Gospel singer Sam Cooke changed pop music forever
and set the standard for every artist that followed him.
His first "crossover" single from gospel to pop, You Send
Me, sold a million copies worldwide and its success inspired a generation
of gospel singers - including Aretha Franklin, Solomon Burke
and Ben E King.
Â鶹Éç TWO's Soul Deep, which charts the evolution of soul music, looks
at the world of black music before and after that revolutionary moment
in 1957 when Cooke went pop.
"You couldn't have the popular music we have today without that
crossover from church to pop," explains expert Peter Guralnick.
As a member of Chicago's Soul Stirrers, Cooke travelled
the gospel highway (a network of black American churches) from 1950
for seven years, along with stars like Candi Staton and
Mavis Staples. Candi and Mavis describe the harsh realities
of racism and life on the road. But when they hit the road they were
treated like superstars.
Bobby Womack says: "Sam was electrifying. The places
were jam-packed - it was like Elvis Presley was coming." It was in front
of these ecstatic crowds that artists like Cooke learned to work an
audience.
Ben E King followed Cooke into the pop world but
his biggest hit, Stand By Me, drew its title from a famous gospel hymn.
"Stand By Me was a love song that went way beyond a love song. It has
a meaning for people that I never thought it would," King explains.
Not content with smashing the gospel-to-pop taboo, Cooke was one of
the first artists to establish control over his own music by setting
up his own label – SAR.
This, in turn, was to bring protégées - such as Bobby Womack and Johnnie
Taylor - their first taste of fame.
Cooke then went on to break away from love songs into social relevance.
After hearing Bob Dylan's iconic Blowin' In The Wind,
he recorded the first political soul song, A Change is Gonna Come.
Tragically, Cooke was killed in 1964 at the prime of his career but
he bequeathed an extraordinary legacy, inspiring a myriad of black artists
from Motown's Berry Gordy to Otis Redding and
Aretha Franklin.
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