(ThyBlackMan.com) Before Sam Cooke became a household name with hits like You Send Me and A Change Is Gonna Come, he was simply a young man with a velvet voice, raised on gospel, rooted in faith, and ...

I woke up with this song and the first lyric running through my mind. As I walked my dog this early morning, which seems appropriate, the rest of this ode to Saint Francis of Assisi came to me, by way ...

Cooke recorded "A Change is Gonna Come" 50 years ago this week. The story of the song is as amazing, and unsettling, as the song itself. Sam Cooke And The Song That 'Almost Scared Him' Fifty years ago ...

Apparently the folks over at ABKCO Music Inc.-proprietors of the 1960 Sam Cooke smash “Wonderful World” have seen the new Barack Obama ad criticizing John McCain to the catchy tune of the song made ...

In July 2004, I went on a nine-day driving and reporting tour of Mississippi. On my itinerary was a pilgrimage to the house in Clarksdale where Sam Cooke was born. Cooke has been an obsession of mine ...

This Grammy-winning film documents the rise of soul music legend Sam Cooke. This Grammy-winning film documents the rise of soul music legend Sam Cooke, from his beginnings as a gospel singer to his ...

When Bettye LaVette performed “A Change Is Gonna Come,” in duet with Jon Bon Jovi, at the first inaugural concert for President Obama, a new generation of listeners was introduced to a classic ...

Here, in Chicago, on the South Side's Bronzeville, Sam and his younger brother L.C. — the middle children of eight — sold the Chicago Defender door-to-door. It was here on 35th Street and Cottage ...

"He had the look, he had the voice, he had the manner, he had the charm and he had the savoir-faire." That's Aretha Franklin's judgment on Sam Cooke, a gorgeous man, a sweet, smooth tenor for the ages ...

Fifty years ago this week, Sam Cooke strolled into a recording studio, put on a pair of headphones, and laid down the tracks for one of the most important songs of the civil rights era. Rolling Stone ...