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Top 10 Facts About Sam Cooke

Sam Cooke was a singer, producer, entrepreneur and songwriter who was a celebrated figure in the music industry alongside other popular figures like Ray Charles. Cooke was often seen as a representative of a sweet soul. Sam Cooke started his career in the early 1950s as a member of the Soul Stirrers which was a Christian gospel group that electrified the American Church community around the country.

This article will explore the top ten facts about the musician that will tell us more about him and his career in the entertainment industry. Furthermore, the article will allow the reader to know more about the celebrated artist and the impact he had on soul and other musicians.

1.      He was born in Mississippi

Sam Cooke was born Samuel Cook on 22^nd January 1931 in Delta, Clarksdale. He was one of the eight children of a minister to the Church of Christ and his wife. This means that the artist was church bred as his father was a minister. When he was three years old, the family to Chicago where he started his singing career. Cooke would sing in a group that comprised his siblings when he was seven years old. By the time he was fourteen years old, he was a lead singer in a gospel group called Highway QC’s that was famed for creating secular singing beats. The artist then left the group and joined the Soul Stirrers in 1951 where his professional music career began.

2.      He believed in luck

Even though Sam had been raised in a Christian family where his father often preached about how God was the one who blessed people, the artist had a duality when it came to superstitions. Having been raised by a father that encouraged him to stand after what he believed in and to never back down when he was in the right.

This teaching came to bite him in the back when Sam was choosing a stage name. this is because the artist just added an e to the family name as he believed a name with an even number of letters would bring him luck. His way of choosing a name was against what his father believed and taught his flock but he had no choice as he had taught his son to stand up for what he believed was right.

3.      He did not conform to society’s rules

Since he was little, it was clear to people who knew the artist that he did things in his own way. He never bothered with what society expected of him. For instance, Cooke boldly brought his nieces and nephews to amusement parks that catered primarily to white people at a time when society did not accept Black Americans participating in numerous activities. He joined them as they rode roller coasters, unconcerned in the slightest by the looks of scorn they received from other passengers. Cooke was clearly not afraid to upset the society

4.      His first child was with his high school sweetheart

While Sam was with the Soul Stirrers during the early years of his music career, he got a child with his high school sweetheart Barbara Campbell. His development did not reflect well on him as a musician who was in the religious sphere and thus created some major issues.

To ensure that having a child out of wedlock did not create major problems for him and possibly end his career, Cooke kept quiet about the child and did not even bother to help raise the child. Campbell had to raise the child on her own. A year later, Sam announced his engagement to Dolores Milligan who was a dancer and thus abandoned his high school sweetheart together with their child.

5.      He was an avid reader

As a voracious reader, Cooke would bury himself in a book or magazine whenever he had the chance. So that he could read while driving, he even had an aviation swivel light put in his vehicle. No one in his band or his travelling companions, brothers Charles and LC, were shocked to see him purchase a copy of each magazine they saw when they stopped at pharmacies along the tour route. Aristotle and historian John Hope Franklin were two authors he studied. Sam’s brothers claim that he had a lifelong interest in learning that started when he was a little child.

6.      He was an entrepreneur

Sam Cooke made remarkable steps in the music industry when he launched his own record label known as SAR Records. The record label released albums for artists like Mel Carter, Billy Preston, Soul Stirrers and Johnnie Taylor. He was also the owner of Kags, a publishing and management firm. He was regarded as a forerunner of soul music, and as such, his influence had a significant impact on the careers of other artists, including Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and many more.

7.      He loved sports

 Despite being prohibited from participating in sports as a youngster, he made friends with Cassius Clay, a professional boxer who changed his name to Muhammad Ali after converting to Islam. He became a part of a close-knit group of civil rights activists because of this bond, which also included Malcolm X and football great Jim Brown.

8.      He cancelled a show because it was segregated

Cooke once cancelled a show in Memphis Tennessee after he received a telegram from the local NAACP informing him that the venue was segregated with one of the three balconies reserved for black audiences. This meant that black audiences made up a fourth of the audience. He sent his brother to go check it out and when it was confirmed that it was true, he cancelled that appearance immediately. He then went on to release a statement stating that it was his policy not to play in a place where the audience was forcefully segregated.

9.      He had two funerals

Cooke was killed in December 1964 and had two funerals. His body was flown to Chicago where his family and around 200,000 fans gathered at the Tabernacle Baptist Church to mourn him. His body was then flown back to Los Angeles where a second service took place at the Mount Sinai Baptist Church. During the service, Ray Charles performed a rendition of  The Angels Keep Watching Over Me after Bess Griffin became overcome with emotions that he could not sing.

10.  Posthumous Honors

Numerous posthumous awards have been given to Cooke. He was one of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s initial inductees in 1986. The Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame both inducted him in 1987 and 2013, respectively. A Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award was given to him in 1994. Both the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time” and the “Greatest Singers of All Time” lists published by Rolling Stone Magazine include him.

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