Sam Cooke (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964) was a massively popular gospel music and R&B singer, born Sam Cook in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He started his musical career as a member of a quartet with his siblings, the Soul Children , followed by a teenage turn as a member of the Highway CQs , a gospel group. In 1950, he joined The Soul Stirrers and achieved significant success and fame within the gospel community.

His first pop single, "Lovable" (1956) was released under the alias of Dale Cooke, in order to not alienate his fan base—there was a considerable taboo against gospel singers performing secular music. The alias failed to hide Cooke's unique vocals, however, and fans openly expressed their disapproval. Specialty Records, the label of the Soul Stirrers, complained to Bumps Blackwell , Cooke's pop producer, resulting in the loss of Cooke's contract. He signed with Keen Records in 1957, with his own "You Send Me", which had massive mainstream success.

Though a R&B performer writing his own songs and achieving mainstream fame was innovative enough, Cooke continued to astonish the music business in the 1960s with the founding of his own label, SAR Records, which soon included The Simms Twins , The Valentinos , Bobby Womack and Johnnie Taylor. Cooke then created a publishing imprint and management firm, then left Keen to sign with RCA. His first RCA single was the hit "Chain Gang "; this is probably his most famous song. This was followed by more hits, including "Sad Mood", "Bring it on Home to Me", "Another Saturday Night" and "Twisting the Night Away".

Like most R&B artists of his time, Cooke focused on singles. In spite of this, he released a critically acclaimed blues-inflected LP in 1963, Night Beat . He was known for having written many of the most popular songs of all time in the genre, and is often uncredited for many of them by the general public. Cooke died under mysterious circumstances on December 11, 1964 in Los Angeles, California. He was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Glendale, California.

Though the details of the case are still in dispute, it seems he was shot to death by Bertha Franklin (the manager of Hacienda Motel, where Cooke was staying) who claimed she killed him in self-defense and that he had raped a young woman, then threatened Franklin. The verdict was justifiable homicide, though many believe that crucial details did not come out in court, or were buried afterward. Some posthumous releases followed, many of which became hits, including "A Change Is Gonna Come", an early protest song which is generally regarded as his greatest composition. Cooke was inducted as a charter member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.