Blues pioneer L.C. Cook, the brother of soul legend Sam Cooke, has died at the age of 84.
L.C. spelt his Cook with the family spelling. Sam added his ‘e’ to his surname. He was born two years after Sam, the fifth of 10 children by the Rev. Charles Cook and his wife Annie May.
L.C. and Sam were in an early band the Singing Children with two of their sisters in the late 30s. They later became The Nobleairs and then The Highway Q.C.’s before L.C. left the family group to join The Soul Stirrers in 1951. He then went on to The Magnificents in 1956 and recorded ‘Up On The Mountain’
Then came ‘I Need Your Love’ for Chess Records before working on SAR Records. On SAR he recorded ‘The Wobble’ and ‘Put Me Down Easy’, both written by Sam.
ABKCO CEO and President Jody Klein revealed Cooke’s passing to his staff, many of whom had grown close to L.C. over years of involvement with his brother’s and his own catalogs. He commented, “It’s with a sad heart that I inform you of the passing of our great friend L.C. Cooke whose talents, humanity and charm we shall all miss.”
Peter Guralnick, Sam Cooke’s biographer (Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Same Cooke, Little, Brown & Company, 2005) in his liner notes for The Complete SAR Recordings wrote, “L.C. is one of the warmest, most charming and gracious people you’d ever want to meet. Also, one of the most truth-telling.”
