You Send Me

You Send Me

The Life and Times of Sam Cooke

Summary

When Sam Cooke was shot dead in a cheap motel in Hollywood, he was one of America's most successful pop stars. He left a world in which he had been born poor and had become very rich from the success of such records as "You Send Me" and "A Wonderful World", yet his body lay unrecognised in a morgue for two days. This biography follows Cooke's life in a racist America where his voice was one of the first to reach beyond the segregated audiences and command a white following, Cooke himself becoming a player in the fledgling civil rights movement. This award-winning biography is a full and sometimes shocking story of a man whose songbook is revered by great performers such as Otis Redding, Rod Stewart and Aretha Franklin.

Reviews

  • You Send Me is an excellent work - compelling
    Financial Times

About the authors

Daniel Wolff

Learn More

S.R Crain

Learn More

Cliff White

Learn More

G. David Tenenbaum

Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more