swing Low · 1960
Essential Albums
- By 1964, Sam Cooke had amassed an unprecedented amount of creative capital in the music business. He used it to make an album that he envisioned as a declaration of independence but instead became his epitaph. Nothing Cooke did seemed to come hard for him—be it gospel, which he’d sung with The Soul Stirrers before going pop in 1957, or teenage romance like “You Send Me,” or proto-bangers like “Twistin’ the Night Away” and “Shake” that had both white and black kids moving. He'd just hired a take-no-prisoners accountant, Allen Klein, who renegotiated his deal with RCA, gaining Cooke power and autonomy that was unheard of at the time—particularly for an African-American pop star—over his money, which songs he’d sing, and who would play on his records. Cooke was fixing to spend that capital, casting a shadow both as a mogul and as an artist with a social conscience. Ain’t That Good News featured a classic Saturday night/Sunday morning structure: side A, uptempo party tunes; side B, ballads and woe. The title track takes a classic gospel song The Soul Stirrers knew and swaps in pop lyrics—the good news coming isn’t the word of God but word that his girl is headed home. Time and again, songs are flipped in new directions: The country hit “Tennessee Waltz” gets a New Orleans horn chart; the teen heartbreaker “Falling in Love” invokes heaven like a hymn might. The highlight, though, is “A Change Is Gonna Come.” Cooke was no radical, but he read the papers and the “whites only” signs, he’d heard Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind,” and they all inspired him to weigh in on the civil rights struggles. Arranged by his buddy René Hall, the song is a mountain of worry and as light as a hummingbird. But before it was released as a single, Cooke was shot dead under murky circumstances in a South Los Angeles motel. He left behind music that became a foundation for Aretha, Otis, Al, D’Angelo, and other soul singers ever since.
- Sam Cooke challenged R&B’s focus on singles with this carefully crafted exploration of bluesy, midnight moods. Juke-joint grit turns elegant on “Laughin’ and Clownin’” and “You Gotta Move,” while Cooke recasts the blues standard “Fool’s Paradise” as a ribbon of silken vocal maneuvers. There is no filler. There are no wasted notes. With each exquisite and plaintive measure, Cooke invests simple works like “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen” with newfound richness, and lures listeners into the magnetic sparseness of “Lost and Lookin’.”
Albums
Artist Playlists
- His life was short, but his music is immortal.
- The original soul man gets romantic.
- Airy romance mingled with messages of personal resilience.
- The adulation he elicited from live audiences is no mystery.
Singles & EPs
Live Albums
Compilations
Appears On
- Various Artists
- The Soul Stirrers
- The Soul Stirrers
- The Soul Stirrers
About Sam Cooke
A teen gospel star known for his uncommon charisma as a frontman, Sam Cooke successfully translated the rousing warmth of church standards to the breezy realm of secular pop. After leading The Soul Stirrers, Cooke (born Samuel Cook in Clarksdale, Mississippi in 1931) quickly recorded a procession of hit solo singles that continue to endure. His 1957 breakthrough “You Send Me” distills devotional themes into a romantically pure ballad, while “Chain Gang” similarly repurposes the blues’ classic call-and-response motif. Cooke crafted a distinctive vocal signature with his immaculate phrasing and playful curlicues, establishing himself as an affable recording artist while maintaining a thrillingly animated live presence that made ample use of his early days in church. As heard on “Cupid” and “Only Sixteen,” his seamless blending of gospel grace, bluesy swagger, and pop lightness threw open the doors for soul music as a mainstream proposition, all without trading away his genuine flair as a singer. Likewise, “Having a Party” and “Twisting the Night Away” capture a celebratory air that still feels spontaneous and true to life today. Following Cooke’s sudden death at age 33, his posthumous 1964 single “A Change Is Gonna Come” emerged as a steadfast anthem for the civil rights movement, both then and now.
- HOMETOWN
- Clarksdale, MS, United States
- BORN
- January 22, 1931
- GENRE
- R&B/Soul