Dream boogie: the triumph of Sam Cooke (117 page)

243
his divorce action with Dolores: Most of the information on the divorce settlement is culled from the divorce action itself,
Sam Cook v. Dolores Cook,
No. D 0529553, filed in California Superior Court, November 15, 1957.

243
a first-person article for
Sepia
: “The Trouble I’ve Seen,”
Sepia,
September 1958.

244
“My mama won’t tell me”: L.C. Cooke described this scene to me. Barbara Cooke recounted it similarly. Barbara’s story here and throughout is based on interviews with her.

246
he was entitled to something like $45,000: This is based on 1.7 million sales. All subsequent Specialty business calculations derive from documents in the Specialty archives, including Art Rupe’s detailed notes with respect to both the case and his options.

246
Bumps was ruining Sam: “Excerpts from shorthand notes, Bob Keane telephone conversation, Sunday, June 8, 1958,” Specialty archives.

247-248
his 25 percent ownership of the company would soon be . . . recognized: Bumps’ expectations and complaints are detailed in his lawsuit,
Robert A. Blackwell v. John Siamas et al.,
No. 743709, filed in California Superior Court, April 15, 1960. His relationship with John Siamas and the company is described in Bob Keane’s June 1958 telephone conversation with Art Rupe; his method of operation was borne out by the observations of everyone I spoke to around Sam and him in the Keen days.

248
“You taking care of all these other people’s business”: Charles and L.C. Cooke quoted Sam. Barbara Cooke and Jess Rand reinforced that this was Sam’s view, as did J.W. Alexander. In the second part of Michael Watts‘
Melody Maker
profile, September 2, 1972, Bumps stated, “The only argument he and I ever had was over money.”

249
J.W. immediately released the news to the press:
Kansas City Call,
September 12, 1958.

251
the eight-piece band he had put together: Sam spoke early and often with Clif White about getting his own band. Much of the information about the band he put together, and their two subsequent tours, comes from Lee Poole’s 1991 interviews with its musical director, Bob Tate. Tate didn’t speak about the Cavalcade of Jazz date at the Shrine; instead, he retained a vague memory of playing Elks Hall. But since the first tour he went out on with Sam came two days after the Shrine show, and since the
California Eagle,
July 24, 1958, reported that each of the stars would be playing with his own orchestra, my assumption is that Sam’s band debuted here.

254
Johnny Mathis had broken attendance records:
Houston Informer,
May 10, 1958.

254
“Sam Cooke’s disk stature is of very uncertain value here”:
Variety,
September 3, 1958.

254
The
Chicago Defender
. . . was burdened with no such doubts: Sam’s two-week engagement at the Black Orchid was the impetus for a full-blown two-part profile of Sam by Ernestine Cofield: “Close Look at Sam Cooke: From ‘Rags to Riches’ Story of Young Chi Club Singer,”
Chicago Defender,
October 18, 1958, and “Sam Cooke’s Big Decision,”
Chicago Defender,
October 25, 1958. Sam’s performance is reviewed in the first, and both pieces include numerous photographs of his homecoming. All quotes, both direct and indirect, are from these two articles.

256
a “thoughtful thief”:
California Eagle,
October 2, 1958.

256
“Sammy Davis wanted the role”:
California Eagle,
October 9, 1958.

256
the William Morris Agency . . . had been affiliated with Sammy: According to Frank Rose’s
The Agency: William Morris and the Hidden History of Show Business,
p. 162, the agency signed the Will Mastin Trio in 1945.

258
he promised his fans:
Atlanta Daily World,
September 23, 1958.

261
“one of the few ballsy things I ever did”: Dick Clark and Richard Robinson,
Rock, Roll & Remember,
p. 136. The rest of the account is based on my interview with Dick Clark and coverage in the
Atlanta Constitution,
October 2-14, which reports on an ecstatic public reception of the show and makes no mention of any public threat.

263
an amateurishly printed souvenir book: I showed this to Jess Rand, but he had no recollection of it, nor did Lou Rawls. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to ask either S.R. Crain or J.W. Alexander.

264
“cheating and swindling” local telephone companies:
Atlanta Daily World,
November 2 and 15, 1958.

264
Eddie Cunningham got into a fight:
St. Louis Argus,
November 21, 1958.

265
There had been an accident: The account of the accident and the events preceding it was pieced together primarily from interviews with Lou Rawls, Clif White, J.W. Alexander, and Jesse Whitaker, Lee Poole’s interviews with Bob Tate, and newspaper accounts in the November 11 and 18, 1958, West Memphis
Evening Times,
the November 15
Tri-State Defender,
and the November 15 and 19
Memphis World
—some of which are not infrequently in conflict. I’m not going to try to adjudicate, or seek to reconcile, all the conflicts but simply set down my best understanding of what happened, as borne out by both objective and subjective accounts.

266
he was just getting over a bullet wound:
Chicago Defender,
October 13, 1958.

SAM, BARBARA, AND LINDA

268
a big welcome-home Christmas party: In addition to J.W. Alexander’s and Lou Rawls’ specific recollections, Sam referred glancingly to the party (and the children) in a 1964 interview with journalist Don Paulsen, “You Have to Pay Your Dues,”
Hit Parader,
January 1965.

269
“It was all I could do to concentrate”: Darlene Love with Rob Hoerburger,
My Name Is Love: The Darlene Love Story,
pp. 37ff.

270
“simple on the surface”: Leon Forrest, “A Solo Long-Song for Lady Day,” quoted by Farrah Jasmine Griffin in her notes for the ten-CD set
Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia
(Sony Legacy 85470).

272
“I said, ‘What about Bumps?’”: There is no way to specifically date Jess Rand’s recollection, but by April 1959 it had been announced in the trades that Jess was Sam Cooke’s new manager (Galen Gart,
First Pressings: The History of Rhythm & Blues,
1959, p. 53). In another version of the story, as Jess told it, it was Sam who first approached him, with Crain consummating the deal.

273
Sam celebrated his birthday:
California Eagle,
January 15, 1959.

277
He had played the Royal Peacock:
Atlanta Daily World,
January 15, 1959.

277
a BMI songwriting award for Sam’s hit: According to the
Kansas City Call,
February 20, 1959, the awards ceremony was held at the Hotel Pierre in New York on February 25.

278
He formalized the partnership: BMI wrote to J.W. on March 10, 1959, with a new agreement stipulating that the three-man partnership would be recognized as dating back to December 1, 1958.

282
the Palms of Hallandale, a converted drive-in: The description comes from Gart,
First Pressings,
1955, p. 55, and Etta James and David Ritz,
Rage to Survive: The Etta James Story,
p. 98.

282
Dolores had died in an automobile accident:
Fresno Bee,
March 23, 1959;
Los Angeles Sentinel,
March 26. According to the divorce papers, Dolores had been living in Los Angeles in August 1958, but the
Bee
had her in Fresno for the last two years of her life.

283
“The Grim Reaper has been shadowing [Sam]”:
Birmingham News,
April 25, 1959.

283
He told Farley he had written some new spiritual numbers: J.J. Farley to Art Rupe, April 8, 1959.

283
a cute little routine that “ran the audience wild”:
Amsterdam News,
April 25, 1959.

284
“a connoisseur of men”: James,
Rage to Survive,
p. 89.

284
He . . . held out for a $2,500 guarantee: Sam ended up with $3,195 for the week under this arrangement, receiving half of the reported $1,388.45 gross over $20,000, according to Apollo Theater records, Schiffman Collection, Achives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. Given that the show earned out its guaranteed advance, this is the same amount he would have received under the William Morris proposal, but I think Sam would have said that it was the principle that counted.

290
on some nights, “Sam would come out, and Boom!”: “Eddie Floyd: Stax Is Back” (no further information available).

290
Jackie was her “teen idol”: Gladys Knight,
Between Each Line of Pain and Glory: My Life Story,
p. 93; all additional quotes from Gladys Knight are from this source.

294
she signed a paper relinquishing all rights: The paper was dated July 8, 1959. It was signed by both Barbara, as Barbara Campbell, and Sam Cooke, without the
e.

294
at last nearing a resolution of his legal problems: Documents and memoranda, Specialty archives.

294
Bumps . . . was to receive $10,038.70: Agreement between Specialty Records and Robert A. Blackwell, October 15, 1959.

295
“a new idea in entertainment programming”: This “new idea” was written up in “Soundtrack with ‘Chazz’ Crawford,”
California Eagle,
June 25 and September 24, 1959.

296
he had yet to receive even a statement: From the lawsuit filed as
B. Wolf v. Rex Productions, Inc.,
No. 732700, California Superior Court, October 19, 1959. All subsequent information on Sam’s claims, and Keen/Rex’s response, stems from these records.

296
anything against the Siamases: J.W. always referred to John Siamas as “an honest fellow.”

296
“We should talk to them about recording”: The story here is the way J.W. always told it. Leroy Crume’s version is similar but somewhat more dramatic. Suffice it to say that in Crume’s version Vee Jay offered the Soul Stirrers a $10,000 signing bonus, and the group was very much leaning toward that offer when Sam flew in to Atlanta to present his case. He balked, however, at speaking with the entire group, leaving that to Crume. In the end the result was the same.

297
“Recipients of letters . . . written on good stationery”: Walter E. Hurst and William Storm Hale,
The Music Industry Book,
p. 3143.

297
The label was called SAR: J.W. credited Barbara with persuading Sam to drop the idea of including the others when they didn’t pitch in. Interestingly, when the business was incorporated, on March 9, 1960, it was stipulated in the incorporation papers that stock could be sold or transferred only to Charles, Clif, or Jess Rand, in addition to the three principals.

300
“James W. Alexander,” wrote Walter Hurst: Hurst,
The Music Industry Book,
pp. 3111, 3115.

300
a quick visit to New York: Little Anthony recounted how he had been using “a [set] closer with a gospel feel [and] George Goldner told me to put some lyrics to it,” in Dennis Garvey, “Little Anthony and the Imperials,”
Goldmine,
April 15, 1995. It was Goldner, said Anthony, who “sent over” Sam Cooke, because of the success that the Flamingos, another of Goldner’s acts, had had with Sam’s “Nobody Loves Me Like You.”

302
he had been in Reno with Sammy Davis Jr.: Barbara recalled it as Las Vegas, but Sammy Davis Jr. played Mapes Casino in Reno from ca. August 26 to September 7.

302
his “pleasing and relaxed manner”:
Variety,
July 8, 1959.

302
“You have to be more than just a straight singer”:
Variety,
September 23, 1959. J.W. recalled this as the one time that Sam employed his full tap routine.

303
“one of the brightest and best-paced reviews”:
Variety,
September 30, 1959.

303
The wedding on Sunday: I’m not sure if Sonny Vincent is the same as Sonny Benson, who is mentioned in the October 18, 1958,
Defender
story on Sam by Ernestine Cofield, “Close Look at Sam Cooke: From ‘Rags to Riches’ Story of Young Chi Club Singer.” L.C. Cooke says that Sonny Vincent was Sam’s friend but Duck was best man. The photo in
Sepia,
January 1960, shows Crain as best man. Barbara and her twin sister, Beverly, debated the guest list to no conclusion in my interviews with them. But I can say with assurance that other than myself no one much cared who the official best man actually was.