Sam Cooke: ♪ Don't know much about history ♪ ♪ Don't know much biology ♪ ♪ Don't know much about a science book ♪ ♪ Don't know much about the French I took ♪ ♪ But I do know that I love you ♪ ♪ And I know that if you love me, too ♪ ♪ What a wonderful world this would be ♪ [ Sultry jazz plays ] ♪♪ Gardner: And good afternoon to all of you.

I'm Bill Gardner, host of "Rhapsody in Black."

What a special program we have for you today.

He was arguably the most important soul singer in history.

He was the most popular and beloved performer in both white and black communities.

He was among the first modern black performers and composers to attend to the business side of the music business.

The music and life of Sam Cooke, right now on "Rhapsody in Black."

Cooke: [ Vocalizing ] Narrator: Sam Cooke -- everyone knows his songs, but hardly anyone knows his story -- a story as exciting and relevant as his music.

Cooke: ♪ Yeah ♪ Gardner: There were so many layers to his music.

He could sing pop.

He could sing soul.

He was the future of black America through music.

Dowse: He had a voice that people listened to.

And there's nothing that crosses a color line, hatred, discrimination quicker than music.

Everybody wanted to be Sam Cooke's producer because you were gonna have hit after hit after hit.

He and Ray Charles were probably the earliest figures who understood that there was a business side to music that they needed to control.

He had his own publishing company.

He had his own label.

He was kind of an entrepreneur.

Kellum: His last interview with Dick Clark, he told Dick Clark, "I'm gonna be on 'Bandstand' again, but I won't be performing.

I'll be the producer.

I'm gonna be the guy behind all the hits.

I'm not just gonna be the guy having the hits."

What do you hope to do in the future?

You're doing different things now, aren't you?

Yeah, well, now, Dick, I'm working mostly with other young singers.

You know, I -- Wait a minute.

What could be the greatest thing in the world that would happen to you if you had your choice?

The greatest thing to happen to me, if all the singers I'm connected with had hits.

[ Both laugh ] I will knock on wood and hope the whole thing goes.

Sam Cooke, ladies and gentlemen.

[ Dramatic music plays ] Narrator: But on December 11, 1964, the inconceivable happens -- a tragic fall from the heights of stardom.

[ Police radio chatter ] [ Siren wailing ] Sam Cooke, one of the most talented singers and music producers of his generation, is shot in a seedy motel.

[ Indistinct conversations ] [ Police radio chatter ] Sands: I got a call at 6:30 in the morning from Larry McCormick, who was on KGFJ -- He was the news anchor -- to say, "Zelda, I wanted you to know Sam's been shot."

And I said, "Well, what hospital is he in?

Where is he?"

He said, "He's not, Zelda.

He's dead."

And I -- You know, I lost it for a few days.

I just lost it.

[ Siren wailing ] [ Telephone ringing ] 5:00 in the morning, I got a call.

Woke me up at 5:00.

And it was a dear friend of mine, Lester Sill.

And Lester said, "Al, I don't know.

I just heard on the radio that Sam had been shot."

And I said, "Oh, my God.

Okay."

I said, "I'm gonna get dressed.

What hospital is he in?"

And he said, "No, Al, he's dead."

And that just broke my heart.

So, since my wife was a reporter, she got up and drove down to the police station and was able to view the police report.

And they told, in the police report, what had happened.

♪♪ The official story was that Sam met a lady that night at a bar called Martoni's.

♪♪ From there, went to another club called PJ's after that.

♪♪ And then, supposedly, Sam took her to a motel against her will.

♪♪ ♪♪ Wecht: Mr. Cooke, checking into the motel with the young woman, went to the room and she goes to the bathroom.

She comes out, and then he goes into the bathroom.

While he is in the bathroom, she quickly rushes out, grabs her clothes, and inadvertently grabs his clothes.

He comes out, he finds her missing.

He doesn't have any clothes except a -- a coat.

He proceeds to the manager's office and asked where the woman is that he had checked in with.

And he's told by the manager, Bertha Franklin, that that woman is not there.

He leaves.

Then he comes back.

And now she has the door closed.

She doesn't want to talk to him anymore.

Reportedly, he pushes open the door, kind of breaks the stripping down, comes in, and begins to harass her and then physically assault her.

While they are struggling and tumbling, she reaches over, grabs the gun, and she shoots him.

[ Gunshots ] ♪♪ After she shoots him, and he proclaims, "Lady, you shot me," he still comes after her, whereupon she grabs some kind of a large stick.

And it was a large broom handle or something.

And she proceeds to beat him until he collapses.

[ Police radio chatter ] [ Siren wails ] ♪♪ Greene: Sam Cooke was a star that shone very brightly but just for a short period of time.

You know, some artists are tragic figures.

Sam just had a tragic ending.

He wasn't a tragic figure.

He was a very good person.

♪♪ Jamison: The number-one black artist in the world has kidnapped a prostitute and is gonna try to rape her.

[ Sighs ] Wouldn't buy that story.

Come on.

You know?

Why?

Why?

♪♪ ♪♪ Schmitt: What really happened?

Nobody knows except the woman that killed him and the girl that took his pants and was hiding in a -- in a -- in an alleyway.

I would like to see an interview with her saying, "Yeah, Sam tried to rape me that night."

That's why, if you could get Alicia, she's the only one who could tell you the truth.

I don't know if we'll ever get to the bottom of it and find out what really, really happened.

Cooke: ♪ I wish somebody, yeah ♪ ♪ Would come and ease my troublin' mind ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ I wish somebody ♪ ♪ Would come and ease my... ♪ Narrator: Sam Cooke's family, friends, and fans doubt the official crime reports.

When Sam Cooke was killed in 1964, I was -- I was 26 years old.

And it was -- it was very sad.

It was shocking.

We did not want to believe the circumstances under which he got killed.

Cooke: ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ I sure wish... ♪ I would suspect that his death was under a clouded circumstance.

The fact that it wasn't investigated completely, I think the fact that there was a contrived theory that was presented to the coroner is a likely scenario.

There are definitely people who over the years have said that Sam didn't die there in that room, or, you know, he was beaten close to death elsewhere and shot and dragged there and put there, and that was all part of the conspiracy to kill him.

And you know, it doesn't take that much to believe that line of thinking.

Cooke: ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪♪ Choir: ♪ Oh, there will be peace in the valley ♪ ♪ For me one day ♪ ♪ There will be peace in the valley for me ♪ Narrator: Sam Cooke's first memorial service was held in Chicago.

Choir: ♪ Whoa ♪ Jamison: They flew the body here to Chicago because this is where he was from, this is where the majority of the family is.

Choir: ♪ No, sir, no more trouble ♪ ♪ There will be ♪ ♪ There will be peace in the valley ♪ ♪ Peace in the valley for me ♪ ♪ Peace in the valley for me ♪ ♪ Oh, you know that ♪ Jamison: There were so many people that they had to literally fight to get us through.

And they have a few of our family members standing around the casket, including my younger sister.

And in the background there is me, baby-faced Gene, standing next to the lamp.

Choir: ♪ I know the host from the wild ♪ Jamison: Muhammad Ali, Herbert Muhammad, different people, all came to view the body.

Mahalia Jackson, as well as all the family and everybody, the Staples.

[ Sighs ] Choir: ♪ Well, well, well, there will be peace ♪ ♪ In the valley, in the valley ♪ ♪ For me one day ♪ Jamison: After the viewing, the procession went to Tabernacle Church.

We went down there, and again there was people as far as you could see.

The Staples Singers sang.

Mavis sang her heart out.

It was a beautiful service.

Choir: ♪ Will ever be ♪ ♪ There will be peace ♪ ♪ In the valley ♪ ♪ Peace in the valley ♪ ♪ Peace in the valley for me ♪ The next day, my grandfather and a few others went back to L.A., and they had the service at, um... in Los Angeles.

Schmitt: My wife and I went to the funeral.

As we were walking from our car to the church, people were playing Sam Cooke in their apartments and the windows were open and you could just hear Sam Cooke all the way to the church.

Cooke: ♪ Cupid, draw back your bow ♪ ♪ And let your arrow go ♪ ♪ Straight to my lover's heart for me ♪ ♪ For me ♪ ♪ Cupid ♪ Schmitt: At the church, everybody was there to sing.

Ray Charles sang.

Sands: It was packed when I got there.

You couldn't get in.

There were no seats.

Nothing.

I wanted to get in there.

[ Camera shutter clicks ] And the minister was outside.

Even he wasn't gonna let me in.

I said, "You don't know who -- Are you kidding?

There's no way."

I beat him up.

I was pounding him, pounding and pounding him.

So I got in.

I sat in the second row.

Cooke: ♪ Draw back your bow ♪ Everybody was crying and goose bumps and and it was just an incredible, incredible show and funeral.

There were so many entertainers.

It was just a wonderful, wonderful tribute and send-off to a wonderful guy.

Cooke: ♪ And let your arrow fly ♪ ♪ Straight to my lover's heart for me ♪ ♪ Now Cupid... ♪ This next song was inspired by various personal events in Cooke's life, most prominently an event in which he and his entourage were turned away from a "whites only" motel in Louisiana.

Cooke felt compelled to write a song that spoke to his struggle and of those around him.

A modest hit for Cooke in comparison with his previous singles, "A Change Is Gonna Come" became an anthem for American civil rights movement.

Here's the most famous Sam Cooke song, a legendary song, a song for all time.

"A Change Is Gonna Come" is next.

[ Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" playing ] [ Sniffling ] ♪♪ Cooke: ♪ I was born by the river ♪ ♪ In a little tent ♪ ♪ Oh, and just like the river ♪ ♪ I've been running ♪ ♪ Ever since ♪ Dr. King, Jr: I have a dream today.

We will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together.

Antonelli: You know, "A Change Is Gonna Come" is something that will be forever connected to the civil rights movement.

His connection with Muhammad Ali at the time was no accident.

Martin Luther King and those two guys are -- You know, they were kind of a holy trinity of black culture at that time.

Cooke: ♪ It's been a long ♪ Dr. King, Jr.: I still have a dream.

Cooke: ♪ A long time coming ♪ Ali: I am the greatest.

Cooke: ♪ A change gon' come, oh ♪ President Obama: It's been a long time coming.

Change has come to America.

Antonelli: When Obama was running for president the first time and the song surfaced at rallies for Obama, and Obama quoted the lyric, "A change is gonna come," that felt to me like, "Wow.

Sam Cooke's prophecy had come true from the time of his life here and the time of Obama being elected president."

It really felt like that was the complete arc of that, the story of that song.

[ Camera shutter clicks ] Cooke: ♪ Oh, yes, it will ♪ ♪♪ We're in a period in which our people are gonna find out a whole lot of things about what has happened in the prior 50 and 60 years.

America is rooted in a culture in which race is -- is part of the culture.

We have discovered that with the election of Barack Obama.

I helped get Barack Obama elected.

And we have never seen a president as disrespected as this president.

Cooke: ♪ ...on my knees ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ There been times... ♪ I think there will be a time where race is not as much of a factor in American society, and we're beginning to see that.

I believe that music transcends race.

When I hear "A Change Is Gonna Come," it's so sad because he bares his soul in -- in -- in that song.

It's -- It's so painfully moving.

to listen to Sam Cooke sing "A Change is Gonna Come."

Cooke: ♪ Oh, yes, it will ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Jamison: "A Change Is Gonna Come," he said, was the hardest song that he ever had to write, and the song was never intended to be on an album by Sam.

It was intended to be on an album by other artists and the proceeds would go to... Martin Luther King's SLC.

Narrator: But the song was not released as planned on the album "The Stars Salute Martin Luther King," and so far, there is no information to indicate the royalties were ever donated to charity.

At that point, Sam Cooke had already relinquished total control of his entire body of work to Tracey Limited, a company with an unclear ownership structure founded by Sam Cooke's manager, Allen Klein.

♪♪ ♪♪ There's always been a history in rock-'n'-roll music of, um, wealthy people controlling the music publishing and the music rights of artists who, generally speaking, come from very poor backgrounds, say, if we can generalize and say that.

So Allen Klein was a person who got very, very wealthy based on the rights of other people's music, other people's creations.

And Sam Cooke was the very first person who he did that with.

And because he did that with Sam Cooke, The Beatles and the Stones agreed to let him publish their music and control their music with the promise of making them a lot of money.

He did make Sam Cooke a lot of money, but he also made himself even more money, I think, in that process.

So therein lies the resentment.

You know, if you go all the way back to the beginnings of, you know, African-American roots music, I mean, those guys got exploited by white, you know, record-company owners, small record-company owners and executives.

And, you know, that's part of the history of rock-'n'-roll music.

And anyone who comes along who tries to step in to the middle of that equation, well, you're kind of rocking the boat, I guess.

That's my impression.

♪♪ Narrator: The current headquarters of Abkco Music and Records in New York, founded by Sam Cooke's former manager Allen Klein.

All our requests for interviews have remained unanswered.

I had heard the story actually from Allen Klein when I first met with him about how he would stand in the way of people wanting to make films about Sam Cooke.

Kellum: They're great because they're enforcing the intellectual property and the life rights of these artists and making sure they get paid, but they overdo it.

They are in such control of it because they want to control the narrative.

They want to control the story.

And I think part of it is what we're hinting at today.

What we're looking at today is, I think, part of the narrative.

[ Cheers and applause ] ♪♪ Eleanor Harris.

Sit here.

It's good news.

Good news?

Yeah.

Let's do a little capsule version of the Sam Cooke story.

How did it all happen?

Capsule version.

Born.

My father was a minister.

I started singing in the church, naturally, because I was exposed to gospel singing first.

Came out of school, went with a professional gospel group called The Soul Stirrers, sang around the country with them for about five years.

Decided to go on my own.

Made a song called "You Send Me."

It sold about a million and a half copies for me, luckily enough.

Um... ♪♪ Cooke: ♪ Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh ♪ ♪ O, Father, you've been my friend ♪ ♪ Now that I'm in trouble ♪ ♪ Stand by me to the end ♪ ♪ O, Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, I want you to stand by ♪ My name is Eugene Jamison.

My mother, Agnes Cook, was Sam's youngest sister.

[ Camera shutter clicks ] My grandfather left Clarksdale with, they tell me, 35 cents in his pocket.

He preached his way all the way to Chicago.

And once he got here, he got set up with the Church of God, and then he sent for the family and they left Clarksdale on a Greyhound and never went back.

The reasons for leaving Clarksdale was to do better for his family.

Um... At that time, it wasn't a lot going on for blacks in Mississippi or the South, period.

United States, in some cases.

Cooke: ♪ Tell me, have you put Daniel ♪ ♪ Down in the lions' den ♪ ♪ I know you went down there, Father ♪ Jamison: When they left Clarksdale, Sam was just a baby.

He, I guess, was about maybe close to 2 years old.

He was on the Greyhound in my Aunt Mary's lap.

Cooke: ♪ Like the weight of the world is on my shoulder ♪ ♪ And it's all in vain ♪ ♪ When I begin to feel weak along the way ♪ ♪ You come and you give me strength again ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ Jamison: To us, he was just our magical Uncle Sam who could make things happen.

He stressed, was that, "I'll do the singing and I'll make the money doing that.

What I need you guys to do is grow up to be lawyers.

I'm gonna need a lawyer.

I'm gonna need an accountant.

I'm gonna need this, that."

Hence my major, accounting.

But for the most part, it was always like a holiday.

You know, when my Uncle Sam came, it was magic time.

There would be loads of different famous people around.

The whole neighborhood would be buzzing because, you know, he was Sam Cooke.

Cooke: ♪ The things that I see ♪ ♪ As I walk along the street ♪ ♪ That's heaven to me ♪ Greene: I renamed the street that Sam Cooke grew up on right at 36th and Cottage Grove in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago.

And when Abkco found out about it, they wanted to participate in it and, you know, and speak and -- No.

This wasn't -- This was my doing and it was my -- my project.

And I chose to keep it, you know, to the people that -- that I wanted to participate in it.

Cooke: ♪ Someone to help me ♪ ♪ A stranger along the way ♪ ♪ That's heaven to me ♪ My name is Erik Greene.

I am the great nephew of the legendary Sam Cooke.

My grandmother was Sam's oldest sister.

Sam grew up with singing in the church with his brothers and sisters.

They were just an informal group called the Singing Children, where they were all cute little kids and they would get up, four or five of them -- Sam with his brothers and sisters.

and they would all sing before the church.

From the Singing Children, he joined a group called The Highway QC's, which were young men like himself that sang around Chicago churches.

And he was a standout there.

And he was recruited from The Highway QC's into The Soul Stirrers because he was such a hit with The Highway QC's.

♪♪ Man: ♪ Oooh ♪ ♪ Oooh ♪ ♪ Jesus is calling ♪ ♪ Wade in the water ♪ ♪ Telling you to wade ♪ ♪ Wade in the water ♪ ♪ Come on and wade ♪ ♪ Wade in the water ♪ Jamison: The Soul Stirrers were the group back then.

They were the number-one quartet.

When they invited him to join them -- Because he was just a teenager.

He was only 18.

And S.R.

Crane and R.B.

Robinson promised him that they would take care of him, and he went on the road with them.

The rest was history as far as The Soul Stirrers.

Cooke: ♪ If I walk ♪ ♪ In the pathway of duty ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ If I work ♪ ♪ 'Til the close of the day, Lord ♪ ♪ Mmm, mmm ♪ ♪ I shall see ♪ Gospel programs were set up essentially as musical competitions.

And when he would go to them, he would be out-sung often.

The other groups could do a better job of singing.

But what his fellow Soul Stirrers kept noticing was that the girls, and to some degree the teenage boys who admired him, would push to the front of the church, and he had this ability to win them over.

Cooke: ♪ Of the way ♪ ♪ Oh, yes ♪ ♪ I shall rest ♪ Gardner: In the '50s, there was a group of very religious black people, and if you would listen to any other music, it was the devil's music.

You couldn't play Little Richard.

You couldn't play all this Hank Ballard and the Midnighters.

There was just no -- no way did the two musics come -- come together.

So Sam Cooke had to find a way of doing that.

So he recorded under the name of Dale Cook for his first record.

But he also knew that eventually he'd become a star, he was going to use his own name.

That was just a stepping stone to greatness, and greatness came immediately to him.

Cooke: ♪ She's so lovable ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Mmm-mmm ♪ ♪ Candy's sweet ♪ ♪ And honey too ♪ Jamison: He liked the pop and the R&B.

He talked to my grandfather about it.

They tell me Papa wasn't very pleased at first, but he did give him his blessing and told him, "You know, God gave you a gift to sing.

And what you have to do is use that gift.

It would be a sin not to use the gift that God gave you.

So if that's what you want to do, do it and do it well."

And, boy, did he do it well.

So as far as I'm concerned, the transition from Sam Cooke from church music to secular music was smooth, easy, and beautiful.

Hugg: Also here at Dolphin's of Hollywood, you can either lose or get those blues.

Narrator: Sam Cooke leaves Chicago, gospel and the bigoted world of his childhood behind.

He finds new friends and role models in Los Angeles.

Dolphin: Sam Cooke was -- He would actually babysit my father, my father and my uncles when they were kids.

He would come by the house and he would babysit them.

[ Camera shutter clicks ] My grandfather was actually trying to open a shop in Hollywood back in the 1940s, but him being black was not allowed to actually open the shop.

So what he did, he went to Central Avenue, which is in South Central Los Angeles.

It's a very, you know, well-occupied black community.

It was very popular back then, and the idea behind it was just that if he can't bring South Central sounds to Hollywood, he'll bring Hollywood to South Central.

And so he named it Dolphin's of Hollywood.

♪♪ Hugg: Put them all together, and what do you have?

The super two-for-one record store Dolphin's of Hollywood.

Man alive, on with the jive, coming to you from 1065.

Dolphin: His shop was like a party.

Everyone came there.

So they came there, they listened to music.

They listened to the radio show with the DJ Huggy Boy.

I used to go into Dolphin's of Hollywood and enjoy.

They had a vast amount of recordings.

You know, it's quite a thing to go to Dolphin's of Hollywood back in the '50s.

♪♪ Dolphin: So he had a record shop, but then he also had a recording studio in the back in which he would do a lot of recordings as well as he had a radio broadcast show in the front, and he would do it out the front window.

One of the deejays at the store was a deejay that got Sam Cooke's record, you know, "You Send Me."

And everyone -- when the radio show came on that night, basically they played the song over and over, over again that whole night.

And it was just tons of requests for it.

Everyone came down to the shop.

They was looking to buy the record.

Everyone wanted to hear the record.

They kept replaying it.

And then Sam Cooke made an appearance there at the shop the same day they were first actually breaking the record.

[ Camera shutter clicks ] [ Cheers and applause ] ♪ You send me ♪ ♪ I know you send me ♪ ♪ I know you send me ♪ ♪ Honest you do ♪ ♪♪ ♪ You send me ♪ ♪ Whoa, whenever I'm with you ♪ ♪ I know, I know, I know when I'm near ♪ John Dolphin and Sam Cooke were friends.

They became friends in Los Angeles.

He did come to his shop and John Dolphin, being the businessman that he was, taught Sam about publishing rights.

And "That's how you're gonna make your money, one, but it's also how you're gonna gain and keep your control over your music."

And at the end of the day, it is show business, and artists get so caught up in the art, we suck at business.

And I think that John was able to get Sam to understand how important the business side is, because if your business fails, then you fail, no matter how great you are.

I don't think he recognized it at first, Sam, but I think as he watched how the music that he brought to his shop was just not for black people, but it was for all people.

And Sam had that voice that any woman would croon over, so why not?

So I think it was a smart business friendship that they had together.

♪♪ Samad: Dolphin's record store was the only place that blacks at that time could secure black music because white record stores wouldn't carry them.

Narrator: Interest in black pop music rose rapidly at the end of the '50s.

Dolphin's of Hollywood established itself as a meeting place for black and white alike.

Dolphin: William Parker, who was police chief around that time, basically hated to see the integrated scene.

He wanted -- He wanted all the races to be separate.

And Dolphin's of Hollywood was totally against that.

They were the total opposite of that.

And my grandfather's problem -- He became a nuisance to the LAPD, and they would harass him, like, constantly at his shop.

They would shut down his shop.

They would scare all white people from coming to Central Avenue.

I mean, they would scare them from coming into his shop.

I spoke to this one lady who used to come to the shop, white lady, back in the time when she was a teenager.

She said she would get stopped every time -- this white lady -- and she would get stopped by the police and they would tell her that she was gonna get gang raped if she was to go down into the Central Avenue area.

And they would do this to everyone.

They would just try to scare all the white teenagers from coming down there.

Police were basically protecting state law.

So if segregation was the law, African Americans oftentimes were charged for crimes that went against their own civil rights.

[ Siren wailing ] Narrator: Despite segregation, John Dolphin's record store was a success.

The danger lurked elsewhere.

Dolphin: One of these guys that he recorded, his name was Percy Ivy, and he was asking him for royalties, asking for money to be paid, but there's -- It's just a recording that didn't work out.

He was a wannabe singer that really wasn't good enough to put out.

At the end of the day, it was about money and just disappointment.

And I think that years and years of being said "no" to was one -- It was one last "no" that that he couldn't take.

♪♪ ♪♪ [ Gunshot ] Narrator: On February 1, 1958, John Dolphin was shot and killed.

The killer was quickly apprehended, presented to the public and convicted.

It was the failing musician Percy Ivy.

So here's my grandfather.

There's -- there's Sam Cooke.

I mean, it could -- It could be a lot of different things.

I just have theories in my head, like all these incredible, you know, entrepreneur people are, you know, are dying on these suspicious circumstances.

So you can't really say.

Yeah.

♪♪ [ Sam Cooke's "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" playing ] ♪ Nobody knows the ♪ ♪ Trouble that I've seen ♪ ♪ Nobody knows ♪ ♪ My sorrow ♪ [ Camera shutter clicks ] ♪ Nobody knows ♪ ♪ The trouble that I've seen ♪ ♪ Glory hallelujah ♪ ♪ Nobody knows ♪ ♪ The trouble that I've seen ♪ Greene: When Sam was on the road, he dealt with a lot of racism.

He dealt with it in his own way.

He refused to sing to segregated audiences.

If there was a show that was segregated, Sam would either cancel the show or in one instance in Little Rock, Arkansas, back in 1958, where they had sectioned off the black audience from the white audience, Sam said, "Okay, alright, I'll give the show, but I'm gonna turn and sing to the black guy.

You can't tell me which direction to turn."

So he was always putting on protests in his own way.

Cooke: ♪ Yes, Lord ♪ Jamison: One time they ran out of gas, so my Uncle Charles walked to get some gas.

He left Sam sitting in the car.

Police came up, asked him why was the car sitting there?

He told them.

They told Sam to get out of the car and push the car over to the side of the road.

He said, "Man, I'm a singer.

I'm not a pusher.

If you want to put a ticket on it, you ticket it, and I'll pay for it, but I'm not pushing nothing.

My name is Sam Cooke.

I'm an entertainer.

If you've never heard of me, I bet your wife have.

So when you go home, you ask your wife if she's ever heard of Sam Cooke.

And I bet they know me."

They went on down the road and left Sam alone.

Cooke: ♪ The trouble that I've... ♪ Well, it was dangerous for him as well as any other entertainer.

You probably read up on the famous police beating of Miles Davis in the 1950s in which, you know, he simply had parked his car in the street and the police asked him to move it and he refused to do so, and he was violently beat.

And so it wasn't uncommon to beat any black who talked back or who stood up for themselves.

I mean, that -- that was the social protocol of the day.

We have invited a young singer who already has the most amazingly long list of hit recordings, and he deserves every one of them.

It's Sam Cooke.

[ Applause ] [ "Mary, Mary Lou" playing ] ♪♪ ♪ Mary, Mary Lou ♪ ♪ Why must you do?

♪ ♪ The things that you always do ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ Antonelli: It wouldn't have been that graceful entrance into the white pop world that Sam Cooke had because of all those attributes that he had, all those qualities that he had that made him kind of, like, easy for white America to invite him into their living rooms.

And, you know, middle-class, white, conservative parents could see their kids getting all excited about him, and it was okay.

And that was even pre-Beatles, you know, like, he kind of set the stage for that kind of excitement in the pop world.

But it was a black guy who was doing this, you know, in a white, white culture.

Wolff: I had an older sister who, I think, was in love with Sam Cooke.

She wasn't supposed to be.

We weren't supposed to be in love.

If you -- If we were called white, whatever that means, you weren't supposed to be in love with black, whatever that means.

♪♪ Jamison: Dick Clark once said about him, "Sam Cooke knew the business way before he was supposed to know the business."

So he researched and he learned.

And he knew that that's where the money was.

And he always said that "No one is gonna get rich off of my blood and sweat but me."

How many songs have you written?

Dick, I don't know, But I've written just about all I've sang.

Which is several hundred?

Well, I can estimate this way.

I've been in the business now, Dick, for about six years and I haven't had a song that wasn't a hit, so I was on the charts, I think, from the time I started until now.

This is an amazing record.

Now, Sam, most people don't get to do this.

What's the answer?

Now, here's a man whose career so far is about six years old in this field, not counting what went on before.

What's the secret?

I think the secret is really observation, Dick.

What do you mean?

Well, if you observe what's going on and try to figure out how people are thinking and determine the times of your day, I think you can always write something that the people will understand.

Now, you have -- You've solidified your own career as far as the singing and the records go.

What do you hope to do in the future?

You're doing different things now, aren't you?

Well, now, Dick, I'm working mostly with other young singers, you know.

Wait a minute.

Wait a minute.

What could be the greatest thing in the world that would happen to you if you had your choice?

The greatest thing that happened to me, if all the singers I'm connected with had hits.

Gardner: And now we're gonna feature some songs that Sam Cooke helped produce and recorded with his SAR label in Los Angeles, California.

And back then, we were just interested in the records.

Little did I know that he produced and had a major hand in all the recordings you're going to hear right now, like this next one.

This was played in Los Angeles on Huggy Boy's Dolphin's of Hollywood all the time.

It was on the rhythm and blues charts over 21 weeks in late 1961.

Here are the Sims Twins and "Soothe Me Baby" on 90.7 FM, KPFK.

[ Sims Twins' "Soothe Me" playing ] ♪♪ ♪ Whoa ♪ ♪ Soothe me, baby, soothe me ♪ ♪ Soothe me with your kindness ♪ ♪ For you know your powerful love ♪ I'm Joel Kellum, and currently I'm an attorney.

I work with Thompson Reuters.

But as a record collector, I also do work with music.

And I've worked with the Society of Singers, which is a group that helps to get money for artists of the '50s and '60s who weren't able to support themselves.

[ Camera shutter clicks ] Sam was big into setting up something for himself.

He wanted his own record label.

He wanted his own publishing company.

He wanted his own management company.

And so in 1962, '63, '64, he really focused on signing the best artists in the world.

He had signed Mel Carter.

He had signed the Sims Twins.

He signed Johnnie Morisette.

He signed a lot of really good talent.

And he had recorded the talent, and he was gonna put out his own record label.

He had Derby Records and SAR Records.

He also had Kags Music publishing.

And so the Kags Music publishing, same thing.

He was ready.

He was really gonna take on the world, and he would have been a lot bigger than Motown Records because he had really a leg up on Motown.

If you're somebody in the music business at the time, you would have been really threatened with that and you would have been really threatened with his empowerment.

He wanted success.

He wanted to be famous.

He wanted to own a record company.

You know, he wanted to become like a businessman as well and have money, a lot of money.

He did not have a lot of money.

Cooke: ♪ Since I met that baby of mine ♪ ♪ I don't know no other girls at all ♪ ♪ I'll just tell her ♪ Narrator: In his friend J.W.

Alexander's apartment, Sam Cooke laid the foundation for his own business.

Cooke: ♪ Your kindness ♪ Greene: J.W.

Alexander was a gospel singer from Chicago, a little bit older than Sam, but they became good friends because they saw each other in the same circles in Chicago gospel during the '50s.

J.W.

Alexander had the presence of mind to form his own music company, and he didn't have any songs in his music company.

So Sam wanted to piggyback off of that idea to have a company which he can assign his songs to so that he had eventual ownership and royalty.

The music of Sam Cooke continues with a song that he recorded on his SAR label and made the charts in 1962.

Here's Mel Carter and "When a Boy Falls In Love."

Carter: ♪ I heard them say love ♪ ♪ Is a wonderful thing ♪ ♪ Something ♪ Jamison: The only person in Sam's office and businesses that wasn't a leech and who cared about him and didn't think about him as a meal ticket, and that was Zelda.

Zelda, I think you met.

Beautiful lady.

Beautiful lady.

Carter: ♪ Myself ♪ ♪ He awakens each morn with a smile on his face ♪ ♪ When a boy is in love ♪ ♪ Boy is in love ♪ We had an upright piano and the two desks, J.W.

and mine, and a filing cabinet.

Narrator: Zelda Sands had experience in publishing and became Sam Cooke's most valuable employee.

Sands: There I was.

I went through all the files of the copyrights, and so it progressed until...we started making some money.

I still didn't get a raise or anything, but I was so happy there.

The time was my own.

When vacation time came, I wouldn't even go on vacation.

I just loved being there.

Cooke: Sing it.

Read your paper.

Huh?

Take your paper in your hand if you can't read.

One of the things that Sam was very adept at was recognizing talent early on.

He recognized Bobby Womack when he was just a little boy.

He brought Billy Preston on.

He signed Billy Preston to his record label when he was only 16 years old.

♪♪ Narrator: The pop visionary created studios throughout Los Angeles -- the soul stations.

Soul stations were an idea of Sam's where he could -- He could have local artists come and they can record music.

So they were actually recording studios set up around Los Angeles, where musicians could come in and meet one another and collaborate with one another, could use the instruments, can use the recording equipment.

It was essentially, "Let's have a little Motown records, two or three places all over L.A., and we'll find local talent and we'll have this great band to back them.

And the records that come out will be owned by a black guy, Sam Cooke, and it will benefit everybody.

It'll give people jobs.

It'll, you know, help him."

So I think that was the idea behind the soul stations.

Cooke: ♪ She was only sixteen ♪ ♪ Only sixteen ♪ ♪ I loved her so ♪ ♪ But she was too young to fall in love ♪ ♪ And I was too young ♪ Samad: Success is a relative proposition.

And one of the ways that you express success is in your lifestyle.

And I think that he made enough money to live a certain lifestyle.

Cooke: ♪ She was too young to fall in love ♪ ♪ And I was too young to know ♪ ♪ Why did I give?

♪ Jamison: Yeah.

What a house.

Oh, boy.

That was his castle.

Cooke: ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ But I was a mere lad of sixteen ♪ Jamison: It was quite an accomplishment, you know, for a guy that came from a Chicago 4-floor walk-up to a home in such an exclusive area.

Cooke: ♪ She was too young to fall in love ♪ ♪ And I was too young ♪ "Only Sixteen" was Sam's last big hit before he severed his association with the Keen label.

In search of greener pastures, he landed at RCA.

In the meantime, the Keen label followed Specialty's early example.

They turned up "Wonderful World" in their vault.

It climbed to number 12 in May of 1960.

[ Sam Cooke's "Wonderful World" playing ] ♪ Don't know much about history ♪ ♪ Don't know much biology ♪ ♪ Don't know much about a science book ♪ ♪ Don't know much about the French I took ♪ Schmitt: Recording Sam Cooke was like fishing in a barrel.

You know?

It was so easy.

Everybody wanted to be Sam Cooke's producer because you were gonna have hit after hit after hit.

Cooke: ♪ Don't know much about geography ♪ ♪ Don't know much trigonometry ♪ Schmitt: I was a staff engineer at RCA, and RCA had just signed Sam, and I was the engineer on 90% of the records he did for RCA.

Cooke: ♪ What a wonderful world this would be ♪ Schmitt: Yeah, I did "Twistin' the Night Away."

I did "Cupid," which we knew was gonna be a big hit.

I did "Bring It on Home" with Lou Rawls -- he and Lou Rawls.

We knew that was gonna be a big hit.

I did "Another Saturday Night."

We knew that was gonna -- Everything he did was gonna be a hit.

I mean, it was just amazing.

I produced "Shake," and that was a pretty big hit for him.

Um...

So, yeah, he everything he did, it was like money in the bank, you know?

And he was an incredible writer, songwriter.

He wrote most of his own material.

And even though we were the producers and we would guide some of the things, he was mainly the producer.

He would tell the musicians what feel he wanted, how he wanted this played, what the tempo should be.

I mean, that's why I say it was like fishing in a barrel.

He was so easy and -- and he was a very classy guy.

The white people loved him.

White teenagers, white women.

He was a very attractive guy, very sexy.

You know, when you'd speak of Sinatra, Sam Cooke is in that same kind of category.

Cooke: ♪ You done me wrong ♪ ♪ I tried to be kind, baby ♪ ♪ 'Cause you told me you were ♪ ♪ Mine, all mine ♪ Wolff: Again, if you look at the big picture of Africans' history in North America, he's paralleling the idea that, you know, people didn't want just to vote or to be manager of the store.

They wanted to own the store.

They wanted to be the mayor or the president.

And Sam Cooke was a model for that going on.

Cooke: ♪ And left me behind ♪ Towards the end of his life, I think his switch to Allen Klein, who was the man who at the end of his life was his manager, was because Allen Klein could get him out, he thought, from under RCA to where he controlled the music and the publishing.

Narrator: The assertive and charismatic accountant accomplished what many artists of the early pop era failed to.

He collected what the artists were due from the all-powerful record companies.

Sam Cooke sees him as the perfect partner.

Sam met Allen Klein in the spring of '63.

And Allen Klein supposedly approached Sam and said that "I'm an accountant and what I specialize in is finding royalties from -- from the record labels that artists weren't aware that they may have been entitled to."

And eventually he found that RCA had had some money that they owed Sam, and that's where their relationship started.

Narrator: In 1963, Allen Klein wants to renegotiate the contracts with the record company RCA to Sam Cooke's advantage.

He proposes establishing a new company, Tracey Limited, a company with an unclear ownership structure.

Greene: Allen Klein set up a tax shelter, Tracey Limited, for Sam.

Tracey was one of Sam's daughters, and it was Sam's understanding that this was set up as his record label.

But it -- it ended up that Allen Klein actually owned Tracey, whereas Sam didn't.

And Sam was under the impression that he owned it.

[ Voices overlapping ] -Corporation... -Of Tracey... -Tracey... -Tracey... Woman: Records Limited.

I heard them mention Tracey all the time, but, uh, I didn't know what was going on.

Narrator: Donald Piper, a paralegal, dedicated his life to Sam Cooke.

In his free time, the president of the Sam Cooke Fan Club collects and studies all publicly accessible documents about the singer, including his business activities.

As a paralegal, I've worked in a law firm for almost 30 years.

I've done a lot of investigative work.

And I was just very curious from my background about how that came to be that Sam was on RCA and they obviously had the rights to his music, but as of this time, Abkco had the rights.

So I endeavored to do a copyright search of the Copyright Office to discover how that happened.

♪♪ Tracey Limited is a Nevada corporation.

It was created in 1963.

It was presented to Sam as a company that would own his produced records.

The company would own all of the rights to Sam's music, and there would be a separate agreement between Tracey and RCA to distribute the music.

♪♪ What's missing from the articles of incorporation that were filed was a statement about the shareholders of the company.

The articles speak to the directors of the company.

The board of directors serves, uh, under the pleasure of the shareholders.

Well, in this particular case, there was only one shareholder of Tracey Limited, and that person could change.

The board of directors could name a different person as president at any time.

And that person was Allen Klein.

♪♪ Narrator: The shareholders of Tracey Limited have never been disclosed, and under American law, are not required to be.

Nevertheless, from his study of the documents and changes to the board of directors, Donald Piper believes that Allen Klein was the main shareholder.

Sam believed everything Allen Klein told him.

He would stand at my desk and say, "Oh, mm-hmm, hmm.

You know, we're doing this now, and Klein is gonna do this now and, you know..." He was so impressed with Klein.

[ Camera shutter clicks ] I had no respect for him.

I thought he was a thief.

I heard nothing but bad things about him.

My friend Florence Greenberg owned Scepter Records and Florence couldn't stand Allen Klein.

He had been her accountant.

And she begged Sam not to go with him... ...not to go with Klein to sign with him.

He wound up with the publishing.

All the publishing, he has now.

So I don't know how that worked and how that came about, but I know that that -- that was not a very good thing.

And, you know, I think he -- he got Sam to sign papers that Sam shouldn't have signed.

♪♪ Sands: The first time Klein walked into the office was when they were signing.

He sits down and he said, "Oh.

Where are the copyrights?"

I said, "They're in the file."

He said, "Well, would you get them out for me, please?"

I said, "Why?"

He said, "Well, I want to take them back to New York with me."

I said, "I will not."

And that was the one disagreement I ever, ever had with Sam.

Afterwards, he said, "Why didn't you?"

I said, "He would take them and put them into his name."

[ Camera shutter clicks ] ♪♪ Allen Klein was basically an accountant, but he did work with the Stones.

And even people say he's responsible for breaking up The Beatles.

Paul McCartney, who I worked with and spent a lot of time with, said that, yeah, Allen Klein was one of the reasons that they broke up.

He wanted to manage them.

And a couple of the guys said, "We're going that way," and a couple didn't want to.

And I know that, had Sam not been killed, he would have not been happy with him.

He took advantage of the artists that he dealt with.

Cooke: ♪ That's the sound of the men ♪ ♪ Working on the chain gang ♪ Narrator: The Rolling Stones would also succumb to Allen Klein's contracts.

In doing so, they lose the exclusive control of their early work.

In spite of numerous court cases, the recordings of the early classics of the Rolling Stones still belong to Abkco.

Kellum: Mick Jagger -- I don't think he has a nice word to say about this guy, and he fought for years to get this guy off of his money.

He couldn't do it, couldn't get no satisfaction, doesn't want to sing any songs from that early period because it puts money in somebody's hand.

Cooke: ♪ That's the sound of the men ♪ ♪ Working on the chain gang ♪ ♪ All day long they work so hard ♪ ♪ Till the sun is going down ♪ ♪ Working on the highways and byways ♪ ♪ And wearing, wearing a frown ♪ Gardner: The amazing thing about Sam Cooke, there were so many different layers to him.

The most important thing was to make a 45-rpm record, for it to become a hit, and then he would get appearances on the basis of that one record.

But Sam always had other things in mind -- appearing at the Copa Club and all the important venues that weren't open to him.

He was a man of the seasons.

He was a man to be reckoned with in the music world.

And next we're going to hear "Twistin' the Night Away."

And I remember this record because I wasn't much of a dancer back in those days, but everybody could do the twist.

[ Sam Cooke's "Twistin' the Night Away" playing ] ♪♪ ♪ Let me tell you 'bout a place ♪ ♪ Somewhere ♪ Yeah, I remember doing this.

Cooke: ♪ Where the people are so gay ♪ ♪ Twistin' the night away ♪ Oh.

That was an easy dance to do.

That was about my speed.

But during that time period, there were a lot of wallflowers like me who didn't dance.

But when the twist came out, that brought out everybody.

There wasn't nobody who couldn't shake their booty a little bit and do the -- and do the twist.

I think that was just about the most popular dance craze of them all.

Cooke: ♪ Twistin' the night away ♪ ♪ Here's a man in evening clothes ♪ ♪ How he got here, I don't know, but ♪ ♪ Man, you oughta see him go ♪ Gardner: Sam Cooke was like an idol to all of us.

And mostly we played his records and danced to his great music.

The cha cha cha.

♪ Everybody likes to cha cha cha ♪ ♪ Twistin, twistin' the night away ♪ He always had the perfect record that reflected our values at the time.

It was -- It was magical how he could come up with just -- just the right music to entertain all of us.

[ Up-tempo music playing ] ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Sam Cooke's "For Sentimental Reasons" playing] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ I love you ♪ ♪ For sentimental reasons ♪ ♪♪ ♪ I hope you ♪ Narrator: Sam Cooke's performance at the Copacabana Club in New York in the summer of 1964 will be the highlight of his career.

His first gig there six years earlier was a disaster.

Douglas: You bombed?

Did you really?

That's right.

Man: I bombed at the Copa.

The Copa is a funny moment unless you know show business, unless you give it a real approach, you'll bomb.

[ Speaks indistinctly ] Because there are Copas everywhere, it's the one in New York City you're talking about.

That's right.

For some reason, I can't explain it.

It happens to be the prestige date of all time.

If you make it at the Copa, that's it.

Is that true?

I don't think that's true, no.

Why do you think you bombed?

Why?

I know why I bombed.

Because I wasn't ready.

♪ Once ♪ ♪ I was alone ♪ Sands: He didn't do a professional act.

They're used to the -- When you go to those shows and you're paying all that money, you see great production.

This was only he sings song after song.

It wasn't an act.

He went through a stage, an experimental stage, where he was singing classics and trying to jazz those up.

Sam couldn't dance, and he was trying to dance on stage.

And it just -- it really never happened.

So it was a stain on his career, and it was always something he wanted to try -- a venue he wanted to try again.

And Allen Klein gave him that opportunity to go back to the Copacabana.

Sam had a few years' experience between when he first went and when he went back the second time, and, um, it made for one of the most legendary live albums in soul ever.

Cooke: ♪ Ah, moon belongs to everyone ♪ ♪ The best things in life ♪ ♪ They're free ♪ ♪ Stars belong to everyone ♪ ♪ They glitter there for you and me ♪ ♪ Flowers in spring ♪ ♪ The robin that sings ♪ ♪ The sunbeams that shine ♪ ♪ They're all yours and mine ♪ Kellum: Allen Klein took out an ad that said Sam is the biggest cook in town.

And that ad had a lot of people packed that night at the Copa.

And this time, he went in there with the standards, went in there doing the songs that were the current dance trends.

And he really had an amazing performance at the Copacabana right before he passed away.

♪♪ [ Applause ] [ Sam Cooke's "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" playing ] Cooke: ♪ Once I lived the life of a millionaire ♪ Narrator: While the civil rights movement took to the streets demonstrating against segregation, all doors seemed to open up for Sam Cooke.

Cooke: ♪ A mighty good time ♪ Sands: I felt that Sam should go -- He should be around the white artists that are big because I wanted Sam to develop into something else.

So I told him about Martoni's, which was a big Italian restaurant.

It's where Sonny and Cher would be all the time.

Al Schmitt was there with Sam.

That was the -- I mean, it was the place.

And Sam started going to Martoni's.

And I'm sorry that I ever said that to him because, look, this is where he met the bitch that had -- that took him to that motel.

Cooke: ♪ Not one penny ♪ ♪ You find out your friends ♪ ♪ Oh, you just haven't got any ♪ ♪ But, oh, just as soon as you get up on your feet again ♪ We had dinner at Martoni's -- my wife and I and Sam.

Sam and I talked about meeting later at another club called PJ's, which was kind of a big hangout.

So my wife and I left.

But as we left, you know, Sam got up and he went to the bar.

At the bar was Jim Bensey and -- and a girl -- an Oriental girl.

Sam went up there, and he started talking to them as we left.

Um... that was the last time I saw Sam.

♪♪ Narrator: What exactly happened in the night of December 11, 1964 remains a mystery.

The official version was established very quickly.

To this day, Sam Cooke's friends, family and fans remain suspicious.

What is suspect is that Sam Cooke had the means and the recognition to go to any hotel in the city.

Okay.

He didn't have to come south.

♪♪ Sands: How is he gonna rape her?

He's in the shower.

Did he say, "Hey, bitch, get into bed.

And when I come out, I'm gonna rape you"?

I mean, it makes no sense.

Greene: Again, here he is tussling with a 55-year-old lady who basically didn't have any marks on her.

Sam was shot underneath the armpit.

That was an execution-style -- That was a very calculated shot.

[ Gunshot ] [ Gunshot ] [ Gunshot ] Some are saying the body was moved, that it was done someplace else.

[ Gunshot ] [ Police radio chatter ] Will we ever know the truth?

♪♪ ♪♪ Narrator: The investigation concluded swiftly.

The trial took place a mere five days after the crime.

I would agree that this hearing was not anywhere near as detailed and probative as it should have been.

After a while, we just -- For a couple of seconds, he had pinned me down on the bed and he pulled me up and he yanked my -- He pulled my sweater off and he ripped my dress off.

Neither of these ladies, Elisa Boyer or Bertha Franklin, had an attorney.

I started shooting.

Man: And how far was Mr. Cooke away from you when you started shooting?

He wasn't too far.

He was at close range.

And how many times did you fire this pistol?

Three times.

Wecht: I think the shooting was absolutely unnecessary.

And let me say that.

I believe that this was not, legally speaking, justifiable homicide.

He had no weapon.

He had no weapon.

And she was not in fear of her life.

That's the bottom line.

Narrator: Nevertheless, Bertha Franklin, the shooter, was acquitted based on justifiable homicide.

Jamison: When have you ever witnessed or saw a witness sit on a -- on the witness stand with dark glasses on?

Sam Cooke was Sam Cooke.

He didn't really need to rape anyone, as a lot of people have pointed out.

He had money to pay her, and she was a prostitute.

So that part we know.

I think it's pretty safe to say that's fictitious.

Are you gonna put down your loaded gun and pick up a broom?

Antonelli: I don't really see that Bertha Franklin could have done that.

Both his hands were all broken.

[ Camera shutter clicks ] His head was all smashed in.

And that wasn't done with a broomstick.

The bullet that came out of Sam, all of that was in police evidence, and it's lost.

The other people who testified who were at the hotel, nobody heard a gunshot.

The fact that Sam was shot with a 22-caliber pistol, well, Bertha Franklin had a registered gun, but it was a .32.

So the whole story just really doesn't make sense.

♪♪ Narrator: Back to Tracey Limited.

The changes to the board of directors are as striking as the signatures on the documents.

Piper: There's a change over time in the annual statements that are filed with the Nevada Secretary of State.

This one was filed October 21, 1963.

Sam Cooke is listed as president.

Allen Klein, secretary.

On May 5, 1964, Allen Klein is the secretary.

And you have to go all the way down here.

Sam Cooke is chairman of the board.

Officer who is not a director.

So in other words, he's been removed from the board of directors.

Well, look here at who signed this document.

This is Allen Klein's signature.

Jamison: He also had my grandfather on the board.

After they finished with their finagling, Papa was no longer on the board.

Sam was not president.

Sam was an employee.

Now, Sam was the kind of person, if you totally disappointed him, you didn't get a second chance.

He would tell you off, tell you why, And just, that's it.

And that's obviously what he did with Allen a few days before he was killed.

And if you believe the people around him before he died, he was getting ready to get out from under Allen Klein because ultimately he didn't -- He essentially wanted to be his own manager.

It's why he started a record label.

That way, he was the guy and he had some control.

♪♪ [ Telephone ringing ] ♪♪ Klein said to me when he was talking to me on the phone, "I know you think I murdered Sam Cooke."

That shocked me, hearing those words coming from his mouth.

Not "I think that I was responsible for it," but "I murdered Sam Cooke."

So a lot of people think there was a conspiracy that maybe Sam was targeted to be killed because he wanted to break up with Allen Klein.

Uh, wow.

That -- that's pretty sensational.

I don't know if that's true or not.

And, you know, Allen Klein is dead, gone.

So we can't ask him.

And I don't know.

I just don't know.

That's hard for me to believe.

But who knows?

Anything can happen.

Narrator: We traveled to Pittsburgh and visited Dr. Cyril Wecht.

He reviewed the forensic documents.

Wecht: I am a forensic pathologist.

I'm also an attorney.

And I work as a forensic pathologist and medical legal consultant.

I've done about 20,000 autopsies myself.

I have reviewed, supervised or signed off on about 40,000 other autopsies.

I've been deeply involved in many prominent cases over the years, beginning with the John F. Kennedy assassination.

I've been involved in Elvis Presley.

Then other cases have included O.J.

Simpson, JonBenet Ramsey, Whitney Houston and her daughter.

Phil Spector.

You know, there have been some other cases.

♪♪ Well, nobody ever contacted me about Sam Cooke.

The autopsy was done by the deputy medical examiner in the office of Coroner in Los Angeles -- an office with which I am quite familiar.

The pathologist who did this autopsy, we weren't personal friends, but I remember him -- Dr. Kade.

The autopsy showed a gunshot wound of entrance.

The bullet entered on the left side and traversed across the chest, perforating, first, the left lung, then the heart, and then the right lung.

Bleeding, massive bleeding into both chest cavities as a result of the damage to the lungs and to the heart.

You've got people claiming that Sam Cooke had all kinds of other injuries.

They talk about significant injuries to his knee.

I think -- I think somebody talked about fractured knee.

I think they talk about fractured hands and so on.

And I would say, as you look at this picture, there do appear to be what I would call abrasions, contusions on the knee.

However, they are not mentioned at all in the autopsy report.

Zero.

Zero.

♪♪ Then the persons who have made these observations and allegations claim that the pictures of Sam Cooke in the coffin at the funeral home show deformities of his hands.

I don't believe that a funeral director in America is going to have somebody's bloodied hands open.

It's not gonna happen.

I can't tell you about other countries in the world.

We're big for open-casket funerals in America.

That I do know.

[ Camera shutter clicking ] ♪♪ ♪♪ Somebody has suggested he was shot elsewhere and brought there.

You don't get rid of blood that easily.

If he had bled out elsewhere and so on, you're gonna have blood patterns going in there, on the floor and so on.

We don't have any of that, to my knowledge.

You don't just lift up a body and shoot it somewhere and then transport it and dump it somewhere.

It's not that easy.

[ Camera shutter clicking ] ♪♪ It is these kinds of negligent acts, these kinds of incomplete action that provide the nidus for conspiratorial people -- conspiratorial-minded people.

But I just, you know, I -- It's not for me to disparage or criticize other people who have that belief and so on, but to make that quantum leap from some kind of business, commercial controversy between Sam Cooke and one or more of the people who were involved in his professional career, with all of the things that played out that we won't repeat now, ultimately ending in his death and continuing on into the autopsy and the inquest and all the people involved.

No, I'm sorry.

I can't join that parade.

♪♪ I've been at this for 25 years, but this music of Sam Cooke is so remarkably good and so remarkably current, and I enjoy bringing it so much to you today.

"Summertime" -- an example of -- of -- of the soft side of singing of Sam Cooke on 90.7 FM, KPFK.

Cooke: ♪ Summertime ♪ ♪ And the living is easy ♪ Narrator: There is no forensic evidence that would warrant a reevaluation of Sam Cooke's death.

Can the witness Elisa Boyer perhaps cast new light on the case, as has often been suspected?

Since the court trial over 50 years ago, no one has been able to question her about what transpired that night.

I would like to see an interview with her saying, "Yeah, Sam tried to rape me that night.

I took the clothes, I left."

If she could substantiate that story, I think that, you know, maybe we're going up the wrong tree.

That's why if you could get Alicia, she's the only one who could tell you the truth.

♪♪ My name is Mike McCormick.

I'm a private investigator.

I was working with the LAPD until 1994 when I retired.

Well, Elisa Boyer was the young lady that was with Sam Cooke the night that he died.

It took me quite a bit of time to do it, but by doing some research on the computer based upon her age and name and other names that she used, I was able to locate her.

I believe she's still alive.

Narrator: We found the now-75-year-old woman, but her faculties have diminished.

When asked about the crime, she repeated her testimony from back then almost verbatim.

Elisa Boyer ultimately leads nowhere.

♪♪ ♪♪ Wolff: You know, conspiracies are fun.

But more importantly, I think people didn't want him dead.

They couldn't quite believe that he was dead.

And it couldn't just be a screw-up.

It couldn't just be the wrong place at the wrong time.

So elaborate conspiracies are constructed around his death.

And, you know, in my research, whenever I talk to somebody, they would talk about the mob or fellow musicians or jealous women or this or that, or his manager or his old manager.

You know, at the end of the day, you could never find any evidence that actually proved that.

And my position on this has been all along that the reason we care is because of what he made in his life.

And while it's a dramatic ending, how he died, the only reason we keep coming back to it is, "Wait, that was the guy who sang 'You Send Me,' that was the guy who wrote 'A Change Is Gonna Come.'"

And that's really what's getting to people, I think.

Narrator: The Sam Cooke case can be closed for now, but the Tracey Limited documents remain pertinent.

Donald Piper not only believes that Allen Klein cleverly disguised his ownership, but he also doubts the legality of the notarial authentication of the Certificate of Incorporation.

Contrary to the legal requirement, the signatories were apparently not even present at the time of signing.

According to the Articles of Incorporation of Tracey Limited, this document was signed by Sam Cooke, J.W.

Alexander, S.R.

Crane, on September 27, 1963, in New York.

According to this advertisement in a New Orleans newspaper, Sam Cooke was a headliner at a show in New Orleans on Thursday night, September 26, 1963.

So it's highly unlikely that all three gentlemen went from New Orleans on Thursday night and flew up to New York to sign this document.

It made no sense to do that since Allen Klein and his lawyer were in New Orleans the night of the 26th.

But this notarial certificate on this document states that these three gentlemen personally appeared in New York City on September 27th.

It brings up a question of when and where and how was this document really signed?

It's totally possible that the notary wrote in this date here and these three gentlemen signed the document undated and it was notarized later.

So there is a question about this document, about its authenticity as to signature when and how.

[ Camera shutter clicks ] Narrator: Sam Cooke biographer Peter Guralnick, who had the consent of Abkco for his book, describes the event from Allen Klein's perspective.

A $110,000 check from the record company, which Klein and his lawyer gave Sam Cooke in New Orleans, is a strong argument for authenticating his signature on the contract.

It is doubtful whether the obligatory meeting with the notary took place in New York the next day with all participants present.

It is also notable that the notary who certified these and other Abkco contracts was also Allen Klein's longtime secretary, Adrienne Theresa Zanghi Goldfarb.

Although it is not conclusively proven that Allen Klein was the sole shareholder of Tracey Limited, the facts speak for themselves.

Even before Sam Cooke's death, Allen Klein gradually expanded his control of Tracey Limited.

He then quickly took complete control and Tracey Limited eventually merged with other companies to form Abkco.

Our next change is the following year.

This is June 17, 1965, which is after Sam's -- six months after Sam has passed away.

And now look who is the president of Tracey Records Limited.

Allen Klein is the president.

And Betty Klein, Allen's wife, is the secretary.

♪♪ The final link in the chain filed in March of 1970.

Among other music companies, Tracey Records Limited is being merged into Abkco-Klein Corporation.

This now explains to you how Sam's music was transferred and ended up with Abkco.

Cooke: ♪ I lost ♪ ♪ Everything ♪ Narrator: Based on the Tracey Limited contract, the music label Abkco collects highly lucrative royalties to this day.

Our interview requests for this film were not answered.

Cooke: ♪ Now my heart ♪ Samad: Nobody ever studies entertainers in American society from the business side.

The aspect that is probably most unpublicized about Sam Cooke is the ownership of his music.

He understood that -- that that was how those in the record industry were beating other artists, and he refused to allow himself to be beat that way.

It became more encouraging for another black artist to start his own company.

They never thought of it in those days.

That's how he changed it.

And he left us with his music, his sound.

A lot of people tried to imitate.

Rod Stewart's favorite singer is Sam.

He tries to sound like him.

If you go down a list of singers that are around today, how many of them imitate Sam and Sam's way of phrasing and -- and Sam's style?

Cooke: ♪ They don't seem ♪ Schmitt: I miss him still.

You know?

I miss that smile.

He had an incredible smile.

Um... Cooke: ♪ Love ♪ Yeah.

He was a great guy.

Gardner: Sam Cooke meant more to us.

He was a symbol of direction.

If we work hard and we went to school and did the right thing, we could prevail whether there was segregation or anything, that nothing could really hold us back if we really tried.

[ Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" playing ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ I was born ♪ Students: ♪ By the river ♪ ♪ In a little tent ♪ ♪ Oh, and just like the river ♪ ♪ I've been running ♪ ♪ Ever since ♪ Elliott Bell: They wanted to revitalize the music program here at Wendell Phillips High School because they've had some very prominent and influential musicians that have come through here.

Of course, the main person, Sam Cooke.

We did a little trivia about Sam Cooke, maybe how many kids were in the family?

What group did he first start with?

We are actually starting a choir.

It's going to be gospel-based initially, just again so we could recognize the Thomas A. Dorseys and the Sam Cooke that have come through here.

You know, the kids feel ownership when they know something about that.

They can feel proud about their environment.

Students: ♪ One, two, four, five, seven, eight ♪ ♪ One, two, four, five, seven, eight ♪ Elliott Bell: The generation that I'm working with now, I'm actually older than some of the parents and possibly the grandparents.

So somewhere along the line, we've lost some of our history there.

But as a music educator, something that I do bring back into the schools is our history.

The folk songs, our folk songs, our work songs.

If you listen to some of the music -- Sam Cooke -- it's almost as if he were here today, you know.

It's so dynamic in talking about the situations that we're presented with.

Cooke: ♪ Oh, yes, it will ♪ ♪♪ Gardner: And I don't know about you, but I was so touched when "A Change Is Gonna Come" came on.

And I enjoy playing this music for you.

And Sam Cooke will always be in our hearts.

Someone says that Sam Cooke's music in this rhythm and blues and soul music is a classical -- classical music.

100 years from now, it's gonna be the classical music that we listen to, and I truly believe it.

So this is Bill Gardner saying good night, goodbye.

[ Sam Cooke's "Having a Party" playing ] ♪ We're havin' a party ♪ ♪ Dancin' to the music ♪ ♪ Played by the DJ ♪ ♪ On the radio ♪ ♪ The Cokes are in the icebox ♪ ♪ Popcorn's on the table ♪ ♪ Me and my baby ♪ ♪ We're out here on the floor ♪