Uncorrected Proof

The excellent film One Night in Miami brought me to this bio, my first by Guralnick, who is known for his profoundly comprehensive examinations of music and musicians. Even beyond Sam Cooke’s riveting performances and smooth yet passionate voice, his overriding personality traits were his thirst for knowledge and the genial and loving care he took of his family and friends (with the exception of his wife Barbara, whose voice is loud in this mix). His roots in and his love of gospel are demonstrated by his reluctance to "cross over", and he always kept a toe in the gospel group universe. After an early, humiliating failure at the Copa, his overwhelming goal was to get a second chance there, twisting and muting his gospel-roots style to please the sedentary, rich, old white patrons. He succeeded but found little pleasure in it, missing his church roots and the audiences (especially women and girls) who threw themselves at him as he sang to each of them as if they were two alone in the room. The racism that followed Sam and his early groups - the Highway QC Singers, the Soul Stirrers - especially down South, almost broke him and almost got him killed. Every major artist of his time, and many minor ones - Jackie Wilson, James Brown, Mahalia Jackson, Little Richard, Aretha Franklin, Jimi Hendrix, Solomon Burke - crossed Sam’s path and all were enchanted by his unmatched charisma, generosity, command of his vocal gifts, and his allover instincts, intelligence, and goodness. But there was a kernel of yearning in Sam that no one could quite touch, that he was never able to find in owning a nice home in a rich white neighborhood, in fancy cars, in #1 hits, even in his children - but the fervent response from his devoted audiences probably came closest to reaching it.

The book is over-filled with details of financial struggles with the exploitation and abuse by predatory record companies and white managers and record labels, but that's the only drawback to this extensive examination into the life of this fascinating musician and businessman whose compulsion was to set his own path and to create opportunities for all Black artists. When he died in 1964, Dylan and the Beatles were coming up and music was heading for the big swerve into folk-rock, the British Invasion, and the dominance of Motown, and his path forward at that point was unclear. Guralnick indicates that Sam was just tired and burnt out, and surely at a crossroads when he was senselessly murdered, the mysterious circumstances of which are not completely understood fifty seven years later.

The author's recounting of the creation of his varied hits - "We're Havin' A Party, "Chain Gang", "Try A Little Tenderness", "Bring It On Home to Me", "You Send Me", "(What a) Wonderful World", "Twistin' the Night Away", "Cupid", and the immortal "A Change Gonna Come" - alone is worth the price of admission. This is a masterful effort.

Quotes: "Sam was the coolest. Sam was the sharpest. You never saw his down side." ( )