Dream boogie: the triumph of Sam Cooke (124 page)

586
“The way Mr. Cooke sings [it]”:
New York Times,
July 7, 1964.

586
a full-page ad in
Variety
:
Variety,
July 22, 1964.

587
a reluctant final decision . . . to let the Sims Twins and Johnnie Morisette go: Their contract releases came on August 1 and August 21 respectively. J.W. continued to work with the Sims Twins, as their manager and producer, after Sam’s death.

587
an advance order of 150,000:
Music Business,
July 4, 1964.

588
The Stars Salute Dr. Martin Luther King
: This was a project promoted by the New York PR firm Louis-Rowe Enterprises, Inc., for which former heavyweight champion Joe Louis provided the public face. Although all the proper clearances were made, in the end a ten-track album was released in early 1965 (Warner Bros. 1591) without the cuts by Sam, Ray Charles, or Frank Sinatra.

588
Riots had broken out:
Time,
July 31, 1964; David Garrow,
Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference,
p. 342.

588
the search continued for the three civil rights workers: Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney disappeared on June 21; their bodies were found on August 4.

588
“how it felt to be a Jew in Hitler’s Germany”: Jackie Robinson, “Murder, Hate, Violence Will Be Weapons of GOP” (syndicated column),
Mobile Beacon-Alabama Citizen,
July 25, 1964.

589
he was only surprised “that the American public failed to anticipate it”: Paul Learn, “Mixing Melody, Love Puts Sam Cooke on Top,” A
tlantic City Press,
July 30, 1964.

589
the same show: The highlighted repertoire comes from Ted Schall, “Nightly Whirl,”
Atlantic City Press,
July 29, 1964.

589
their breakfast of grits and wings: This is Aretha Franklin’s description.

590
“He beat [Liston] once”:
Atlantic City Press,
July 30, 1964.

591
“hit[ting] the trail on behalf of Negro writers”: “Sam Would ‘Cook’ Revival of Oldies,”
Pittsburgh Courier,
April 13, 1963 (ANP).

593
his beautiful new bride: Jack Olsen,
Black Is Best: The Riddle of Cassius Clay,
pp. 112, 149, 152.

2 | THE SHADOW WORLD

596
“The Negro beat & blues singer”:
Variety,
August 19, 1964.

597
The tryout that Earl McGrath had promised him: In addition to my interviews with J.W. Alexander and Earl McGrath, the screen test is referred to in the
Herald Dispatch,
December 17, 1964; the
New York Daily News,
September 28; Earl Wilson’s column in the
New York Post,
October 9; and
Billboard,
October 10.

598
“The Greatest Show of the Year”: Poster for the New Orleans and Norfolk shows, October 24 and 31. “The Biggest Show Ever” comes from an ad in the
Birmingham World,
October 21, 1964.

599
“Man, you’re killing me”: J.W. Alexander is the direct source for the quote, but L.C. Cooke (who went out on tour with Jackie right after Sam’s death), Hank Ballard, and Grady Gaines all confirmed Jackie’s acknowledgment of how things had changed and how daunting an advantage Sam’s seemingly endless procession of hits proved.

600
“Sam wasn’t a jealous kind of fellow”: This was to L.C. Cooke in Houston shortly after Sam’s death.

603
joining George on various Supersonic tours: Jimi Hendrix spoke of these tours in various interviews and cited his experience playing with soul stars like Sam Cooke, Jerry Butler, the Impressions, and Solomon Burke. After scrutinizing those interviews, however, and having any number of conversations with Gorgeous George on the subject, I’m still unable to nail down specific dates. I do know that Hendrix joined Little Richard’s band by early 1965.

603
In St. Louis Jackie Wilson was arrested: In addition to my interviews, this was covered by the
St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
November 2, 1964, and
Jet,
November 19.

605
Ray Charles had been busted: The front page of the November 5, 1964,
California Eagle,
read “Ray Charles Faces Boston Dope Charge” above the headline. The headline was “Johnny Mathis in Million $$ Bust-Up,” while “Singer Frankie Lyman Held on N.Y. Dope Rap,” was the third headline, beneath the main headline.

605
Little Willie John had gotten into a barroom fight: By far the best and most cohesive account of this sad final chapter in Little Willie John’s life is Kim Field, “The Strange Story of Little Willie John: Fever and Fate,”
Village Voice Rock & Roll Quarterly,
spring 1990.

606
“Now you get you a high hooker”: In addition to Bobby Womack, Jerry Brandt, Hank Ballard, Lou Rawls, and Barbara Cooke all testified to both the practical considerations and Sam’s personal predilections.

608
they . . . went off to the Gaiety Deli: In addition to my own interview with Earl Palmer on the subject, Tony Scherman’s interview with Earl for his book,
Backbeat: Earl Palmer’s Story,
was of great help.

608
The Palladium in London. A one-man show at Carnegie Hall: There are numerous press mentions of Sam’s ambitions, including the
Atlantic City Press,
July 30, 1964, which specifies that the one-man show will focus on “American jazz”; Earl Wilson’s syndicated column in the
Philadelphia Daily News,
August 31, which reports that a scheduled September 25 Carnegie Hall concert would be filmed to sell as a television special; and Ted Green, “Main Street,” in the Allentown, Pennsylvania,
Morning Call,
October 20 re the Palladium. None of these events ever actually took place.

UNCLOUDY DAY

609
The last time Sam had come through town: In addition to J.W.’s vivid memory of the encounter, the
Los Angeles Sentinel,
December 24, 1964, referred in one of its many columns on Sam’s life and death to a “series of benefits [Sam] had been mapping [out] for the civil rights movement.”

611
Carrie Cunningham, who had opened the Royal Peacock: Biographical information on Carrie Cunningham comes from Herman “Skip” Mason Jr.,
African-American Entertainment in Atlanta,
pp 21-23, and the memories of her granddaughter Delois Scott.

611
The song was “A Change Is Gonna Come”: Grady Gaines recalled Sam uncharacteristically singing the song at around this time, and Gorgeous George did, too. Lotsa Poppa said it was the first time he had ever heard Sam sing it.

612
“I was the Johnnie Taylor that everybody knew”: John Broven and Cilla Huggins 1989 interview with Johnnie Taylor.

614
he planned to stop off and see Jess Rand: Jess has said that Sam told him on this visit that he wanted to have a lawyer look into his business relationship with Allen Klein, but whether that was what Sam genuinely felt or he simply said it at Jess’ prompting in order to make Jess feel better about the loss of a favorite client is impossible to say. There is certainly no question how Jess felt about Allen Klein, and he believes to this day that Sam would eventually have come back to him. Bumps Blackwell, too, spoke disparagingly of Allen in interviews without ever having met him and expressed his conviction that Sam would have come back to
him,
despite Sam’s clear (and very early) disillusionment with Bumps’ managerial approach and the notable skepticism of such intimates of Sam’s as René Hall and J.W. Alexander on the subject. It is certainly
possible
that the implications of Allen Klein’s ownership of Tracey were beginning to come home to Sam, and J.W. told me somewhat enigmatically that his own intention was to take more control of the business at this point. But nothing J.W. ever said in the fifteen years that I knew him, for all of his recognition of the unsentimental nature of business, ever indicated any mistrust of Allen Klein’s character, business practices, or intentions. And Sam had just agreed to do a benefit performance for the orphanage where Allen had grown up. Most significantly, as Allen Klein himself has pointed out with full recognition that all managerial relationships are bound to end (as Jess Rand says, the client
always
leaves), everything was going well at this point, Sam had just gotten his second payment of $100,000, nothing had yet had a
chance
to go wrong. And Sam and Alex continued to retain unchallenged ownership of their label and publishing, which for both of them had from the beginning been the foundation of their business and remained (the publishing anyway) its most valuable asset.

614
the kind of blues album he was planning: Both Lou Rawls and Al Schmitt spoke of Sam’s intention to record a “downhome” album. In his
Hit Parader
interview with Don Paulsen, Sam cited Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker, along with Howlin’ Wolf, as being among his favorite blues artists.

616
They drove out Santa Monica: There was an enormous amount of coverage of Sam’s death, but the most reliable came in the various witness statements and descriptions (including those of the police) in the inquest. Louie Robinson, “The Tragic Death of Sam Cooke,”
Ebony,
February 1965, and “The Inglorious Death of Sam Cooke,”
Sepia,
February 1965, both had good summary stories; the
Los Angeles Sentinel
was thorough and, for the most part, accurate in its coverage, as were the
Chicago Defender,
California Eagle,
and
Philadelphia Tribune.
Those periodicals also provided good reporting through the funerals. The stories in other papers were primarily rehashes, though nearly all had some local angle on Sam. But most of the particulars in all of the accounts are drawn from the inquest testimony (and the autopsy report), which, with the exception of exactly how the death occurred (i.e., were there really only two people in the room?) and, more particularly, why was Sam so exercised, appears to be unexceptionably accurate. Here the private investigator’s report fills in some of the gaps. For all that went on afterward, Barbara Cooke’s flat, straightforward, and highly detailed account of both events and motivation was altogether convincing and in keeping with other, necessarily more narrowly focused recollections by Bobby Womack, Beverly Campbell Lopez, J.W. Alexander, Carol Ann Woods, the Cook family, Allen Klein, and others.

617
the club they played all the time: The Sims Twins by this time had a weekly gig at the Sands; Beverly and Betty Prudhomme recalled going out to the club with Sam, as did Barbara Cooke. In addition to the Upsetters, who stayed there regularly, Hank Ballard recalled the Hacienda, as did Gatemouth Moore—and Rip Spencer of the Valiants referred to the area as “motel row,” popular for both its inexpensive motels and restaurants.

622
“I didn’t depend on Sam taking care of me”: Dred Scott Keyes interview with Reverend Charles Cook, 1995.

625
a private detective from the Beverly Hills Investigating Service: Report of Investigator, Agency File No. 731. This was supplied by Allen Klein and is the source for all information deriving from the private investigation.

625
He and his brothers had arrived in Houston: Bobby Womack has always remembered it this way, from as early as a 1974
Soul & Jazz
interview through all of his interviews with me. His brother Cecil, like Bobby, recalled that they had just arrived at their Texas motel when they got the news. Cecil also recalled L.C. Cooke being present, though L.C. has no recollection either of how he learned of Sam’s death, where he was when he was told, or of the tour itself. In Upsetters leader Grady Gaines’ memory, they had all just checked into their motel in Oklahoma City, but the December 11 issue of the Oklahoma City weekly, the
Black Dispatch,
advertises the show at the Golden Eagle Club for the following night (Saturday), with L.C. billed as the headliner.

629
None of the cash that Sam was said to have been carrying: Despite all the rumors, then and since, Barbara told the police at the time that Sam was carrying no more than $150 (
Ebony,
February 1965), and that is what she insists on today. In her recollection, Sam was always running out of money, because he rarely thought to carry much on his person.

630
The mourners were out in front of the funeral home: The vast majority of coverage of the Chicago funeral is from the
Chicago Defender,
primarily the week of December 19-25, 1964. The
Philadelphia Tribune,
December 22, and
Los Angeles Sentinel,
December 24, also had good firsthand accounts, and the Obsequies program provides quite a bit of detail.

631
Georgie Woods . . . vowed that he and other DJs would hire private investigators: Mark Bricklin, “Georgie Woods Vows to Learn True Facts of Singer’s Death,”
Philadelphia Tribune,
December 15, 1964. Georgie Woods also spoke of this in our interview. See also Brad Pye Jr., “Disc Jockeys Demand Investigation,”
Los Angeles Sentinel,
December 24, 1964.