Biographer Guralnick tackles soul icon Cooke

By Gail Mitchell 
Sun Nov 6,11:31 PM ET



LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Legendary singer/songwriter Sam Cooke had a dream. So did biographer Peter Guralnick. Their visions intertwine in Guralnick's new book, "Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke."
"This is something I wanted to do for over 20 years," Guralnick said during a recent promotional stopover in Los Angeles for the Little, Brown and Co. book, which hit stores October 18. "From the time I first met J.W. Alexander, he drew an inspiring portrait of an individual you wouldn't know from the music alone."

Alexander was Cooke's friend and the partner in his record label, SAR Records, and publishing company, Kags. Alexander and Guralnick met in 1982 when the acclaimed music writer was working on his seminal '60s R&B chronicle, "Sweet Soul Music." Besides Alexander, Guralnick interviewed Cooke's brother L.C.; his father, the Rev. Charles Cook; and others in Cooke's close circle.

"I wanted to write the book as far inside as possible," Guralnick says. He offered a similar approach in such work as the two-volume Elvis Presley biography "Last Train to Memphis" and "Careless Love."

SOUTHERN ROOTS

The new book transports readers back to Cooke's Clarksdale, Miss., birthplace in 1931. One can almost taste the fried chicken and poundcake his mother makes for summer trips back to Mississippi after the family has relocated to Chicago. And the reader is with Cooke at every step as he follows his dream, from gospel disciple (as a member of the Highway QCs, then the Soul Stirrers) to pop convert (earning crossover success in 1957 with "You Send Me").

Along the way, the sweet-tenored Cooke punctuated his string of memorable R&B/pop hits (including "Chain Gang," "Cupid" and "A Change Is Gonna Come") with a quest for personal and professional respect at a time when the civil rights movement was gathering steam.

"His father had taught him to never be taken advantage of or be disrespected," Guralnick says. "Songwriting and publishing were far more important for income than making records. It took Sam two minutes to recognize that the publishing deal he'd signed in 1957 was very disadvantageous to him."

Thus it was that Cooke began ascribing his writing credits to L.C., who would later turn over the money to Cooke. "It may have been unethical," Guralnick says. "But from Sam's point of view, it was adaptive compensation. He'd been taken advantage of because of his ignorance. He set up his label and publishing with the idea of not having him or his artists taken advantage of."

Without passing judgment, "Dream Boogie" reveals a complex man -- one whose natural "seductiveness and good looks" led to various close encounters of the female kind -- and dissects his frank and ruthless dealings with record companies and purveyors of segregation.

MAN OF THE HOUR

Cooke was the subject of a weeklong tribute by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum honoring him as an American Music Master. (He was inducted into the hall in 1986.) Aretha Franklin, Cooke's granddaughter Nicole Cooke-Johnson, Guralnick, Lou Rawls and three original members of the Highway QCs were among those saluting Cooke's legacy during the October 31-November 6 event, which included panels, films and two tribute concerts encompassing Cooke's R&B, pop and gospel background.

In addition, Apple Computer's iTunes store is offering "Sam Cooke Originals + Tributes." Customers can download recordings from his ABKCO and BMG catalogs along with selections from the "Tributes" album that features Rod Stewart, Tina Turner and other artists interpreting Cooke songs. Guralnick wrote an essay introducing the program.

Reuters/Billboard