I'd like to read more books on some of the great performers; I read this one on Sam Cooke:
Born in Mississippi, went to Chicago and lived in I think what is called "Bronzetown" area, came to an ignominious end that I try to scan over. Hard to take.
He did Stephen Foster's "Jeannie With a Light Brown Hair"; fantastic. He really hits a nerve.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRqY3YnILkQGospel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlVY6OE7iJYAlso, did "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" as I posted in the songs of Inspiration thread.
His original group was the
Soul Stirrers who were well established before he joined them. So a lot of Sam Cooke fans really get into his music from then too. One can look that up for themselves.
And unlike so many performers, Sam is another of those that wrote a lot of his material; I believe he penned at least songs like "Another Saturday Night", "Only 16", perhaps "Chain Gang" too, one of his best. I think there might be a song that foreshadowed "Chain Gang" a bit in its style that Sam wrote.