The Ladies Man

I remember listening to his music when I would ride down the South for family reunions with my grandparents and my mother told me how she has a crush on this man. Who is he? He is none other than Sam Cooke known for his beautiful voice and his southern gentleman like qualities women loved him and men wanted to possess his swagger. Sam most memorable song which was released right before his death was "A Change Is Gonna Come" a song that became apart of the soundtrack for the Civil Rights Movement. This is by far one of my favorite songs by Sam Cooke besides "Cupid", "You Send Me" and "What A Wonderful World."

Born as Sam Cooke on January 22, 1931 in Clarksdale, Mississippi his father was Baptist minister and his mother was a domestic woman he was one of eight children. His family moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1933.  Sam began his music career in a gospel group with his siblings called The Singing Children. Eventually he would become known as the lead singer of the group Highway QC's as a teenager.  He would later song with the group The Soul Stirrers and the group with Speciality Records  and recorded many gospel singles.


Sam Cooke wanted to become a secular artist but there was a stigma at this time for gospel singers to become secular singers. So to avoid the verbal backlash he used the alias Dale Cook and recorded his secular debut Love able released in 1956. Although all of his peers knew that is was Sam.  His success would continue with songs such as "Chain Gang", "Bring it Home to Me," "Another Saturday" just to name a few. By 1963  he released the LP Night Beat and in 1964 his critically acclaimed album Ain't That Good News was released and spawned 5 singles.


Facts: Sam Cooke is considered to be one of the pioneers of the Soul Music genre. He was also the first modern black artist to attach to business to his career he owned a record label and publishing company.

In his personal life tragedy struck when his 18 month old son Vincent Cooke drowned after he wandered away from his mother's supervision. He drowned in the pool in front of their home and this caused more trouble in their marriage. Because had many extra martial affairs and the death of son made him depressed and caused to remain distant from his wife; Sam began to work every chance he had to avoid thinking about it he was deeply depressed.



On December 10, 1964 Sam was shot and killed at the age of 33 by hotel manager in Los Angeles, California the woman claimed Sam attacked her and it would be ruled as a justifiable homicide. Sam career was short and brief but he gave us wonderful music that is timeless and inspired many Male R&B Singers after him.

Following his death Motown had the Supremes do a tribute album in honor which was a cover of all his songs. In 1986 he a charter member inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, in 1999 he was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Awards at the Grammy's and  in 2004 Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 16 on their 100 Greatest Artists of All Time list, and four years  later the magazine ranked him the 4th Greatest Singer of All Time.