Sam Cooke
Cooke was 29 on the night in 1964 that he was killed by the manager of a $3-a-day Hollywood motel who said she had shot him in self-defense. Cooke was already a star and getting bigger; as suave and sexy as Nat Cole and as passionate as Ray Charles, he had crossed over into popularity among whites without compromising his gospel-soul background. This album, taken from a just-discovered tape of a live appearance at the Harlem Square Club in North Miami in 1963, shows why he is still worth listening to. The set includes several of his major hits: Chain Gang, Twistin' the Night Away, Bring It on Home to Me, and Having a Party. Cooke, who wrote all those tunes himself, was in fine, seductive form—he still sounds amazingly contemporary—and the audience's congregationlike reception heightens the excitement. Anyone who has wondered why such singers as Smokey Robinson, Aretha Franklin and Rod Stewart have cited Cooke as a major influence won't wonder any more after listening to this album. (RCA) (CD)
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