Sam Cooke is one of the greatest soul singers ever. We've all heard his songs at some point: Cupid ("Cupid, draw back your bow..."), (What A) Wonderful World ("Don't know much about history/Don't know much biology..."), Chain Gang, Another Saturday Night, etc. Cooke is considered a founder of the soul music genre, and also broke new ground as a black musician who started his own record label and publishing company. Check out the Wikipedia link for more on his bio.
This afternoon I obtained a copy of the compilation The Portrait of a Legend: 1951-1964, and I'm ashamed to say that I've heard many of these songs before without realizing who was singing them. It's practically a crime for me to have overlooked such an important artist. And to be honest, regardless of his importance, Sam Cooke's singing voice was simply amazing.
I highly recommend this compilation to anyone with an interest in soul, R&B or gospel music. Even if you've never had an interest in any of these genres before, you need to give this a listen.
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