6. Sam Cooke
The famous song “A Change is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke, celebrated in March, 50 years since he boarded the international music charts.
I Have a Dream
Designated one of the anthems of the US civil rights movement, “A Change is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke, was written because the artist was impressed by the song “Blowin ‘in the Wind” by Bob Dylan in 1963. Also, in 1963, the famous speech “I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King was also held. In autumn Sam Cooke wrote the song, distancing itself from his hitherto hits, songs about love and conquest.
“A Change is Gonna Come “by Sam Cooke was released on the album “Ain’t That Good News’, launched on March 1, 1964. The song went straight to No. 31 on the international music charts on March 6, 1965. Sam Cooke, born in 1931 and deceased in 1964, is considered to be one among the most important American artists and singer-songwriters of all time.
5. Al Green
Al Green, born in April 13, 1946, is an author, composer, producer and American soul singer. Rocked by the pioneers of the genre like Ray Charles, Sam Cooke and Solomon Burke, he was one of the most famous representatives of this genre during the 1970s.
Music career
A native of Arkansas, the son of a sharecropper, he was the sixth of ten children coming from a modest family. He began singing at the age of nine in a gospel quartet from Forrest City that he and his three brothers had founded, naming it the “Greene Brothers.” They went on tour in the Southeastern United States in the mid 1950’s, until the family moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan. They then started singing in Michigan and in the northern part of the United States , in Chicago. One of the members left the group after being caught listening to Jackie Wilson.
As a teenager, Al Green formed a group called “Al Greene & the Creations” with his high school friends. Two of them, Curtis Rogers and Palmer James, created an independent label called Hot Line Music Journal. The band soon renamed “Al Greene and the Soul Mates”, recorded a single that impressed the audiences. While the success of Soul Mates was out of breath, Greene met Willie Mitchell, No. 2 Hi Records in Memphis. The musician was hired as the singer for his band at a show in Texas and, subsequently, made sign Greene solo. His solo career was launched to reach its peak before experiencing a sudden change in the years 1970. It was not until 2003 when the singer had a return to the international stage, in a soul & funk registry that rocked many fans.
Grammy’s
After spending a few years singing only gospel, Al Green returned to his musical roots. Between albums he was more oriented in R & B, recording a duet with Annie Lennox, with the song “Put a little love in your heart” (1988); In 1994, his duet with a country singer, Lyle Lovett, mixed up country and R & B, earning him his ninth Grammy, this time in the pop music category.
His album “Your heart’s in good hands”, from 1995, receives good reviews but does not convince the public. He then enteres the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the same year. His song, “Let’s Stay Together”, is part of the soundtrack for Pulp Fiction, signed by Quentin Tarantino, a movie known as a cult film that revives the soul and funk of the 1970s.
In 2000 he published “Take me to the river”, a book chronicling his career. He received a Grammy for his lifetime achievement in 2002. In 2003 he released a nonreligious album called “I can not stop”, the first collaboration with Willie Mitchell since the 1985 album “He is the light”. Al Green joined the Gospel Music Hall of Fame of the Gospel Music Association. He continues to tour and still preaches the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Memphis. Al Green appeared as a guest star, just like Barry White, in the television series “Ally McBeal”, in season two and three.
4. Marvin Gaye
John Lennon’s murder, the death of the actress Sharon Tate or 2Pac’s death caused an irreparable loss to the music and movie world. Unfortunately, not all cases have been solved.
Four years after the death of John Lennon, another music legend, Marvin Gaye, has died, being shot dead by his won father. Unfortunately, the incident took place after Gaye intervened in a quarrel between his parents. Marvin Gaye was a composer and producer who won two Grammys.
Career
The singer and composer was born in 1939 and was a Great American Soul voice who had a problem with drugs and alcohol. When the problems did not gave him any kind of peace, the artist took refuge in his parents’ home to live with them until sunny days would come again. Unfortunately, the artist has never had a good relationship with his father, who used to beat him since he was very small. On April 1, 1984, after consuming cocaine, he got into a dispute with his father, the artist being shot by him two times. Marvin Gaye died on the eve of the must fulfill, at the early age of 45 years old.
Gaye’s family sued the new R & B singers Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams for a breach of legislation on copyright, accusing them of plagiarizing a song of the artist, with their hit “Blurred Lines“. The lawsuit, filed by the three sons of Marvin Gaye, is based on a series of excerpts from interviews by Robin Thicke in several journals, in which he acknowledged that he was inspired by “Got to Give It Up” when he produced and recorded “Blurred Lines”.