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Sam Cooke

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Sam Cooke, born Samuel Cook in 1931 in Clarksdale, Mississippi, was an American soul singer and songwriter. He was the son of a Baptist minister and grew up in Chicago. At the age of six he sang in a little group with his brothers and sisters, and as a teenager he became the singer of the Highway Q.C.'s. In 1950 he replaced R.H. Harris in the gospel group The Soul Stirrers. His young, supple voice drew mostly young girls to the concerts.

Music and breakthrough

In 1956 he left the Soul Stirrers for a career in popular music. That drew criticism from the gospel world. He first recorded his first pop song under another name and in 1958 added an e to his surname. In his career of thirteen years he had twenty-nine singles in the American top forty. In 1964 came A Change Is Gonna Come, a song that became a symbol of the civil rights movement. At the end of 1964 he was shot dead in a motel in Los Angeles. His family has doubted the official account ever since.

Influence

Cooke brought the singing of gospel into popular music and is often called the King of Soul. In 2015 Rolling Stone ranked him third among the greatest singers of all time. In School of Rock he is the example of a singer from gospel who gave a voice to the struggle for equal rights.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to A Change Is Gonna Come and notice how his voice begins, calm and almost soft, and then grows stronger. Can you hear the gospel in the way he sings the lines?

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

See also

Categories: ArtistsSoul