Influential singer, composer, and producer, he is commonly known as the King of Soul for his distinctive vocals and importance within popular music. He began singing as a kid and joined the Soul Stirrers before moving to a solo career where he scored some of hit songs including “You Send Me“, “A Change Is Gonna Come“, “Cupid“, “Wonderful World“, “Chain Gang“, “Twistin’ the Night Away“, and “Bring It On Home to Me“.

Here’s The Story Of Mr. Sam Cooke

Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964),known professionally as Sam Cooke, an American singer, songwriter, civil-rights activist and entrepreneur.

His pioneering contributions to soul music contributed to the rise of Aretha Franklin, Bobby Womack, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and Billy Preston, and popularized the likes of Otis Redding and James Brown. AllMusic biographer Bruce Eder wrote that Cooke was “the inventor of soul music”, and possessed “an incredible natural singing voice and a smooth, effortless delivery that has never been surpassed”.

On December 11, 1964, at the age of 33, Cooke was shot and killed by Bertha Franklin, the manager of the Hacienda Motel in Los Angeles, California. After an inquest and investigation carried out by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), the courts ruled Cooke’s death to be a justifiable homicide. Since that time, the circumstances of his death have been called into question by Cooke’s family.

He was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi, in 1931 (he added the “e” to his last name in 1957 to signify a new start to his life).He was the fifth of eight children of the Rev. Charles Cook, a minister in the Church of Christ (Holiness), and his wife, Annie Mae. One of his younger brothers, L.C. (1932–2017),later became a member of the doo-wop band Johnny Keyes and the Magnificents.

The family moved to Chicago in 1933. Cook attended Doolittle Elementary and Wendell Phillips Academy High School in Chicago, the same school that Nat “King” Cole had attended a few years earlier. Sam Cooke began his career with his siblings in a group called the Singing Children when he was six years old.He first became known as lead singer with the Highway QC’s when he was a teenager, having joined the group at the age of 14. During this time, Cooke befriended fellow gospel singer and neighbor Lou Rawls, who sang in a rival gospel group .

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