Sam Cooke - A Change is Gonna Come

Twistin' the Night Away, You Send Me, Wonderful World, Having a Party... and the list of Sam Cooke hits goes on and on. From the producers who created the award-winning documentaries on Woody Guthrie and Hank Williams, 90.3 WCPN ideastream now pays tribute to legendary soul sensation and social activist, Sam Cooke, in a new, one-hour radio documentary - Sam Cooke - A Change is Gonna Come. This profile of the pop music superstar is told through his music and the stories of the people who knew him best, as listeners are taken on a tuneful journey that traces Cooke's amazing life and mysterious death.

Through this program, listeners hear a different story about a man who fought against the indignities suffered by African American performers on tour though the south in the 1950s and 60s. In addition, Sam Cooke was a trailblazer: he owned his own songs, started his own record company and used his music as a tool of social change in the African American community and beyond.

The documentary features interviews with Cooke's family, friends and fellow entertainers who offer deep insights into the popular performer. Among them, singer Solomon Burke tells tales from the road in the segregated south; NAACP Chair Julian Bond recalls the galvanizing effect of Cooke's posthumous hit A Change is Gonna Come, which instantly became an anthem of the Civil Rights Movement; and noted musical scholar and Cooke biographer Peter Guralnick probes other stories from the musician's life and mysterious death in December of 1964.

Though he's been gone for over 40 years, his music has become such a part of pop culture that most of us don't even know we're humming an original Sam Cooke tune. His music has been covered in almost every genre by dozens of artists, including Rod Stewart, Al Green, the Allman Brothers, Herman's Hermits, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, the Supremes, the Dixie Chicks, and Bruce Springsteen.

Sam Cooke - A Change is Gonna Come is a production of 90.3 WCPN ideastream, in association with the American Music Masters series, and a collaboration between Case Western Reserve University and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Sam Cooke - A Change is Gonna Come is made possible by a grant from the United Black Fund of Greater Cleveland, Incorporated.

90.3 WCPN ideastream has produced two other documentaries in cooperation with the American Music Masters series. Both garnered multiple national awards. Woody Guthrie - Hard Travelin' received a national Silver Microphone Award and a Gabriel Award. Hank Williams - Still Cookin' earned a National Headliner Award, a National Federation of Community Broadcasters Award, and a Communicator Award.

Listen to Sam Cooke: A Change is Gonna Come:

Funding for Sam Cooke: a Change is Gonna Come has been provided by the United Black Fund of Greater Cleveland, Inc.