Of all soul singers, from the early days of recorded music right up to the present, one of my favorites has to be Sam Cooke. I might even be able to say he is my overall favorite. There are a couple of reason.
First, of course, is his voice. It is very unique because you could describe it in two ways that would seem to oppose each other – it is both smooth and raspy. It has texture. This is something that you miss when you hear all of the over recorded pop music that is so prevalent today. A lot of times it almost sounds too perfect, as if the voices were computer generated. This is not, of course, the case with Sam Cooke. The fact that his voice has both of these qualities also means that his voice can express a wide range of emotion, from soft sentimental sweet nothings to pain and yearning.
Next, I love Sam Cooke’s lyrics. Again, when you look at the list of songs that he wrote they show this same wide range that his voice expresses. You can see this if you listen to a song like Cupid, which is fun and playful if tinged with a touch of desire, and then listen to a song like A Change is Gonna Come in which you hear real and conscious lyrics, and a voice that perfectly expresses the longing in them.
The tragedy with Sam Cooke, as is the tragedy with so many talented singers and artists of various types, is that he died too soon. This is first and foremost tragic because he was a young man. Further though, I have a friend who pointed out to me that he died just before the Beatles really took off. I imagine that he could have given some pretty amazing renditions of some of the songs in the Lennon/McCartney songbook.