On January 22, 1931, Sam Cooke was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi; nevertheless, he spent much of his childhood in Chicago, where his father Charles was appointed to the ministry of the Church of Christ Holiness Church.
Sam and his two sisters started the gospel group the Singing Children when they were nine years old.
Sam Cooke parents: Meet Charles Cooke, Annie Mae
Together with his younger brother, L.C. Cook, he was a member of the Highway Q.C.’s, a group that gained national attention and whose home base was the Highway Baptist Church.
When they came through Chicago, they sang here with all of the top gospel groups of the time. Additionally, it was there that J.W. Alexander, the Pilgrim Travelers’ tenor and manager, first encountered the young Cooke.
The Pilgrim Travelers were Specialty’s second gospel recording, and Alexander quickly rose to the position of chief gospel scout for the label. He introduced the Soul Stirrers to Specialty in 1949.
