Showing posts with label Sam Cooke. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sam Cooke. Show all posts

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Sam Cooke Tribute

SAM COOKE TRIBUTE (GREATLY) DONE BY R. KELLY


Considered to be the "King of R&B", R. Kelly has classic songs such as Bump & Grind, I Believe I Can Fly, and Step In the Name of Love. Kelly is known for his sexual songs but on his new album he took a more mature approach. The Sam Cooke inspired "Love Letter" he took it back to the soul sounds of Otis Redding and David Ruffin. In my opinion, this album was really for the lovers of soul music. This album in my opinion the best album of 2010, even though it came out at the end of year.

                                               

This album is very sentimental for me and my family. This album gives you a Sam Cooke vibe, with songs like How Do I Tell Her, Radio Message, and the hit When A Woman Loves. My personal favorites are Music Must Be A Lady, Radio Message, and the Marvin Gaye-Tammi Terrell duet inspired Love Is with K. Michelle. If you love soul music "Love Letter" should definitely be in your collection.

MUSIC MUST BE A LADY

RADIO MESSAGE

LOVE IS

With giving you a background of the album now to the Tribute..

My mother called today and told me to turn to BET Centric at 9:00 because R. Kelly was doing a tribute to Sam Cooke. Now, the Heat-Bulls series which I was planning to watch, but I when it comes to Sam Cooke I will watch anything involving him. The concert begins with R. Kelly doing my favorite Otis Redding song Try A Little Tenderness. From that moment, R. Kelly drew me in, then he goes into You Send Me, which gives you the Sam Cooke vibe. Next he sings Bring It On Home To Me, which in my opinion the best performance of the night. You can really feel the spirit of Sam Cooke, which made me remember the good memories with my grandfather. Then he proceeds to Feel It, which gave me the same feeling when my family played Sam Cooke's "Live at The Harlem Square". I was dancing all through my house. After, Kelly did the song that's considered to be one of the best songs made A Change Is Gonna Come. This is one of the songs that I can't get through because it's so deep that it makes me cry at the beginning of 2nd verse. So, when R. Kelly begin to sing I was okay until he got to the 2nd verse then the tears started coming. After the tears ended, R. Kelly closed the show with Twisting the Night Away, which cause me to start dancing in my house once again. Above all, this tribute was well done and Sam Cooke is in heaven smiling because he knows left a great legacy, with people like R. Kelly doing great tributes.

CHECK OUT SOME OF THE GREAT PERFORMANCES VIA YOUTUBE

TRY A LITTLE TENDERNESS/YOU SEND ME/BRING IT ON HOME

A CHANGE IS GONNA COME

TWISTING THE NIGHT AWAY
                      
KEEP SMILING MR. COOKE
Jan 22, 1931 - Dec 11, 1964


Posted by at No comments:
Labels: ,

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

SAM COOKE

Portrait of A True Legend


Sam Cooke in my opinion is the "King of Soul". Sam Cooke is the reason for many of our great artists of yesterday and today. Sam Cooke has been an inspiration for old school artists like Aretha Frnaklin, Marvin Gaye, and Tina Turner. As well as the new school artists like Tyrese, Usher, and Ne-Yo. Sam Cooke was soulful and classy at the same time. With songs, like Cupid, You Send Me, and my late grandfather's personal favorite Wonderful World. Cooke's music is timeless and memorable, as a result I felt that if I didn't a blog on him, my grandfather would be angry. So, granddaddy this one is for you.

Sam Cooke started his singing in church with the group "The Soul Stirrers". However, during this teenage years he wanted to be a soul singer. As a result, he started to make soul music under an alias. Finally, by 1957 he decided that soul music was in his heart, so he stop singing with the group and went solo. In 1958, he released his first single, You Send Me. Then the hits just kept coming including Chain Gang, Sad Mood, and Twisting the Night Away. By this time, Cooke was a big star, but when there is happiness there is also pain. In 1963, his son died when he was 8 months because he drowned in the pool. This cause Cooke into a deep depression, which helped him write one of the greatest songs of all time A Change is Gonna Come. He recorded the song, but never got to hear it because in 1964, Cooke was shot and killed. Even though, his death stirred a lot of controversy, you can't take away Cooke's great music. I felt that this blog had to be done, because just like Mary J. Blige, Sam Cooke is also a part of my family.

When I was younger, Sam Cooke was played in my house. When you look at our record collection, you realize the artists that my grandparents like because they brought a lot of them, Sam Cooke was one of them. Every Friday is family time, so the music and the drinks starts flowing. So, my mother would always start with request, my grandfather would be the first person to say "I want to hear Sam Cooke, "Don't know much about history", however the song title was Wonderful World. As a kid, I would just imagine Cooke singing this in front of us because on the record he sounded so cool, in today's world he had swag. When I got older, I started to watch live performances of him, just like I thought he was cool and soulful.

One Friday, my mother and I was going through our music collection and she pulled out the "Sam Cooke: Live At The Copa" album. I recalled her saying, "Get your drink ready, we are going to sit down and listen to this straight through". After the album finished, I understood the definition of class and soul, because during this live album he brought both. As a result, this album is in my top 10 albums of all time. In addition to "Live At The Copa", my mother played A Change is Gonna Come. This was my first time hearing it, I couldn't get through the song without crying . I was only 14, I didn't really know why I was crying, but later I realized that the song is so real, you can tell in Cooke's voice. Today, I still can't get through this song without crying. This is what you call a song for the ages because we can all relate to it. For example, when Barack Obama won the presidency, that song played all day because in the world's eyes a change did come. The world finally got to see a African American president.

In addition, when my grandfather was in his last days, my mother would play Sam Cooke from her phone and put it to his ear so he can listen when he sleep. When you looked at him sleep with Sam Cooke playing in his ear, he seemed so peaceful. Now, that my grandfather has passed on, I know he is at a Sam Cooke concert in heaven.

                           THANKS MR. COOKE FOR YOU GREAT MUSIC

Three of my favorite Sam Cooke songs

A Change is Gonna Come

A Wonderful World

Sad Mood


Posted by at 2 comments:
Labels: , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)