SAM COOKE:
LEGEND RETURNS TO DVD WITH BONUS CONTENT
The life and
music of Sam Cooke, soul’s first superstar, are examined in the critically
lauded Sam Cooke: Legend, the GRAMMY Award winning feature documentary from
ABKCO Films. The 66-minute film examines the extraordinary career and tells the
real story of his life through first-person accounts from family, childhood
friends, musical collaborators and business associates along with Sam Cooke
himself. Originally released in 2003, it has long been out of print; it will be
reissued on DVD on April 30th. With the success of the film One Night In
Miami…, directed by Regina King, focus on the life of Cooke, portrayed in the
film by Leslie Odom Jr., has grown exponentially. Sam Cooke: Legend traces both
Cooke’s professional and personal life – from his gospel-singing roots in the
early 1950’s through his R&B and pop music career to his untimely death in
1964. It was available for streaming through Amazon Prime earlier this year in
celebration of the soul icon’s 90th birthday. The forthcoming DVD re-release
includes extra content providing additional insight into the life and legacy of
Sam Cooke.
The film
recounts his commitment to the struggle for civil rights, underscored by his
last and most enduring hit song, “A Change Is Gonna Come,” as well as his
transcendent and consummate popular appeal. Sam Cooke: Legend was awarded a
GRAMMY in 2004 in the Best Long Form Video (since renamed Best Music Film)
category. One of the highlights includes archival newsreel footage of Cassius
Clay, the jubilant newly-crowned heavy weight champion, spotting Sam Cooke in
the crowd and inviting him into the ring exclaiming, “Let that man up! This is
Sam Cooke! This is the world’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll singer!” That same
frantic and scenario is depicted, almost scene for scene, in One Night In
Miami… Sam Cooke: Legend was written by best-selling author Peter Guralnick
whose Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke, is widely recognized as the
definitive biography of the musical giant. It is narrated by Tony Award winning
actor Jeffrey Wright (“Basquiat,” “Angels In America,” “Ali”) and was directed
by Mary Wharton and produced by Robin Klein and Mick Gochanour.
The
documentary features rare and never-before-seen performance clips, TV footage
and family photos, plus exclusive original interviews. These include
conversations with the late Aretha Franklin, TV host Dick Clark, singer Lou
Rawls who was a childhood friend of Cooke’s and R&B great Lloyd Price. Also
seen is Bobby Womack who, early in his career, enjoyed a rewarding musical
association with Cooke who produced his hit “It’s All Over Now,” later covered
by The Rolling Stones as referenced in One Night In Miami… Cooke’s gospel roots
are discussed by LeRoy Crume of the Soul Stirrers, the seminal group that Cooke
joined as a teen, Cooke’s siblings as well as daughter Zeriiya (Linda Cooke
Womack). Another participant is recording mogul Lou Adler (Mamas and Papas,
Carole King), who co-wrote “Wonderful World” with Cooke and Herb Alpert. The
DVD re-release includes a 3,000-word biography of Cooke and a comprehensive
discography of his recordings, highlighting ABKCO’s Sam Cooke Remastered
Series. Beyond that the DVD’s extra content, running in excess of four and a
half hours and not seen in the streaming version, is highlighted by additional
interview footage with numerous of Cooke’s contemporaries including the
aforementioned Aretha Franklin, Lou Rawls, Lloyd Price, Lou Adler, Bobby Womack
and music producer Luigi Creatore. Family members seen in the extra footage
include Linda Cooke-Womack (Zeriiya), L. C. Cooke, Charles Cook and Agnes
Cook-Hoskins plus “Burn Baby Burn” radio personality Magnificent Montague.
The film
chronicles Cooke’s struggle to make it in the world of popular mainstream music
culminating in his triumphant engagement at New York’s Copacabana in the summer
of 1964. From his birth in the Mississippi Delta through his family’s move to
Chicago and the realization of his gift as expressed in his early gospel work,
continuing through his change to secular music, his life can be viewed as a
microcosm of the struggle for recognition and opportunity by African Americans
in the mid-20th century. Born in Clarksdale, Mississippi and raised on
Chicago’s South Side, Sam Cooke was the son of a Baptist minister. He started
singing in the church choir as a child and encouraged by his father, joined
with his siblings to form a gospel group, the Singing Children. By the time he
was a teenager, he had achieved significant success within the gospel community
on the strength of his distinctive vocal style. In 1950 he was asked to replace
legendary singer R.H. Harris as lead vocalist of The Soul Stirrers. Cooke
crossed over into the world of popular music in 1957 and shot to the top of the
R&B and Pop charts with his self-penned “You Send Me.” From that time on,
he was never out of the Top 40, with smash hits like “Wonderful World,” “Chain
Gang,” “Cupid,” “Twistin’ the Night Away,” “Another Saturday Night” and
“Shake.” His success didn’t surprise Aretha Franklin, who had earlier seen him
perform at her father’s church. She commented, “Sam was a prince of a man. He
just had everything going for him. Sam had the looks, he had the voice, he had
the manner, he had the charm, he had the savoir faire.” A triumphant early-‘60s
tour of the U.K. left a generation of young musicians like the Beatles, the
Rolling Stones, Van Morrison and Rod Stewart enthralled as well.
A champion of creative rights who wrote much of his own material, Cooke was among the first artists to recognize the importance of owning the publishing rights to his own compositions. He later established his own record label and business empire to better realize his far-reaching musical ambitions. Refusing to perform for segregated audiences in the South, Cooke utilized his stature as a performer to help break down the color lines separating blacks from whites, and in the process became, along with his friend Muhammad Ali, a symbol of the new black American. Further inspired by Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind,” Cooke wrote “A Change Is Gonna Come,” a song that would become an anthem of the civil rights movement after Cooke’s senseless shooting death in December of 1964. Sam Cooke was 33 years old at the time and more than 34 years have passed since then but interest in his life and work is stronger today than ever before. Sam Cooke: Legend is a comprehensive look at a figure who is, arguably, one of the most influential musical forces of the 20th Century and whose legacy resonates to the present day.
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