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Sunday, January 24, 2021

A Change Is Gonna Come

 Jennifer Hudson:

A Change Is Gonna Come

 This is a big week, for the country and for me personally. We have a new President and a new administration, and I have a Top 5 jazz album on the charts! It certainly feels like change is coming.

Like most R&B artists of his time, Sam Cooke focused on singles; in all, he had 29 top 40 hits on the pop charts and more on the R&B charts. He was a prolific songwriter and wrote most of the songs he recorded. He also had a hand in overseeing some of the song arrangements. 

Sam Cooke's career met an untimely end in 1964 when he was shot by a motel manager at the end of a drunken evening gone terribly bad. He was 33 years old.

If you have watched the new movie "One Night In Miami" you know that the movie ends with a performance of "A Change Is Gonna Come" by Leslie Odom Jr. who does a fantastic job in his portrayal of Sam Cooke. The song was released after Sam's death as a B-side to a single. "A Change Is Gonna Come" is considered a classic protest song from the era. It became a top 40 pop hit and a top 10 R&B hit. 

Here is the original single by Sam Cooke:

https://youtu.be/wEBlaMOmKV4

And here is a fantastic performance by Jennifer Hudson, one of the truly under-appreciated soul singers of her generation. 

https://youtu.be/M7uanvzKzKw


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