Biography, 1931-1957

 Sam Cooke was born Samuel Cook on January 22, 1931 in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He is not the only music-great to be born there since it was also the birth- and/or hometown of Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and Ike Turner. Legend has it that it was here that Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads, therefore it is seen as the home of the (delta)-blues.

 Sam’s father was Charles Cook Sr., a Baptist minister and his mother Annie May Cook. Besides Sam 7 other brothers and sisters were born. Charles was a travelling minister in the Church of God, a section of the Baptist faith started around 1900 that was less traditional. Instead of just delivering a sermon he delivered in an emotional way, with the help of gospel music and singing. Elements that came back in the 1950’s in soul music were the fainting by the singer, the swinging and the call-and-response technique. 

 The family moved to Chicago in 1933 in search for better economic opportunities. They lived in a section of South-Chicago called Bronzeville. There Charles kept preaching all over the city, sometimes with the help of his offspring.

 During high school Sam and his siblings Charles, L.C., Mary and Hattie formed the gospel-singing group “The Singing Children”, who often opened up for their father. But besides singing gospel he, with his friend Lou Rawls, also sang secular songs. His biggest influence on his singing was RH Harris of the Soul Stirrers. Sam often copied his ‘whoa’ yodel.

 When Sam was 15 years he became the front man of a bigger teenage gospel group called the “Highway QC’s” where R.B. Robinson, bariton-singer of the Soul Stirrers, trained him. With the QC’s he travelled on the gospel circuit and performed on some radio shows.

 When the Soul Stirrers’ R.H. Harris left the group because he was sick of the business a very young Sam Cook was asked to replace him. He did one audition and was a member of the Soul Stirrers right away. This all happened in 1950 when he was only 19 years old.

 The group was formed in Houston when SR Crain joined a gospel group under the condition that their name was changed into the Soul Stirrers. R.H. Harris was already a member of that group.

 Even though they were called a quartet the Soul Stirrers had five member. They introduced the revolutionary two-lead singing, giving the quartet more emotional impact. They also left more room for individuality by the singers and not the old style, rigid spiritual singing. In the 1930 they were recorded by Alan Lomax for the Smithsonian. The Soul Stirrers moved to Chicago where they had their own weekly show. R.H. Harris left the group but soon formed other quartets, with his Gospel Paraders he later recorded for Sam’s own SAR Records

 From their first record ‘Jesus Gave Me Water’ Sam Cook became an icon in the gospel field, almost a teen-idol. But besides his good looks he was a very good singer and also a prolific songwriter.

 In 1957 his, as he himself called it, financial situation, caused him to explore the possibility of crossing over and sing popular music. He released one single on Specialty under the name Dale Cook. It was a rewrite of the Soul Stirrers ‘Wonderful’ called ‘Lovable’. The song was exactly the same, only the words were different. For a while he tried to make people believe Dale was his brother but his voice was too recognizable.