Author:Daniel Wolff,S.R Crain,Cliff White,G. David Tenenbaum
When Sam Cooke was shot dead in a cheap motel in Hollywood, he was one of America's most successful pop stars. He left a world in which he had been born poor and had become very rich from the success of such records as "You Send Me" and "A Wonderful World", yet his body lay unrecognised in a morgue for two days. This biography follows Cooke's life in a racist America where his voice was one of the first to reach beyond the segregated audiences and command a white following, Cooke himself becoming a player in the fledgling civil rights movement. This award-winning biography is a full and sometimes shocking story of a man whose songbook is revered by great performers such as Otis Redding, Rod Stewart and Aretha Franklin.
You Send Me is an excellent work - compelling
—— Financial TimesYou won't buy a better biography all year
—— NME"The best book I've read in a long while. I read it twice in one sitting - it made me howl with laughter and burst into tears."
—— Paul O'Grady"Such a fun read."
Who wouldn't feel a rush of delight to see the stand-up and perennial panel show host Jason Manford peeking out of their Christmas stocking?
—— Independent on SundayCallow's precise prose and sober judgement make this second volume of biography one to be cherished and leaves one eagerly anticipating volume three
—— Michael Arditti , Daily MailCallow's riveting and superlative biography satisfies at every level, and I for one cannot wait for the next volume
—— Frank McLynn , Literary ReviewA vivid, sympathetic account... provides a definitive explanation of Welles's ultimate, lingering downfall
—— Financial TimesI am already looking forward to [the third volume] such is Callow's sympathetic absorption in the mass of material, which he handles with a light and ironic touch, that I found myself utterly hooked... As an actor himself Callow writes illuminatingly about Welles's performances
—— Mail on SundayCallow's enterprise is one of the rarest in publishing. It leaves the reader dry-mouthed with anticipation for his final, third volume
—— Alan Warner , GuardianThe only biog really worth it's salt this year...reliably entertaining, wise and sane
—— Catherine Shoard , Evening StandardWelles’s packed schedule is rifled through with chatty elegance
—— Catherine Shoard , Sunday Telegraph