Portrait Of A Legend 1951-1964 Mississippi

Portrait Of A Legend 1951-1964

Sam Cooke

ABKCO, 2003

http://www.samcooke.com/

REVIEW BY: Jason Warburg

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 04/11/2008

A lot of people say Sam Cooke invented soul music.

Now, I don’t see it quite like that.  Not because Sam Cooke wasn’t the most pivotal figure in the early history of the soul genre -- he absolutely was -- but because I don’t entirely buy the idea that individual artists “invent” genres.

Like other similarly singular and vital figures in music history, Cooke didn’t so much invent soul music as see clearly and harness effectively its potential before anyone else.  It’s a vision thing, you see, and that, Sam Cooke had in abundance. 

Cooke emerged from the gospel tradition, having been a member of the Soul Stirrers, one of the nation’s leading gospel groups, since 1950.  His years singing inspirational music paralleled the rise of artists like Chuck Berry and Little Richard, who employed the emerging sound of rock and roll to bridge the gap between white and black audiences and appeal to both.  By 1956, Cooke had established himself as the lead vocalist and chief songwriter of the Soul Stirrers – and he was eager to move on to bigger challenges.  He was determined to reach a broader audience, and to do that he would have to break the gospel community’s greatest taboo and sing secular music.