Sam Cooke › Similar Artists

Otis Redding - 100% match to Sam Cooke

9 September 1941, Dawson, Georgia, USA, d. 10 December 1967, Lake Monona, Madison, Wisconsin, USA. The son of a Baptist minister with the same name, Redding assimilated gospel music during his childhood and soon became interested in jump blues and R&B. After resettling in Macon, he became infatuated with local luminary Little Richard and began singing on a full-time basi Read more

Sam Cooke & The Soul Stirrers - 78% match to Sam Cooke

Wilson Pickett - 65% match to Sam Cooke

18 March 1941, Prattville, Alabama, USA, d. 19 January 2006, Reston, Virginia, USA. The ‘wicked Pickett’ was one of the great southern soul singers to emerge during the 60s. Pickett moved to Detroit, Michigan in his early teens. He joined gospel group the Violinaires and embarked on church tours throughout North America. In his late teens he graduated to secular mu Read more

Jackie Wilson - 61% match to Sam Cooke

Jack Leroy Wilson, 9 June 1934, Detroit, Michigan, USA, d. 21 January 1984, Mount Holly, New Jersey, USA. When parental pressure thwarted his boxing ambitions, Wilson took to singing in small local clubs. He sang with the Thrillers (a predecessor group to the Royals) and recorded some solo tracks for Dizzy Gillespie’s Dee Gee label as Sonny Wilson, before replacing Clyd Read more

The Temptations - 53% match to Sam Cooke

Al Green - 44% match to Sam Cooke

Sam & Dave - 42% match to Sam Cooke

Samuel David Moore (12 October 1935, Miami, Florida, USA) and David Prater (b. 9 May 1937, Ocilla, Georgia, USA, d. 9 April 1988). Sam And Dave first performed together in 1961 at Miami’s King Of Hearts club. Moore originally sang in his father’s Baptist church before joining the Melonaires, while Prater, who had worked with the Sensational Hummingbirds, was also g Read more

Ben E. King - 41% match to Sam Cooke

Benjamin Earl Nelson, 28 September 1938, Henderson, North Carolina, USA. King began his career while still a high-school student singing in a doo-wop group, the Four B’s. He later joined the Five Crowns who, in 1959, assumed the name the Drifters. King was the featured lead vocalist and occasional composer on several of their recordings including ‘There Goes My Bab Read more

Percy Sledge - 41% match to Sam Cooke

25 November 1941, Leighton, Alabama, USA. An informal, intimate singer, former hospital nurse Sledge led a popular campus attraction, the Esquires Combo, prior to his recording debut. Recommended to Quin Ivy, owner of the Norala Sound studio, Sledge arrived with a rudimentary draft of ‘When A Man Loves A Woman’. A timeless single, its simple arrangement hinged on S Read more

Etta James - 40% match to Sam Cooke

Jamesetta Hawkins, 25 January 1938, Los Angeles, California, USA. James’ introduction to performing followed an impromptu audition for Johnny Otis backstage at San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium. ‘Roll With Me Henry’, her ‘answer’ to the Hank Ballard hit ‘Work With Me Annie’, was retitled ‘The Wallflower’ in an effort to dis Read more

The Impressions - 38% match to Sam Cooke

Formed in Chicago in 1957 and originally known as the Roosters, this group comprised Jerry Butler (8 December 1939, Sunflower, Mississippi, USA), Curtis Mayfield (b. 3 June 1942, Chicago, Illinois, USA, d. 26 December 1999), Sam Gooden (b. 2 September 1939, Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA), and brothers Richard Brooks and Arthur Brooks (both born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA). Read more

Solomon Burke - 35% match to Sam Cooke

21 March 1940, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. The former ‘Wonder Boy Preacher’, Burke’s first recordings appeared on the New York-based Apollo label. From 1955-59 he attempted various styles until a brisk rocker, ‘Be Bop Grandma’, attracted the attention of Atlantic Records. An eclectic performer, his reading of a sentimental country song, ‘Ju Read more

James Carr - 32% match to Sam Cooke

13 June 1942, Coahoma, Mississippi, USA, d. 7 January 2001, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Carr grew up in Memphis where he sang gospel in the Sunset Travellers and the Harmony Echoes and was discovered by Memphis gospel-group mentor Roosevelt Jamison. This budding manager and songwriter brought Carr to the Goldwax Records label, run by Quinton Claunch. It took four singles to de Read more

Ray Charles - 32% match to Sam Cooke

Ray Charles Robinson, 23 September 1930, Albany, Georgia, USA, d. 10 June 2004, Beverly Hills, California, USA. Few epithets sit less comfortably than that of genius; Ray Charles held this title for over 40 years and he was a true musical genius. As a singer, composer, arranger and pianist, his prolific work deserved no other praise.Born in extreme po Read more

Aretha Franklin - 31% match to Sam Cooke

25 March 1942, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Aretha Franklin’s music is steeped in the traditions of the church. Her father, Rev. C.L. Franklin, was a Baptist preacher who, once he had moved his family to Detroit, became famous throughout black America for his fiery sermons and magnetic public appearances. He knew the major gospel stars Mahalia Jackson and Clara Ward, who in Read more