Dream boogie: the triumph of Sam Cooke (116 page)

196
It was an oversight, Bumps told him: In an October 21, 1957, letter to Higuera Music (Keen’s publishing company), Art Rupe wrote: “We discussed this matter with your Mr. Robert ‘Bumps’ Blackwell several weeks ago, and he left us with the impression that he would straighten out this misunderstanding.”

196
E. Rodney Jones played “Summertime”: Wolff,
You Send Me,
p. 155.

198
“I can tell my listeners”:
Time,
February 14, 1955.

198
Teresa Brewer may not have realized it: Bumps Blackwell interview, Specialty archives (I’ve changed the tense of the verbs to the present throughout); Crume, too, spoke of Sam being upset about Teresa Brewer’s version, which went to number eight on the pop charts.

199
he . . . was about to have his own teen dance show: This was announced in September but did not actually go on the air until January.

199
“Somebody’s kicking on the front door”: Lex Gillespie interview with Doug “Jocko” Henderson, 1995, for the Smithsonian series produced by Jacquie Gales Webb for National Public Radio,
Black Radio: Telling It Like It Was.
Used by permission.

200
“he emaciated the house”: Michael Ochs and Ed Pearl interview with Bumps Blackwell, 1981. Both here and in his interview in the Specialty archives, Bumps spoke of Sam appearing with the Stirrers, but it was in Philadelphia, not Washington, D.C. Crume had no question, though, that the chance meeting took place in Philadelphia, but Sam appeared with the group in D.C.

201
“I was sitting in my office with a guy named Paul Cantor”: This, and subsequent passages about Sam’s early days at William Morris, is based primarily on my interview with Larry Auerbach but is supported by interviews with Paul Cantor.

202
In Atlanta they . . . set up a show: Sam spoke of “running into” B.B. Beamon, and the $1,000 fee, in his interview with the
Amsterdam News,
December 21, 1957. The show was advertised in the
Atlanta Daily World,
October 10, 1957.

202
“The way they are treating my people”: “Which Negro Celebrities Back Satchmo Blast at Ike,”
Jet,
October 3, 1957.

202
“We don’t take that jive”:
The Carolinian
(ANP), November 9, 1957.

202
his . . . road manager suggested that he had spoken “in haste”:
Kansas City Call
(ANP), November 1, 1957. Armstrong responded, according to
Jet,
October 3, 1957, by calling the white road manager, “whom I’ve respected for 20 years . . . a flunky [and] a menace to the colored people,” while insisting that he would not retract a single word of his criticism—in which he called the president “two-faced” and “[having] no guts” and Governor Faubus “an uneducated Arkansas plowboy.” He then “immortalized the report by scribbling the word ‘solid’ across the bottom and affixing his signature.”

204
Sam was rebooked: The specifics of the public’s response come from my interview with Larry Auerbach and Bumps’ Specialty interview.

204
on October 21, he fired off letters: All letters in this and subsequent exchanges are in the Specialty archives, as is the “Hi Sweet” letter subsequently quoted.

208
Richard had dramatically announced that he was quitting show business: The best sources here are Damien Johnstone, “The Big Show: Rockin’ Australia 1957,”
Now Dig This
37, April 1986 (reprinted from the Australian Rock ’n’ Roll Appreciation Society), and Derek Glenister’s thoughtful analysis, relayed via Bill Millar. Charles White’s
Life and Times of Little Richard
also provides valuable insight.

209
“ANOTHER KEEN HIT”:
Cash Box
ad, November 30, 1957.

209
a self-made man with the attitude that he had come into this world with nothing: Summarized and quoted from Art Rupe’s notes on the back of John Siamas’ December 5, 1957, letter to Rupe.

210
“In just three sensational weeks”: “Meet Sam Cooke—He’s the Most,”
Norfolk Journal and Guide
(ANP), November 30, 1957.

213
“I’m going with Sammy-o”: From interview with L.C. Cooke. The group’s reaction comes from my interview with Leroy Crume and Lee Hildebrand’s and Ray Funk’s interviews with Paul Foster.

214
Tony played the Apollo . . . with a little record of his own: Tony Harris’ hit, ironically, was on Art Rupe’s ex-wife Lee’s label, Ebb.

214
“None of my children have turned out badly”: “Rock ’n’ Roll Cinderella,”
Sepia,
March 1958. I have added the dash at the end of the quote.

214
an extensive interview to one of the country’s most prestigious black newspapers: Margurite Belafonte, “Eye to Eye with Sam Cook,”
Amsterdam News,
December 21, 1957.

216
“If church people feel that Sam deserted them”: Lillian Cumber quoted from her
Los Angeles Tribune
column in “Sam Cook Zooms to Fame,”
Cleveland Call,
November 23, 1957.

217
He gave an interview to the
Philadelphia Tribune
: Malcolm Poindexter, “Sam Cooke’s ‘Baby You Send Me’ Now Over 1,125,000 Mark,”
Philadelphia Tribune,
January 4, 1958.

217
Connie Bolling, whose son, Keith: Much of the information on Keith Bolling and his mother, and the intensity of Sam’s feelings, comes from my interview with Keith and his wife, Pam.

217
The sheriff and his deputies: Much of the specific detail of Sam’s arrest is derived from Art Peters, “Singer Sam Cooke Fathered Her Child, Says Unwed Girl,” a front-page story in the
Philadelphia Tribune,
March 25, 1958, along with the follow-up on April 1 by the same reporter, “Singer Sam Cooke Settles Baby Case for Over $5000.”

THE BIGGEST SHOW OF STARS FOR
1958

218-219
Crain . . . strongly seconded Sam’s demands: In his March 23, 1995, interview with Terry Gross on National Public Radio’s
Fresh Air,
Crain said, “We
begged
Larry Auerbach . . . ”

219
He spoke to Sam Bramson: This account is culled from my interviews with Larry Auerbach, Paul Cantor, and Jess Rand, which, perhaps needless to say, do not agree in every particular.

220
“the young man with the golden voice”:
Philadelphia Tribune,
December 21, 1957.

220
headlining at the Crescendo:
California Eagle,
January 30, 1958.

220
“the red-haired vampire”:
Miami Times,
August 18, 1958.

220-221
“He’s cute as a button”: “Topic A,”
Time,
May 26, 1958.

221
“a wardrobe full of Ivy League clothes”: “The Private Life of Sam Cooke,”
Tan,
April 1958.

222
“Sam took Sister Flute:” Dred Scott Keyes interview with S.R. Crain, 1996.

223
“Bumps didn’t know what he was doing”: BBC interview with René Hall.

223
“Well, girls,” the
Amsterdam News
announced: Jesse H. Walker, “Theatricals,”
Amsterdam News,
March 8, 1958.

224
“Jules Podell told me”: William Peper, “Sam Cooke Sings the Blues, Too,”
New York World-Telegram,
February 6, 1964.

224
“We were pulling for him”:
Houston Informer,
March 22, 1958.

224
Sam Cooke had “laid a golden egg”: A. S. “Doc” Young, “The Big Beat,”
Los Angeles Sentinel,
March 20, 1958.

224
“the handsome Negro lad with two hit records”:
Variety,
March 12, 1958.

224
with Crain consoling him: Terry Gross’ National Public Radio interview with S.R. Crain,
Fresh Air.

224
“the pretty model with an amazing hair style”:
Houston Informer
(ANP), March 15, 1958.

226
he ran into Barbara for the first time: In addition to Barbara’s own recollections, her interview of Mildred Richard ca. 1984-1985 was particularly illuminating.

227
The Spring Edition of the Biggest Show of Stars: Background information on this tour, and the history of the package tour in general, comes from numerous
Billboard
and
Cash Box
articles culled by Galen Gart in
First Pressings: The History of Rhythm & Blues,
1954-1958. “Top R&R Shows Compete for Talent,” datelined February 17 in
First Pressings,
1958, p. 15, details the situation in the spring of 1958.

228
an all-star gospel tour:
Variety,
December 25, 1957.

228
The result of this direct “competition”: “Sharp Downturn in Grosses Plaguing Touring Packages,” Gart,
First Pressings,
1958, p. 47.

228
“for the first time in ‘package show’ history”:
Norfolk Journal and Guide,
March 29, 1958.

229
the “fornication and bastardy” charge:
Jet,
April 3, 1958; see also
Philadelphia Tribune,
March 25, 1958.

230
Frankie Avalon was hailed:
Billboard,
April 21, 1958.

230
the number of notes to which he could draw out a single syllable: Bill Millar,
The Drifters,
p. 21.

231
the
Houston Informer
reported:
Houston Informer,
May 24, 1958.

231
her “sexy gestures”: “Tweedlee Dee Girl,”
Ebony,
April 1956. Chip Deffaa contributed the eye-rolling and finger-in-the-mouth details in his chapter on LaVern Baker in
Blue Rhythms: Six Lives in Rhythm and Blues.

231
“If they can get permission from their respective record firms”:
Los Angeles Sentinel,
April 17,
Norfolk Journal and Guide,
and
Chicago Defender,
April 19, 1958,
et al.
Sam wrote in “The Trouble I’ve Seen,”
Sepia,
September 1958: “I’ve succeeded in interesting my friend, LaVern Baker, in joining me [in a gospel album, and] we may also have the voice of our friend, Clyde McPhatter.” But in the end LaVern made her own album for Atlantic the following year with the Alex Bradford Singers.

233
“based on fear [and] hocus-pocus”: Lee Hildebrand interview with Clyde McPhatter, 1972.

233
a lifetime membership in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People:
Chicago Defender,
June 1, 1957.

233
he was pictured . . . mailing a box of records:
Memphis World
(ANP), January 1, 1958.

233
he railed quietly against the mistreatment: Colin Escott,
Clyde McPhatter: A Biographical Essay,
p. 33.

233
he and Clyde would sometimes fool around with country: In addition to Phil Everly pointing this out to me, George Hamilton IV also spoke of Sam and Clyde “strumming Hank Williams songs” and singing country in Spencer Leigh,
The Story of Pop,
p. 135.

234
Jake Richard induced Sam: Barbara Cooke interview with Lee Richard, ca. 1984-1985.

234
“The transition from gospel to pop tunes was easy”: “Sam Cooke says all tours alike,”
Richmond Afro-American
(ANP), May 17, 1958.

234
That same night the violence . . . exploded: The Boston riot and its aftermath are well recounted in John A. Jackson,
Big Beat Heat: Alan Freed and the Early Years of Rock & Roll,
pp. 192ff.

235
another keen “battle of songs”:
Norfolk Journal and Guide,
May 31, 1958.

235
Prophet John the Conqueror:
Pittsburgh Courier,
March 29, 1958.

236
the label’s new West Third Street location: The studio first shows up on an American Federation of Musicians (AFM) session sheet on August 6, 1958.

237
He had been cultivating a Latin dance sound: Raul Trana first appears on a February 4, 1958, session sheet.

237
He carried a blue spiral notebook: Jess Rand interview.

238
He was “stubborn”: BBC interview with René Hall.

242
The July 4
Larry Finley Show
: This was reported in
Billboard,
July 19, 1958, and various other trade items are included in Alan Clark,
Rock and Roll Legends
3, p. 45 and
Rock and Roll Memories
7, pp. 61-62.

243
Beamon, who . . . bought over $2 million worth of talent:
Atlanta Daily World,
November 6, 1958.