The Hit Years Inside Text

On December 11, 1964, at the Hacienda Motel in Los Angeles, one of the most promising and prolific careers in American popular music came to an abrupt and devastating end. Sam Cooke was the victim of a bizarre shooting incident that ended his life al the age of 29.

Sam Cooke began singing early, when as a teenager he sang gospel music in hls Father's church, in Chicago, Illinois. In high school, he joined his brother's group, "The Highway O.C.'s" before becoming a member of the Soul Stirrers.As the result of an appearance al the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, the Soul Stirrers were invited to record for Specialty Records. While with the Soul Stirrers, Sam was also the lead singer ol the Pilgrim Travellers, a famous gospel quartet under the leadership of J.W. Alexander, that also featured Lou Rawls.

In 1956 Sam began recording non-gospel sides when producer Bumps Blackwell took him into the studio and recorded two songs, "I'll Come Running Back To You" and "Forever." Although, originally inlended for release on Specialty, they were not released at that time because Specialty's owner and Sam's manager learned that this would undermine the sales of the Soul Sttrrers' gospel recordings. As a result, it was not until October of 1957 that Sam recorded popular music again.

This 1957 recording date, however, was momentous, for it yielded one of its greatest hits, "You Send Me." The session was organized for the newly formed Keen Record label, a small record company founded by John Siamas which had agreed to release Sam Cooke as a pop singer. John Siamas had started operating the label alone, and was largely inexperienced in the music industry, having broken away from the family owned aircraft-parts business to form Keen Records. Later as the label grew, he was joined by his wile, Lillian, and was assisted by his brother Alex. "You Send Me" written by Sam's brother, L.C. Cooke, with the Gershwin's "Summertime" on the flip side, hit the "Top 40" charts on October 28, 1957, reaching number one on December 2, 1957 and December 9, 1957. lt stayed on the Billboard charts for 15 weeks, launched Sam Cooke's career as one of the first "Soul" singers, and established Keen Records.

Following the release of "You Send Me" / "Summertime,' every other month or so, Keen released a new Sam Cooke "45," many reaching the national "Top 40" lists, including "Sentimental Reasons" and "Desire Me," in December of 1957; "Lonely Island" and "You Were Made For Me" in February of 1958; "Win Your Love For Me" in August 011958; "Love You Most Of AlI" in November 911958; "Everybody Loves To Cha-Cha-Cha" in March of 1959; "Only Sixteen" in June of959; "There I've Said It Again" in November of 1959; and "Wonderful World" in May of 1960. Keen Records handled its own distribution and this was an incredible series of hits for such a company to deal with. Even with these hits it was not long before the company ran into financial trouble. 

In the meantime, while Sam Cooke's recording career flourished, he was not enjoying the same success as a live performer. Despite a performance at the Copacabana in New York in 1958, Sam performed primarily on Henry Wynn's concert and club circuit which consisted primarily of small clubs and theaters catering exclusively to a black clientelle. The reason for this underexposure to live audiences, and particularly white audiences is hard to understand in view of hls immediate cross-over appeal. Of course, he did make appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show and also appeared in a straight dramatic role with Sammy Davis, Jr. on "The General Electric Theater' during the 1959-1960 season. 

Sam continued to record for Keen until May of 1960, when, at the suggestion of J.W. Alexander, who  had taken over the management of his career, he decided to leave to join R.C.A. Records. The parting from Keen was somewhat strained. Sam demanded accountings which the company had difficulty providing since so many distributors were holding back payments on them. Despite Sam Cooke's recording successes, few other recordings released on Keen and its sister label Andex were commercially successful, and the company was strapped for cash. Finally, the company released Sam from his recording contract, reassigned to him the copyrights to live of his most successlul songs, and allowed him to use certain masters, which he later licensed to R.C.A. Keen retained the rights to all of the material it had recorded or released, and over the years, made them available to Bumps Blackwell, who retumed time and again to "borrow" tapes.

The music contained on this album (and on the upcoming Volume 2), is entirely from the vaults of Keen Records. Most sessions were produced by Bumps Blackwell, or by Herb Alpert and Lou Adler, and recorded either at Radio Recorders or Richard Bock's Paciftc Jazz studios on Third Street in Los Angeles. The selections presented here are in chronological order beginning with L.C. Cooke's "You Send Me" (57128) and the  Gershwln's "Summertime" (57129) from "Pargy & Bess." As previously mentioned, these were the two sides of the first Sam Cooke single on Keen and the biggest hits of his career.

Next is L.C. Cooke's "You Were Made for Me" (58061) and Eden Ahbez's "Lonely lsland" (58063-a) which were both released in February of 1958. Eden Ahbez is perhaps best known for composing "Nature Boy" for Nat King Cole and for being far ahead of his time, having embraced the bohemian lifestyle, values, and appearance that has since been identified with the "hippie" movement of the late 1960's.

After these selections, another of L.C. Cookes' compositions, "Mary, Mary, Mary Lou" (58211), is featured, followed by Herb Alpert and Lou AdIer's 'All Of My Life" (58241). Herb Alpert and Lou Adler produced
numerous rock and roll sides for Keen and Andex Records in 1957-59, and wrote a number of compositions
that were performed on Keen, including "The Hully Gully." Later, Herb Alpert went on to form the Tijuana Brass and A&M Records, but at this time, he assisted the producers and engineers in the studios on Third Streel, and submitted his songs and groups for audition.

The Livingston and Evans theme from the film 'Houseboat: "Almost In Your Arrns" (58402) is the next selection. Sam's rendition of it is certainly one of the best performances of it on record. L.C. Cooke's "Win Your Love For Me" (58403) which was paired on the single with "Almost In Your Arrns:' released in Iuly of 1958 follows.

Then, Rodgers and Hart's "Blue Moon" (58451), and Barbara Campbell's "I Love You Most Of All" (58452), also released as both sides of the same 45, are featured. Barbara Campbell was Sam Cooke's high school sweetheart, whom he married in October of 1959, following the death of his first wife in a car accident.

The next four selections are all from the same recording session, which culminaled in the release of the album "Sam Cooke: Tribute To The Lady" (Keen S2004). The album was dedicated to Billy Holiday, and featured an orchestra of all-star jazz musicians under the direction of Rene Hall. Rene Hall was a guitarlst and arranger, having often recorded with Earl Bostic in the Iale 1950's. He wrote aII the arrangements lor this session, and such notabIe players as Benny Carter, Gerald Wilson, Plas Johnson, Buddy Collette, and Red Callender provide excellent solos. The selections featured here begin with the Gershwins' "They Can't Take That Away From Me" (5905) and "Lets Call The Whole Thing Off" (5907) and are followed by Benton and Otis's "Crazy In Love With You," and Arlen and Koehlers "I've Got The Right To Sing The Blues." It should be mentioned that the version ol "They Can't Take That Away From Me" included here is actually an altemate take that bas never been released. (The master take wilJ be on Volume 2.)

To round out the album, among the last three selections, we include "The Little Things You Do" (59021) written by J.W. Alexander and "Everybody Loves Ta Cha-Cha-Cha" (59023) composed by Barbora Campbell which were bath released in March ol 1959. Finally, no collection ol Sam Cooke's recordings on Keen would be complete without an example of Sam Cooke's gospelsinging, so the last selection featured here is Ben Bakers arrangement of "Steal Away" (59154).

Peter Jacobson