About

Portrait of a Legend 1951-1964, a career-spanning 31 track collection of music pioneer Sam Cooke’s greatest works, is being released by ABKCO Records for the first time ever as a vinyl double album on June 24. Originally released in 2003 as a CD/Super Audio CD hybrid, Portrait of a Legend has never before been available on LP, the dominant format at the time of Cooke’s greatest success. In Portrait of a Legend 1951-1964, ABKCO presents tracks from Cooke’s gospel and early R&B career as well as his pop/soul hits from the Specialty and RCA labels and has combined them with the cream of the masters that are part of his own company, Tracey Records. He was one of the first recording stars, black or white, to command this kind of artistic control, the most noteworthy other example at the time being Frank Sinatra.

The collection highlights Cooke’s astounding command of the gospel idiom where, at age 19, he joined the world renowned Soul Stirrers. With Cooke singing lead, the veteran group recorded “Jesus Gave Me Water,” on March 1, 1951 at a session for Specialty Records; Sam Cooke’s professional career had begun. More than a half century later, that same song closes this collection that starts with another Soul Stirrers song, “Touch The Hem Of His Garment,” written by Cooke.

After Cooke’s decision to sing secular music as a solo artist in the late 50s, until the time of his death, Cooke was one of the most popular vocalists in the world with a streak of Top 10 Billboard Pop Chart hits that began with “You Send Me” and continued through “Chain Gang,” “Twistin’ The Night Away,” “Another Saturday Night” and “Shake,” all of which are on Portrait of a Legend. Three of these hits were also #1 Billboard R&B Chart singles; two peaked at #2. Seven other songs in the collection were also Top 10 R&B hits including “I’ll Come Running Back To You,” “Win Your Love For Me,” “Everybody Likes To Cha Cha Cha,” “Wonderful World,” “Bring It On Home to Me,” “Having A Party,” “Nothing Can Change This Love,” and “A Change Is Gonna Come.” - ABKCO