My sister, God bless her, was a music lover. She had her hand kissed in the 1950’s by a member of the Kingston Trio.
When it came to Sam Cooke, she ecstatically rhapsodized over his voice, inflections, and overall amazing singing talent. After hearing her amazing descriptions of Cooke’s voice, I listened to Cooke differently.
Sad that he was caught up in the dysfunctional and dangerous black culture of drugs, guns, and death.
Black singers both male and female have been so good at portraying the intense connections between the sexes in these kinds of songs. But then you look at their culture and how they handle (or don’t) their relationships in real life involving family and each other, and it’s a whole ‘nother one-eighty.
Sam Cook was my favorite soul singer in the 60’s. What a voice!
Sam Cooke also wrote some of his hits. A great talent.
I was in college during the late 50’s. Love, romance, slow dancing etc used to be an actual thing in those days. Sam’s “You Send Me” was big as was Percy Faith’s “Theme From a Summer Place”. Domenic’s “Volare” too. Is there anything remotely resembling this type of music anymore?
Another great music talent with another bad personal life. The manner of his death says it all.