4.1 WORKSHEET 4

We are starting Worksheet 4 already. This worksheet is substantial, so it will broken up into several parts. In this section, we will look at 2 great artists: Sam Cooke and Ray Charles.

First, download and print Worksheet 4:

HIS:ROCK WORKSHEET 4-1.pdf Download HIS:ROCK WORKSHEET 4-1.pdf

Or copy and print here:

SAM COOKE

Sam Cooke was born in Mississippi, but grew up in Chicago. With his father as a minister, Sam Cooke was already singing with his sisters at age 9. By the time he was 19, he was singing lead in a well known gospel group, The Soul Stirrers. Two producers were at odds with each other as to whether Cooke should record pop music. This was a big deal back then, as gospel fans did not want their artists to sing "worldly" music. Eventually, with a new label, Sam Cooke released "You Send Me," which went to #1, and sold 1.7 million copies.

Sam Cooke became a soul icon for many fans and artists. His smooth voice, perfected through years of gospel singing, and his stage presence made him the perfect "sweet soul" artist.

Our first music journal entry is "Wonderful World," written and sung by Sam Cooke.

JOURNAL:

26. WONDERFUL WORLD BY SAM COOKE Links to an external site.

Snapshot: Watch this clip of Sam Cooke, live, doing one of his hits, "Twistin' The Night Away:"

TWISTIN' THE NIGHT AWAY - SAM COOKE LIVE Links to an external site.

RAY CHARLES

One of the most singular and inflential artists of the 20th century was Ray Charles. Frank Sinatra called him "the only genius in show business." One of the great strengths of Ray Charles, was that he could sing literally any song and make it his own. I have often said Ray could sing the phone book, and it would sound great! And he had not been a great musician, his life would still be unbelievable. He has also been called "uncategorizable," in that his music transcended any style. Ray Charles is the only artist that can be found in the textbooks of 3 different styles, jazz music, country music, and pop music!

Another one of the amazing things about Ray Charles, is that he was a chess master! He was seeing a psychiatrist for drug addiction, and the doctor taught him the game as a diversion. In the upcoming documentary, Willie Nelson tells a funny story of playing chess with Ray.

Ray Charles was born in Albany, Georgia, but moved to Greenville, Florida while still very young. A lot of hard situations came his way: his father was seldom around, his younger brother drowned in a washing tub, and soon after, Ray began to go blind. Let's go to the documentary, and pick it up from there:

RAY CHARLES DOCUMENTARY Links to an external site.

Now we know what an amazing man Ray Charles was. Let's go to the music journal now. The first video below features scenes from the movie Ray, starring Jamie Fox:

JOURNAL:

27. HIT THE ROAD JACK - RAY CHARLES Links to an external site.

Here's Ray's big crossover hit:

JOURNAL:

28. I CAN'T STOP LOVING YOU - RAY CHARLES Links to an external site.

Look at these snapshots:

Snapshot 1: Ray Charles and Johnny Cash singing together:

JOHNNY CASH AND RAY CHARLES Links to an external site.

Snapshot 2: Watch this: Ray Charles in rehearsal. Watch how he interacts with the orchestra and the sound technicians. It's like Quincy Jones said, "Somebody forgot to tell Ray he was blind!"

RAY CHARLES REHEARSAL Links to an external site.

Snapshot 3: Glen Campbell and Ray were great friends, and had a long history. Here they are performing, and Ray demonstrates he could also play something else besides the piano.

RAY CHARLES AND GLEN CAMPBELL Links to an external site.

Snapshot 4: Ray had an autobiography (Brother Ray), and toward the end there was a quote of his I'd like to share:

"I never wanted to be famous. I always wanted to be great!"

DISCUSSION:

What did you think about the Ray Charles documentary?

Now, let's go on to the next section.