That Sam Cooke hasn't received an honorary street designation until this Saturday is a bit confusing to us. more ›

One of the seminal local Gospel acts was the Soul Stirrers, whose most notable member, Sam Cooke, went on to even greater success as a secular artist. The Soul Stirrers and other Gospel acts like the Highway QCs served as polishing schools of sorts for the likes of Cooke, Lou Rawls and Johnnie Taylor. Cooke, in particular, was arguably the most talented of the Soul Stirrers, able to create songs simply by flipping through a Bible and pointing his finger at some Scripture. more ›

In a mood for some Sam Cooke today. It could have been so easy to select "A Change is Gonna Come," but not everything has to be a political statement and I'm running on three hours sleep. Sometimes the music itself is enough. more ›

As you know, we are big fans of Sam Cooke so we were excited to hear that a biopic is underway. Cooke's label, ABKCO Music and Records, Inc., says it is developing a script based upon Peter Guralnick's biography of Cooke - Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke. Jody Klein, ABKCO's president, will be making announcements about the upcoming film in the next few months. more ›

the shift is abrupt. more ›

There was a time when a little bit of Kurt Elling went a long way. The insanely talented singer always seemed to balance precariously on the gossamer between genius and schmaltz, but Elling always had a knack for pulling the reins tight just when listeners were ready to cringe. Most of the time. Restraint, or knowing when to utilize it, seemed to be one of Elling's shortcomings in the past. more ›

A group known as Gospel Music Capitol of the World Productions wants the City of Chicago to purchase and restore the Chicago Defender building and use it to house an International Gospel Museum. (We know this might be the pot calling the kettle black, but shouldn’t that be Gospel Music C-A-P-I-T-A-L Of The World Productions?) The release cites a recent Chicago Sun-Times article that quotes David Bahlman, president of the former Landmarks Preservation Council of... more ›

The voice that breathed velvet soul is now silent. Smooth voiced Grammy-winning singer and Chicago native Lou Rawls passed away this morning after being hospitalized in Los Angeles for treatment of lung and brain cancer. Mr. Rawls was introduced to music by his grandmother and the gospel strains of church. He started singing professionally in the mid-'50's with the L.A.-based gospel group the Pilgrim Travelers, whose contemporaries the Soul Stirrers featured at that time the... more ›

There’s a decent barroom argument to be had over whether Sam Cooke or Ray Charles can rightly be called the inventor of soul music. Both men took the structures and idioms of gospel music and adapted them to create a new, modern sound. Though it took Brother Ray a few years before he moved away from aping Charles Brown and Nat King Cole, Cooke’s voice was so distinctive that when he released his first pop song, “Loveable,” under the name Dale Cook, gospel audiences immediately recognized his familiar tenor. more ›