Sam Cooke's 80th Birthday

Today would have been the 80th birthday of one of the greatest and most unique voices of the 20th century, the legendary Sam Cooke. If not for a series of events that took place on December 11, 1964, Sam might still be here now, enjoying his royalties from his many hits and the many hits he never got to make; and hanging out with kids and grandchildren; or maybe he'd still be out there entertaining like Chuck Berry still is. Sam was 4 years and 3 months younger than Chuck.

But it was not to be, and thanks to a botched investigation and cover-up into the events surrounding his death that simply defies credibility, we will probably never really know why Sam Cooke died at the age of 33 at the Hacienda Motel on South Figueroa Street in Los Angeles, California on December 11, 1964.

The official account of the events that took place states that Bertha Franklin, the motel manager, claimed Sam Cooke broke into her office undressed except for one shoe and a sports coat, demanding to know where Elisa Boyer was. Elisa had accompanied Cooke to the motel and had disappeared, apparently with his clothes and wallet. Bertha Franklin told the police she informed the singer that she did not know Boyer's whereabouts. He became violent and grabbed her, they fell to the floor as she struggled to get free and she ran for her gun. Franklin said she fired the weapon at Cooke because she was afraid he was going to kill her. According to her story, Sam exclaimed, "Lady, you shot me," and came at her again but she beat him in the head with a broomstick. The mortally wounded Cooke fell to the floor and died.

The motel owner, Evelyn Carr (or Card), told police she was on the telephone with Bertha when Sam Cooke broke in and she heard the whole thing. She called the police. The police, however, had already been called by Elisa Boyer, who reported that she had just escaped being kidnapped. Boyer claimed she was taken to the motel against her will, and that the singer attempted to rape her. Miss Boyer said in the midst of this assault, Sam went to the bathroom to take a shower, at which time she grabbed her clothes and bolted from the room. In her haste, she accidentally took Cooke's clothes along with her own. Questions arose over her version of events, particularly when she was arrested for prostitution not too long afterwards.

The coroner's inquest, however, felt that the proper way to proceed was not to look into what happened before the Franklin/Cooke confrontation, but to determine if Bertha Franklin had acted in self-defense legitimately. Police officers testified that Bertha Franklin and Lisa Boyer both passed lie detector tests. The motel owner's testimony corroborated Franklin's story. The coroner's jury ruled that Sam Cooke's death was a justifiable homicide. The case was officially closed as far as authorities were concerned.

Many family members, friends and fans of Sam Cooke have long wished for this case to be reopened and for the real story to be told. Miss Etta James, says in her autobiography "Rage to Survive" that she saw Sam Cooke's body in the funeral home and the coroner's inquest was nothing but a kangaroo court:

"In truth -- and I saw this at the funeral home -- Sam's head was practically disconnected from his shoulders. That's how badly he'd been beaten. His hands were broken and crushed. Sam had a cute little straight nose that, if you looked closely at his corpse, was badly mangled. They tried to cover it with makeup, but I could see massive bruises on his head. No woman with a broomstick could have inflicted that kind of beating against a strong, full-grown man."

Miss James also recalled that it was equally implausible Cooke would have even tried to kidnap or rape Miss Boyer, a Eurasian party girl he had been seeing for weeks.

Teenagers like myself were stunned and could not believe that we wouldn't be able to see the handsome singer we loved to watch on shows like American Bandstand, singing his great songs: "You Send Me," "Only Sixteen," "Chain Gang," "Cupid" and "Another Saturday Night" (just to name a few).

Sam Cooke's nephew, Erik Greene researched the case to the best of his ability and wrote a book entitled "Our Uncle Sam," which shares many family photos and personal glimpses into the real Sam Cooke, a generous, classy man who was in control of his own vision of what direction he should take his career in, but also a man who had made some mistakes in his love life and suffered through tragedy.

The parallels drawn between Sam Cooke's death and the death of Bobby Fuller of the Bobby Fuller Four in Mr. Greene's book are downright eerie. Bobby Fuller ("I Fought The Law") died on July 18, 1966, a year and a half after Sam under highly suspicious circumstances. In another insane finding, the coroner ruled Bobby's death a suicide. A lot of books have been written about Sam Cooke's life and death, but who better to tell his story than the people who knew him best?

If you are a Sam Cooke fan, visit Erik's website to learn more about his book and also to check out the plans for the meeting of the 6th Annual Fan Club Tribute which is tentatively scheduled for a spring meeting in Los Angeles.

Sources: Embedded