Like most, he started out in gospel, and from 1950 onwards was the inspiration and lead tenor for the Soul Stirrers, possibly the leading gospel group of the period. By 1956, he was already being encouraged to record secular material, primarily at the instigation of Bumps Blackwell.
Initially he recorded the pop material under the name Dale Cook, keeping his pop and gospel material as separate as possible. By 1957 and 'You Send Me', he already had orchestration and white female backing vocals on his recordings. 'Wonderful World' and 'Only Sixteen' soon followed and regular placings on the pop charts became common place. Still gospel based, the nature of the material (certainly lyrically) was nonetheless at odds with the purity of work recorded by the Soul Stirrers and it was inevitable that Cooke and the group would part company. He still remained actively involved in the group's career and even suggested Johnnie Taylor as his direct replacement. There are a number of CD compilations around which cover Cooke's work with the Soul Stirrers.

In 1960 Cooke signed with RCA and the hits really started flowing - they include 'Chain Gang', 'Twistin' The Night Away', 'Another Saturday Night', 'Shake' and 'Bring It On Home To Me'. For every classic early soul performance, there appeared to be a nod towards the supper club circuit with such novelties as 'Everybody Loves To Cha Cha Cha' - even the high quality stuff tended to be overproduced. Cooke's exceptional ability nearly always overcame such difficulties and he set the standard for the sweet soul music later typified by the recordings of the likes of Al Green, Luther Vandross and even Smokey Robinson. And everyone could always see beyond the superficial production values to the immense talent of the man himself; Otis Redding was one of Sam's biggest admirers and recorded a number of Cooke compositions. Most of the necessary Cooke recordings can be found on the RCA CD "Sam Cooke - The Man And His Music" which oversses the range of his career, beginning with the Soul Stirrers rendition of 'Touch The Hem Of His Garment' through to 'A Change Is Gonna Come'. As is so often the case with R&B; releases, this CD appears to be out of print so the straightforward "Hits" compilation may have to do instead. The Box Set "The Man Who Invented Soul" is a fine release for those who want more, but it doesn't contain 'A Change Is Gonna Come'.

A great vocalist and stylist, he moved black music into the mainstream and was also one of the earliest performer / writers working in the soul tradition - to that extent, he was a prime early mover in the soul/R&B; artist's struggle to begin to control his own destiny.
Listen to the performance of his own 'A Change Is Gonna Come' and fail to be moved by it and it probably means that you aren't that interested in the emotional pull of the best of R&B; - you might not even have a pulse!! He died of gunshot wounds inflicted in a Los Angeles hotel in extremely murky circumstances; despite the controversy around his death however, his reputation hasdeservedly continued to grow ever since and his importance and the sheer enjoyment of his music should not be underestimated.