Edgar Hoover’s FBI because of his political affiliations. On top of that, he may have been on the radar of J. Members of the Mob reportedly were not happy with his brush-off when they tried to muscle their way into his business activities, the music industry in general was uneasy with his politics, and he was planning to confront his manager (Allen Klein who would go on to work with the Beatles and the Stones) about being taken advantage of financially. It’s for these reasons that some have scoffed at the official cause of death, claiming that Cooke had made a lot of enemies during his rise from a member of the gospel group The Soul Stirrers to a groundbreaking solo performer who angered the KKK when he appeared with host Dick Clark on an otherwise all-white lineup in Atlanta.
The engrossing “The Two Killings of Sam Cooke,” the latest in this season’s eight-part Netflix series “ReMastered” about influential music figures, aims to expose the man behind the voice as well as shine a light on questions regarding his death. This wasn’t supposed to be how things turned out for the hitmaker behind such chart-topping tracks as “You Send Me,” “Chain Gang,” and “Twistin’ the Night Away” but who was much more than just a popular voice on the radio, as distinctive and extraordinary a voice as it was. motel, supposedly by the building’s manager who claimed she was acting in self-defense. R&B Singer Sam Cooke came to a tragic end at the age of 33 in 1964, shot dead in a seedy L.A. (AP Photo) Associated Press Show More Show Less 4 of4 In this 1964 photo, singer Sam Cooke stands in front of a four-story billboard that heralded his appearance at New York's Copacabana nightclub.
Michael Oaks archive Show More Show Less 3 of4 Singer Sam Cooke performs at a concert in New York's Copacabana night club in this undated photo. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Hulton Archive/Getty Images Show More Show Less 2 of4 Sam Cooke (right), who was active in the civil rights movementis, is pictured here with Muhammad Ali (center). 1 of4 circa 1960: Promotional studio portrait of American soul singer Sam Cooke (1935-1964), looking up.