Sam Cooke was initially very popular singing gospel music, and knowing his fans would loathe a transition to secular music, he first tried released a secular album as “Dale Cooke” — which fooled nobody.Read more
Sam Cooke was inspired to write “A Change Is Gonna Come” after hearing Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A’Changin”.Read more
Amy Winehouse’s massively influential 2006 album BACK TO BLACK featured a reggae-tinted cover of Sam Cooke’s 1960 song “Cupid”.Read more
Sonny Bono’s career began as a songwriter for Specialty records — his first big break was when Sam Cooke recorded his song “Things You Do To me” in 1962.Read more
Marvin Gaye’s last name was actually “Gay” — he added the “E” in following an early hero, Sam Cooke, who added the “e” to his last name first.Read more
Aretha Franklin covers Sam Cooke’s songs “A Change Is Gonna Come” and “Good Times” on her famed 1967 album “I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You”.Read more
Influential soul singer Baby Huey’s sole posthumous album, “The Baby Huey Story” featured a cover of Junior Wells’ “Messin With The Kid” and Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Going to Come”.Read more
Sam Cooke covered Howlin Wolf’s “Little Red Rooster” a year after it’s release, and two years after, The Rolling Stones made it a #1 hit in the UK.Read more
Sam Cooke’s famous 1962 live performance at Harlem Square Club included King Curtis on Sax and Cornell Dupree on guitar.Read more
One of the undisputed best live releases of all time, Sam Cooke’s 1963 “Live at the Harlem Square Club” was left unreleased by RCA Records for over 22 years… because it was too “loud, raw, artful and raucous”.Read more
Specialty Records was founded in 1945 and recorded Little Richard, Guitar Slim, Percy Mayfield, John Lee Hooker, Sam Cooke and more.Read more
Sam Cooke, then a gospel star, released his first pop album in 1956 under the alias “Dale Cook”, but nobody was fooled.Read more
Lou Rawls sang that stirring background vocal response in Sam Cooke’s 1962 hit “Bring it on Home to Me”.Read more
