You Send Me: The Life and Times of Sam Cooke

Description

Reissue of the award-winning biography of the man who invented soul music When Sam Cooke was shot dead in a cheap motel in Hollywood, he was one of America's most successful pop stars. He left a world in which he had been born poor and had become very rich from the success of such records as "You Send Me" and "A Wonderful World", yet his body lay unrecognised in a morgue for two days. This biography follows Cooke's life in a racist America where his voice was one of the first to reach beyond the segregated audiences and command a white following, Cooke himself becoming a player in the fledgling civil rights movement. This award-winning biography is a full and sometimes shocking story of a man whose songbook is revered by great performers such as Otis Redding, Rod Stewart and Aretha Franklin.

Sam Cooke was a hugely successful singer, songwriter and entrepreneur and is considered to be one of the founders of soul music. He is commonly known as the King of Soul for his unmatched vocal abilities and influence on the modern world of music. His contribution in pioneering soul music led to the rise of artists such as Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, and James Brown. Cooke's major hits include "You Send Me", "A Change Is Gonna Come", and "Bring It on Home to Me". On December 11, 1964, Cooke was shot dead by the manager of the Hacienda Motel in Los Angeles, California at the age of 33. Though it was ruled a justifiable homicide at the time, the circumstances of his death have since been widely questioned.

You Send Me is an excellent work - compelling * Financial Times * You won't buy a better biography all year * NME *