Sam Cooke’s music, business acumen take center state at Mississippi music festival

Miss. festival pays tribute to Sam Cooke

JACKSON, Miss. — More than 40 years after his tragic, violent death, Sam Cooke is still known as the legendary soul and gospel singer who penned “A Change is Gonna Come,” which found a new audience with the election of America’s first black president.

But Cooke’s brother, L.C. Cooke, says the late singer should also be known for his pioneering business acumen that put him years ahead of his time in the music industry.

Cooke was among the first black performers to own the rights to his music and to form his own recording and publishing company. That’s what L.C. Cooke will remind fans about when he attends a Mississippi music festival this weekend dedicated to the 1950s and ’60s singer.

“If they look at it, Sam was first in everything,” L.C. Cooke said in a telephone interview from his home in Chicago. “All his masters belong to Sam, and that was unheard of. He was Motown before Motown was even invented.”

The Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival begins Friday in Clarksdale, a sleepy town in the impoverished Delta region — the musical breeding ground that produced the likes of B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters.

During the weekend-long Cooke tribute, a blues marker in his honor will be unveiled Friday at the New Roxy Theater. At Ground Zero, a blues club owned by actor and Mississippi native Morgan Freeman, an educational forum on Cooke’s life will be held Saturday.

Many local performers at the festival will sing at least one of Cooke’s hits, whether from his early gospel career with the Soul Stirrers or from his repertoire of pop music. Soul singer Bettye LaVette will headline Saturday night’s show. O.B. Buchana takes the stage on Friday.

President Barack Obama’s rhetorical nod to “A Change is Gonna Come” after his 2008 election victory was a testament to Cooke’s enduring significance, said Anthony DeCurtis, a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine.

“The language of the artistry coupled with a kind of vision of a better world is something the song stands for,” DeCurtis said. “Certainly his influence extends to contemporary artists. It would be hard to think of people like Alicia Keys and John Legend without Sam Cooke.”

Born Jan. 22, 1931, Cooke was son of a Baptist minister. His mother was a native of Mound Bayou, Miss., a town founded by two former slaves. Sam Cooke was 2 years old when his parents and six siblings boarded a Greyhound bus to Chicago.

Cooke began his writing and recording career with the “Soul Stirrers” in 1951, making albums at Specialty Records. Tall and handsome with a smooth, melodious voice, Cooke drew crowds of swooning young women at gigs in auditoriums and larger venues that included the Apollo Theater.

After six years, he made the leap to secular music with a sound that melded blues and gospel. He co-founded his own record label, SAR Records, in 1961, signing such artists as Bobby Womack, Johnnie Taylor and Billy Preston.

L.C. Cooke said his brother had formed his publishing company around 1959. Sam Cooke’s contract with RCA Victor stipulated that after 30 years all of his masters would belong to him, his brother said.

Contemporary artists would do well to follow Cooke’s path, said DeCurtis.

“To this day, artists struggle with the business aspect of their work. He signed artists and he wrote for artists. He did it in a time when it was much more difficult for artists, specifically black artists,” DeCurtis said.

Unfortunately, Cooke didn’t live long enough to realize the significance of his breakthrough, said DeCurtis.

At age 33, Cooke was shot to death on Dec. 11, 1964, at the Hacienda Motel in Los Angeles. Details of the shooting are still disputed, but the hotel’s manager told police she killed Cooke because he threatened her.

An abbreviated life and the circumstances surrounding his death have not diminished his legacy. Last year, “Rolling Stone” ranked Cooke No. 4 on its list of the 100 greatest singers of all time, and he’s in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

L.C. Cooke recalled being stopped at an airport a few years ago by a disc jockey, who told him his brother’s music gets more airplay than any other deceased celebrity.

“Somebody is always giving something in his honor, and they call me to give interviews,” L.C. Cooke said.

Festival organizers Melville Tillis and John Sherman said it made sense to dedicate this weekend to Cooke. They said the annual festival usually draws about 25,000, but a larger crowd is anticipated this year because of the Sam Cooke tribute. Sherman said several Cooke fan club bus tours plan to attend.

“We’re just trying to honor a Clarksdale native,” Sherman said. “That’s the bottom line.”

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On the Net:

Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival: www.sunflowerfest.org/