All language subtitles for Lady.You.Shot.Me.Life.And.Death.Of.Sam.Cooke.2017.1080p.BluRay.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

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- Sam Cooke is
the most successful pop star

of the late 1950s and early
60s, along with Elvis Presley.

To this day, everyone knows
his classic pop songs,

such as A Change is Gonna Come,
Cupid, or Wonderful World.

Yet no one knows
the personal story

of this outstanding pop pioneer,

whose life ended all too soon.

- Everybody wanted to
be Sam Cooke's producer.

Because you gonna have
hit after hit after hit.

- He had a voice that
people listened to.

And there's nothing that
crosses a color line,

hatred, discrimination
quicker than music.

- He and Ray Charles were
probably the earliest figures

who understood that there
was a business side to music

that they needed to control.

- One thing, he didn't wanna be

was a slave to
anybody or anything.

And he wanted to control his
music, control his finances.

- He had his own
publishing company,

he had his own label, he
was kind of an entrepreneur.

- There were so many
layers to his music,

he could sing pop,
he could sing soul,

he was the future of black
America through music.

- His connection with
Mohammed Ali was no accident.

Martin Luther King and those
two guys, they were kind of

a holy trinity of Black
Culture of that time.

- [Narrator] To this day,
Sam Cooke's entire story

has yet to be told,
for the simple reason

that his story is
mainly dictated

by those who control
his music rights.

That's why this film will have

to do without Sam
Cooke's great music.

Instead it concentrates
on his business activities

and the circumstances
surrounding his violent death.

[ominous music]

[audience applauding]

- Sam, come sit, make
yourself at home.

What year, we're
reminiscing today

and using all time old time
goodies and all that stuff.

- His last interview with Dick
Clark, he told Dick Clark,

I'm gonna be on Bandstand again,

but I won't be performing,
I'll be the producer.

I'm gonna be the guy
behind all the hits.

I'm not just gonna be
the one having the hits.

- What do you hope
to do in the future,

you're doing different
things now, aren't you?

- Yeah, well now, Dick,

I'm working mostly with
other young singers--

- Wait a minute, what
would be the greatest thing

in the world, that
could happen to you,

if you had the choice?

- The greatest thing
to happen to me,

if all the singers I'm
connected with had hits.

- I will knock on wood and
hope that the whole thing goes.

Sam Cooke, ladies and gentlemen.

- [Narrator] But on
December 11th, 1964,

the inconceivable happens;

a tragic fall from
the height of stardom.

[ominous music]

Sam Cooke, one of the
most talented singers

and music producers
of his generation,

is shot in a shabby motel.

[sirens blaring]

[background chattering]

- I got a call at 6:30 in the
morning from Larry McCormack

who was on KGFJ, he was
the news anchor, to say,

Zelda, I wanted you to
know, Sam's been shot.

And I said, What hospital
is he in, where is he?

He said, He's not,
Zelda, he's dead.

And I lost it for a few
days, I just lost it.

[light music]

[phone ringing]

- 5:00 in the morning I got
a call, woke me up at 5:00,

and it was a dear friend
of mine, Lester Sill.

And Lester said,
Al, I don't know,

I just heard on the radio,
that Sam had been shot.

And I said, Oh my
God, okay, I said,

I'm gonna get dressed, I
said, What hospital is he in?

And he said, No Al, he's dead.

And that just broke my heart.

So, since my wife is a reporter,

she got up and drove down
to the police station

and was able to view
the police report,

and they told in the police
report what had happened.

[light music]

- The official story was that
Sam met a lady that night

at a bar called Martoni's.

From there, went to another
club called PJ's after that.

And then supposedly Sam took her

to a motel against her will.

- Mr. Cooke checking into the
motel with the young woman,

went to the room and she
goes to the bathroom,

she comes out, and then
he goes into the bathroom.

While he is in the bathroom,
she quickly rushes out,

grabs her clothes
and inadvertently,
grabs his clothes.

He comes out, he
finds her missing,

he doesn't have any
clothes except a coat,

he proceeds the
manager's office,

and asks where the woman is
that he had checked in with.

And he's told by the
manager, Bertha Franklin,

that that woman is not there.

He leaves and he comes back,

and now she has the door closed,

she doesn't want to
talk to him anymore,

reportedly he pushes
open the door,

kind of breaks the
stripping down,

comes in and begins
to harass her,

and then physically assault her.

While they are struggling and
tumbling she reaches over,

grabs the gun and
she shoots him.

After she shoots him and he
proclaims, Lady you shot me,

he still comes after her where
upon she grabs some kind of

a large stick, which was a
large broom handle or something

and she proceeds to beat
him until he collapses.

[police radio chattering]

- Certainly, White
America saw the clean cut

almost collegiate singer
and thought to themselves;

How could he be in a motel in
L.A. and died being shot in,

the newspaper said
a seedy situation?

- This was really troubling
to the Black community.

Did he really make a silly
mistake, wrong place,

the wrong time in a seedy motel?

Was he set up?

I don't know.

- There were more things
about the way Sam died

that didn't make sense
than what did make sense.

- Walter Ward, who was the
lead singer of The Olympics,

he said, Yeah Joel, he
said, He was murdered,

he was not, nothin' happened
that night, you know.

The way they say it
happened with the motel,

he said that was all made up.

[light music]

- What really
happened, nobody knows,

except the woman that
killed him and the girl

that took his pants and
was hiding in an alleyway.

- Elisa Boyer supposedly is
the cause of my uncle's death.

- She actually, a month
after Sam was killed,

was busted in a prostitute
sting operation.

- I would like to see an
interview with her saying,

Yeah, Sam tried to
rape me that night.

[police radio chattering]

[dramatic music]

- Sam Cooke was a star
that shone very brightly,

but just for a short
period in time.

Some artists are tragic figures,

Sam just had a tragic ending,
he wasn't a tragic figure,

he was a very good person.

- The number one black
artist in the world

has kidnapped a prostitute
and is gonna try to rape her.

I wouldn't buy that story!

Come on, you know, why, why?

- He was not a violent guy.

He never, I never
saw him get angry,

I never saw him wanna hit
anybody or do anything violent.

So, it's hard for me to
believe that that's the story,

that's what happened,
I don't know.

- It could have been the police,
it could have been the mob,

it could have been, you
know, it could have been

the last wife, everybody
needs to be a suspect.

- I don't know if we'll
ever get to the bottom of it

and find out what
really really happened.

- [Narrator] Sam
Cooke's tragic murder,

to this day it is regarded as

one of rock and roll's
greatest mysteries.

But without a doubt,
Sam Cooke's significance

reaches way beyond
the pop charts.

[dramatic music]

[audience applauding]

- I have a dream today.

With this faith, we will
be able to work together,

to pray together, to
struggle together,

to go to jail together, to
stand up for freedom together.

[light music]

- [Narrator] Unfortunately,
his memorable song,

A Change Is Gonna Come,
can't be played in this film.

It is considered a musical
heritage of the United States.

50 years after Martin
Luther King's murder,

it's more relevant than ever.

- A Change Is Gonna Come is
something that will be forever

connected to the
Civil Rights Movement.

When Obama was running for
president the first time

and the song surfaced
at rallies for Obama,

and Obama quoted the lyric,
A Change is Gonna Come,

that felt to me like,
Wow, Sam Cooke's prophecy

had come true from the
time of his life here

and the time of Obama
being elected president.

And it really felt like
that was the complete arch

of the story of that song.

- When I hear A Change Is
Gonna Come, it's so sad

because he bares his
soul in that song,

it's so painfully moving
to listen to Sam Cooke sing

A Change Is Gonna Come.

- A Change Is Gonna
Come, he said,

was the hardest song that
he ever had to write.

And the song was never intended
to be on an album by Sam,

it was intended to be on
an album by other artist,

and the proceeds would go
to Martin Luther King's SLC.

- [Narrator] But the song
was not released as planned

on the album, The Stars
Salute Martin Luther King Jr.

And so far, there is no
information indicating

the royalties were ever
donated to charity.

At that time, Sam Cooke
had already relinquished

total control of his entire
body of work to Tracey Limited,

a company with an unclear
ownership structure,

founded by Sam Cooke's
manager, Allen Klein.

- There are definitely
people, who feel very strongly

that Allen Klein had something
to do with Sam Cooke's death

and that it had something to
do with the publishing rights

and the ownership of the music.

- He would never have
agreed to have someone else

own the rights to his music.

This was very important to
him to have his own company

and it be belonged to him.

- There's always been a
history in rock and roll music

of wealthy people controlling
the music publishing

and the music rights of artists
who, generally speaking,

come from very poor backgrounds,

say if we can
generalize and say that.

So, Allen Klein was a
person who got very,

very wealthy,
based on the rights

of other people's music,
other people's creations.

And Sam Cooke was
the very first person

who he did that with,
and because he did that

with Sam Cooke, the
Beatles and the Stone's

agreed to let him
publish their music

and control their
music with the promise

of making them a lot of money.

He did make Sam
Cooke a lot of money,

but he also made
himself even more money,

I think, in that process.

And anyone who comes along,
who tries to step into

the middle of that
equation, and say,

Oh, I wanna do a
documentary film about this,

well, you kind of
rocking the boat I guess,

that's my impression.

- [Narrator] The current
headquarters of ABKCO Music

and Records in New York,
founded by Sam Cooke's

former manager Allen Klein.

All our requests for interviews
have remained unanswered.

- I've heard the story
actually from Allen Klein

when I first met with him
about how he would stand

in the way of people wanting
to make films about Sam Cooke.

- They're great, because
they're enforcing

the intellectual property
and the life rights

of these artists and make
it sure they get paid,

but they overdo it, they
are in such control of it,

because they wanna
control the narrative,

they wanna control the story,
and I think part of it is,

what we're hinting at today,
what we're looking at today

is I think part
of the narrative.

- [Mike] Let's do a
little capsule version

of the Sam Cooke story,
how does all that--

- A caption version, born,
my father was a minister.

I started singing in
the church naturally

because I was exposed to
Gospel singing first, Mike.

Came out of school, went with
a professional Gospel group

called the Soul Stirrers,
sang around the country

with them for about five
years, decided to go on my own,

made a song called You Send
Me, it sold about a million

and a half copies for
me, luckily enough.

[upbeat music]

- [Narrator] Back
to the beginnings.

Like a lot of African
Americans in the 1930s,

Sam Cooke's family heads North
in search for a better life.

Their destination,
Bronzeville, Chicago.

- My name is Eugene
Jamison, my mother,

Agnes Cooke, was
Sam's youngest sister.

To us he was just our
magical uncle Sam,

who could make things happen.

He stressed was that,
I'll do the singing

and I'll make the
money doing that.

What I need you guys to do
is grow up to be lawyers,

I'm gonna need a lawyer, I'm
gonna need an accountants.

I'm gonna need this, that,
hence my major, accounting.

- My name is Erik Greene,
I am the great nephew

of the legendary Sam Cooke,

my grandmother was
Sam's oldest sister.

I renamed the street that
Sam Cooke grew up on,

right at 36th and Cottage Grove

in the Bronzeville
neighborhood of Chicago,

and when ABKCO
found out about it,

they wanted to participate
in and speak and,

no, this was my doing
and this was my project,

and I chose to keep
it to the people

that I wanted to
participate in it.

- [Narrator] In Bronzeville,
Sam Cooke attends

Wendell Phillips High School.

He discovers his love of music

while he is still in his teens.

- Sam grew up with
singing in the church

with his brothers and sisters.

They were just an informal group

called The Singing Children,
where all cute little kids

and they would get up
four or five of em,

Sam and his brothers
and sisters,

and they would all
sing before the church.

From the Singing Children,
he joined a group

called The Highway QC's, which
were young men like himself,

that sang around
Chicago churches,

and he was a standout there.

And he was recruited
from the Highway QC's

into the Soul Stirrers because

he was such a hit
with The Highway QC's.

- The Soul Stirrers were
the group back then.

They were the number quartet.

When they invited
him to join them,

'cause he was just a
teenager, he was only 18,

and SR Crain and RB
Robinson promised him

that they would
take care of him,

and he went on the
road with them.

The rest was history, as
far as the Soul Stirrers.

- Gospel programs were set up

essentially as
musical competitions,

and when he would go to them,
he would be out sung often.

The other groups could do
a better job of singing,

but what is the fellow Soul
Stirrers kept noticing,

was that the girls,
and to some degree

the teenage boys who admired
him, would push to the front

of the church, and he had
this ability to win them over.

- In the 50s there was a group

of very religious black people,

and if you would listen
to any other music,

it was the devil's music, you
couldn't play Little Richard,

you couldn't play all this,

Hank Ballard and
The Midnighters,

it was just no way that the
two musics come together,

so Sam Cooke had to find
a way of doing that.

So he recorded under the name

of Dale Cook for
his first record.

But he also knew that if he
eventually become a star,

he was going to
use his own name.

That was just a stepping
stone to greatness,

and greatness came
immediately to him.

- He liked the pop and the R&B.

He talked my
grandfather about it.

He told me that Papa wasn't
very pleased at first,

but he did give
him his blessing.

He told him, God gave
you a gift to sing,

and what you have to
do, is use that gift,

it would be a sin not to use
the gift that God gave you.

So, if that's what you wanna
do, do it, and do it well.

And boy, did he do it well.

So as far as I'm concerned,
the transition from Sam Cooke,

from church music
to secular music

was smooth, easy, and beautiful.

- Also here at
Dolphin's of Hollywood

you can either lose
or get those Blues.

- [Narrator] Sam
Cooke leaves Chicago,

gospel, and the bigoted world
of his childhood behind.

He finds new friends and
role models in Los Angeles.

- Sam Cooke, he would
actually babysit my father,

my father and my uncles,
when they were kids.

He would come by the house
and he would babysit em.

My grandfather was actually
trying to open a shop

in Hollywood back in the 1940s,

but him being black was not
allowed to actually open a shop.

So, what he did, he
went to Central Avenue,

which is in South
Central Los Angeles,

a very well occupied
black community,

it was very popular back then,

and the idea behind
it was just that,

if he can't bring South
Central sounds to Hollywood,

he'll bring Hollywood
to South Central,

and so he named it
Dolphin's of Hollywood.

- [Man] Put em all together
and what do you have?

The super duper one record
store, Dolphins of Hollywood.

Man alive, on with the jive,
coming to you from 10-65.

- [Jamelle] His shop was like
a party, everyone came here.

So, they came here,
they listened to music,

they listened to the radio
show with the DJ Huggy Boy.

- I used to go to Dolphin's
of Hollywood and enjoy.

They had a vast amount of
recordings, it's quite a thing

to go to Dolphin's of
Hollywood back in the 50s.

- So, he had a record
shop, but then he also had

a recording studio in the back,

in which he would do
a lot of recordings,

as well as he had a radio
broadcast show in the front,

and he would do it
out the front window.

One of the DJ's at
the store was a DJ

that got Sam Cooke's
record, You send me,

and when the radio show
came on that night,

basically they
played that song over

and over and over
again, that whole night,

and with just tons
of requests for it.

Everyone came down to the shop,

they were looking
to buy the record.

Everyone wanted to
hear the record,

they kept replaying
it, and then Sam Cooke

made an appearance
there at the shop,

the same day they were first
actually breaking the record.

[upbeat music]

- John Dolphin and Sam
Cooke were friends,

they became friends
in Los Angeles.

He did come to his
shop, and John Dolphin,

being the businessman
that he was,

taught Sam about
publishing rights

and that's how you're
gonna make your money, one,

but that's also how
you're gonna gain

and keep your control
over your music.

And at the end of the
day, it is show business.

And artists get so
caught up in the art,

we suck at business, and
I think that John was able

to get Sam to understand how
important the business side is,

because if your business
fails, then you fail,

no matter how great you are.

I don't think he recognized
it at first, Sam,

but I think as he watched
how the music that he brought

to his shop was just
not for black people,

but is for all people,
and Sam had that voice

that any woman would
croon over, so why not?

So, I think it was a
smart business friendship

that they had together.

[ominous music]

- Dolphin's Record
Store was the only place

that blacks, at that time,
could secure black music,

because white record
stores wouldn't carry them.

- [Narrator] Interest
in black pop music

rose rapidly at the
end of the 1950s.

Dolphin's of Hollywood
established itself

as a meeting place for
black and white alike.

- William Parker was police
chief around that time,

basically hated to see
the integrated scene.

He wanted all the
races to be separate,

and Dolphin's of Hollywood
was totally against that,

they was the total
opposite of that.

And my grandfather probably
became a nuisance to the LAPD,

and they would harass him
like constantly at his shop,

they would shut down his shop,

they would scare
all white people

from coming to Central Avenue.

I mean, they would scare them
from coming to into his shop.

I spoke to this one lady who
used to come to the shop,

white lady, back in the time
when she was a teenager.

She said she would get stopped
every time as a white lady,

she would get stopped by the
police and they would tell her

that she was gonna
get gang raped

if she was to go down into
the Central Avenue area.

And this was, they
would do this everyone,

they would just try to scare

all the white teenagers
from coming down there.

- Police were basically
protecting state law.

So, if segregation was the law,

African Americans often
times were charged for crimes

that were against
their own civil rights.

- [Narrator]
Despite segregation,

John Dolphin's record
store was a success.

The danger lurked elsewhere.

- One of these guys
that he recorded,

his name was Percy Ivy, he
was asking for royalties,

asking for money being paid,
but he was just a recording

that didn't work out right.

He was a wannabe singer that,

he really wasn't good
enough to put out.

- At the end of the
day, it was about money

and just disappointment, and
I think that years and years

of being said no to, was one
last no that he couldn't take.

[suspenseful music]

- [Narrator] On
February 1st, 1958,

John Dolphin was
shot and killed.

The killer was
quickly apprehended,

presented to the
public and convicted.

It was the failing
musician, Percy Ivy.

- So, there's my grandfather,
there's Sam Cooke.

I mean, it could have been
a lot of different things.

I just have theories in my head

like all these incredible
entrepreneur people

are dying under
suspicious circumstances.

And you can't really say, yeah.

- When Sam was on the road,
he dealt with a lot of racism.

He dealt with it in his own way.

He refused to sing to
segregated audiences.

If there was a show
that was segregated,

Sam would either cancel the
show, or in one instance

in Little Rock
Arkansas back in 1958,

where they had sectioned
off the black audience

from the white audience,
Sam said, Okay, alright,

I'll give the show
but I am gonna turn

and sing to the black,
and you can't tell me

what direction to turn.

So, he was always putting
on protest in his own way.

- One time they ran out of gas.

So, my Uncle Charles
walked to get some gas,

he left Sam sitting in the car.

Police came up asked him

why he was in the car
sitting there, he told them.

They told Sam to
get out of the car

and push the car off to
the side of the road.

He said, Man, I am a
singer I am not a pusher.

You wanna put a ticket on it?

You ticket it and
I'll pay for it.

But I'm not pushing nothin'.

My name is Sam Cooke,
I'm an entertainer.

If you've never heard of
me, I bet your wife have.

So, when you go home,
you ask your wife

if she's ever heard of Sam
Cooke and I bet they know me.

They went all down the
road and let Sam alone.

- Well, it was dangerous for him

as well as any
other entertainer.

You have probably read up
on the famous police beating

of Miles Davis in the 1950s,
in which he simply had parked

his car in the street and the
police asked him to move it

and he refused to do so,
and he was violently beat.

And so it wasn't uncommon
to beat any black

who talked back or who
stood up for themselves.

That was the social
protocol of the day.

- [Narrator] In the early 1960s,

the black civil rights
movement is at its peak,

and even the lives
of internationally
renowned musicians

and politicians are in jeopardy.

Sam Cooke's family,
friends, and fans

doubt the official
crime reports.

[ominous music]

- When Sam Cooke was killed
in 1964, I was 26 years old

and it was very sad,
it was shocking.

We did not want to
believe the circumstances

under which he got killed.

- I would suspect,
that his death

was under a clouded
circumstance.

The fact that it wasn't
investigated completely,

I think the fact that it
was a contrived theory

that was presented to the
coroner is a likely scenario.

- There are definitely people
who over the years have said

that Sam didn't die
there in the room,

or he was beaten close to
death elsewhere and shot,

and dragged there and put there,

and that was all part of
the conspiracy to kill him.

And you know, it
doesn't take that much

to believe that
line of thinking.

- [Narrator] What
exactly happened

on the night of December
11, 1964 remains a mystery.

The official version, stating
that Sam Cooke got shot

in self defense after
attacking the manager

of a seedy Motel, was
established very quickly.

But to this day,
Sam Cooke's friends,

family, and fans
remain suspicious.

One of the few living
witnesses concerning that night

is Sam Cooke's good friend
and producer Al Schmitt.

- We had dinner at Martoni's,
my wife and I and Sam.

Sam and I talked about
meeting later at another club

called PJ's, which was
kind of a big hangout.

So, my wife and I
left, but as we left,

Sam got up and he
went to the bar.

At the bar was Jim Bensey
and a girl, an oriental girl.

Sam went up there and he started
talking to them as we left.

That was the last
time I saw Sam.

[ominous music]

- What is suspect is that
Sam Cooke had the means

and the recognition to go
to any hotel in the city.

He didn't have to come South.

- Sam would have taken
a woman to a hotel,

but he would not have
taken her to a sleazy

three dollar a night
hooker's hotel.

- How is he gonna rape her?

He's in the shower and did he
say, Hey bitch get into bed

and when I come I out
I'm gonna rape you?

I mean, it makes no sense.

[ominous music]

- Again, here he is tussling
with a 55-year old lady

who basically didn't
have any marks on.

Sam was shot
underneath the armpit.

That was an execution style.

That was a very calculated shot.

[gun firing]

- Some are saying
the body was moved,

that it was done someplace else.

Will we ever know the truth?

- [Narrator] The investigation
was concluded swiftly.

The trial took place a mere
five days after the crime.

[background chattering]

- I would agree that this
hearing was not anywhere near

as detailed and probative
as it should have been.

- After a while, just
for a couple of seconds

he had pinned me down on
the bed and he pulled me up

and he pulled my sweater off
and he ripped my dress off.

- Neither of these ladies,

Elisa Boyer or Bertha
Franklin had an attorney.

- I started shootin'.

- [Attorney] And how far
was Mr. Cooke away from you

when you started shooting?

- He wasn't too far,
he was at close range.

- [Attorney] And how many
times did you fire this pistol?

- Three times.

- I think the shooting was
absolutely unnecessary.

And let me say that, I
believe that this was not,

legally speaking,
justifiable homicide.

He had no weapon,
he had no weapon,

and she was not in fear of her
life, that's the bottom line.

- [Narrator] Nevertheless,
Bertha Franklin,

the shooter, was
acquitted on self defense.

- When have you ever
witnessed or saw a witness

sit on a witness stand
with dark glasses on?

- Sam Cooke was Sam Cooke,

he didn't really
need to rape anyone,

as a lot of people
have pointed out.

He had money to pay her
and she was a prostitute,

so that part we know, I
think it's pretty safe

to say that's fictitious.

- Are you gonna put down

your loaded gun and
pick up a broom?

- I don't really see
that Bertha Franklin

could have done that.

- Both his hands
were all broken.

His head was all smashed in

and that wasn't done
with a broomstick.

- The bullet that
came out of Sam,

all that was in police
evidence and it's lost.

- The other people who
testified who were at the hotel,

nobody heard a gunshot.

- The fact that Sam was shot
with a 22 caliber pistol,

well, Bertha Franklin had a
registered gun but it was a 32.

- So, the whole story just
really doesn't make sense.

[ominous music]

- [Narrator] Within just a
few days of the court hearing,

Sam Cooke's first funeral
was held in Chicago.

- They flew the
body here to Chicago

because this is
where he was from,

this is where the
majority of the family is.

[dramatic music]

There was so many people,

they had to literally
fight to get us through.

My grandmother in
seeing him yelled out,

They beat him, look what they
did to my beautiful baby.

And they have or few
of our family members

standing around the casket
including my younger sister.

And in the background,
there is me,

baby face Gene standing
next to the lamp.

Muhammad Ali, Herbert Mohammed,

different people all came to
view the body, Mahalia Jackson,

as well as all the family
and everybody, The Staples.

After the viewing,
the procession went
to Tabernacle Church,

we went down there and
Staple Singers sang,

Mavis sang her heart out,
it was a beautiful service.

The next day my grandfather
and a few others

went back to L.A. and they had
the service in Los Angeles.

- My wife and I
went to the funeral.

As we were walking from
our car to the church,

people were playing Sam
Cooke in their apartments

and their windows were open
and you could just hear

Sam Cooke all the
way to the church.

At the church everybody
was there to sing.

Ray Charles sang.

- It was packed
when I got there,

you couldn't get in, there
were no seats, nothing.

I wanted to get in there.

And the minister was outside.

Even he wasn't gonna let me in.

I said, You don't know,
who, are you kidding?

There's no way, I beat him up.

I was pounding him,
pounding him, pounding him,

so I got in, I sat
in the second row.

- Everybody was
crying and goosebumps

and it was just an incredible,
incredible show and funeral,

there were so many entertainers.

It was just a wonderful,
wonderful tribute

and sent out to a wonderful guy.

[upbeat music]

Recording Sam Cooke was
like fishing in a barrel.

It was so easy, everybody wanted
to be Sam Cooke's producer

because you gonna have
hit after hit after hit.

I was a staff engineer at RCA,

and RCA had just signed Sam.

And I was the engineer on 90%
of the records he did for RCA.

I did Twistin' The
Night Away, I did Cupid,

which we knew it's
gonna be a big hit,

I did Bring It On Home with
Lou Rawls, he and Lou Rawls,

we knew that was
gonna be a big hit,

I did Another Saturday Night
we knew that was gonna,

everything he did
was gonna be a hit.

I mean, it was just amazing.

I produced Shake, and that
was a pretty big hit for him.

So yeah, everything he did,

it was like money in the bank.

And he was an incredible
writer, songwriter.

He wrote most of
his own material.

And even though we
were the producers

and we would guide
some of the things,

he was mainly the producer.

He would tell the musicians
how, what feel he wanted,

how he wanted this played,
what the tempo should be.

I mean, that's why I say

it was like fishing in a
barrel, he was so easy.

- Dick Clark once
said about him,

Sam Cooke knew the business

way before he was supposed
to know the business.

So, he researched and
he learned and he knew,

that that's where the money was.

And he always said that no one

is gonna get rich of my
blood and sweat, but me.

- [Dick] How many
songs have you written?

- Dick, I don't know,

but I've written just
about all I've sang.

- Which is several hundred?

- Well, I can estimate this way.

I've been in the business
now, Dick, for about six years

and I haven't had a
song that wasn't a hit,

so I was on the charts I think

from the time I
started until now.

- This is an amazing record.

Now Sam, most people
don't get to do this.

What's the answer?

Now here's a man, who's career
so far is about six years old

in this field, not counting
on what went on before.

What's the secret?

- I think the secret is
really observation, Dick.

- [Dick] What do you mean?

Well, if you observe
what's going on

and try to figure out
how people are thinking,

and determine the
times of your day,

I think you can
always write something

that people will understand.

- Now you solidified
your own career,

as far as the singing
and the records go.

What do you hope to
do in the future,

you're doing different
things now, aren't you?

- Yeah, well now, Dick,

I'm working mostly with
other young singers.

- Wait a minute, wait a minute.

What could be the greatest
thing in the world

that could happen to you
if you had your choice?

- The greatest thing
to happen to me,

if all the singers I'm
connected with had hits.

- [Narrator] As performer,
writer, and producer,

Sam Cooke soon became a major
force in the music industry.

In his friend JW
Alexander's apartment,

he laid the foundation
for his own business.

- JW Alexander was a
gospel singer from Chicago,

a little bit older than Sam,

but they became good friends
because they saw each other

in the same circles in
Chicago gospel during the 50s.

JW Alexander had
the presence of mind

to form his own music company,

and he didn't have any
songs in his music company.

So, Sam wanted to piggyback
off of with that idea,

to have a company which he
could sign his songs to,

so he had eventual
ownership and royalty.

[upbeat piano music]

- So I'm Joe Kellum and
currently I'm an attorney

and work with Thomson Reuters,

but as a record collector,
I also do work with musics

and I've worked with
the Society of Singers,

which is a group that helps
to get money for artists

of the 50s and 60s, who weren't
able to support themselves.

Now Sam was big into setting
up something for himself.

He wanted his own record label,

he wanted his own
publishing company,

he wanted his own
management company.

And so in 1962,'63,'64,
he really focused

on signing the best
artists in the world.

He had signed Mel Carter, he
had signed the Sims Twins,

he signed Johnnie Morisette,

he signed a lot of
really good talents,

and he recorded the talent

that he was gonna put out
on his own record label.

He had Derby records
and SAR records.

He also had KAGS
music publishing.

And so, the KAGS music
publishing, the same thing.

He was ready, he was really
gonna take on the world,

and he would have been a lot
bigger than Motown records,

'cause he had really
a leg up on Motown.

If you're somebody in the
record business at the time,

you would have been
really threatened

with that and you
would have been

really threatened
with his empowerment.

- He wanted success,
he wanted to be famous,

he wanted to own
a record company.

You know, he wanted to become
like a business man as well,

and have money, a lot of money.

He did not have a lot of money.

- The only person in Sam's
office and businesses

that wasn't a leech
and who cared about him

and didn't think about
him as a meal ticket,

and that was Zelda.

Zelda I think you met, a
beautiful lady, beautiful lady.

- We had an upright
piano and the two desks,

JW and mine and
a filing cabinet.

- [Narrator] Zelda Sands
had experience in publishing

and became Sam Cooke's
most valuable employee.

- There I was, I went
through all the files

of the copyrights,
and so it progressed

until we started
making some money.

I still didn't get
any raise or anything,

but I was so happy there.

[upbeat music]

- One of the things that
Sam was very adapt at

was recognizing talent early on.

He recognized Bobby Womack
when he was just a little boy,

he brought Billy Preston
on, he signed Billy Preston

to his record label when
he was only 16 years old.

- [Narrator] The pop
visionary created studios

throughout Los Angeles,
the Soul Stations.

- Soul stations were
an idea of Sam's

where he could have
local artists come

and they could record music.

So they were actually
recording studios set up

around Los Angeles, where
musicians could come in

and meet one and
other and collaborate

with one and other, could
use the instruments,

could use the
recording equipment.

- It was essentially let's
have a little Motown Records,

two or three places
all over L.A,

and we'll find local talent

and we'll have this
great band to back em.

And the records that come out

will be owned by a
black guy, Sam Cooke.

And it would benefit everybody.

It will give people
jobs, it will help him.

So I think that was the idea
behind the soul stations.

- [Narrator] Sam Cooke's music
business was flourishing.

He bought himself a
house in Los Feliz,

an affluent neighborhood
dominated by whites.

- Yeah, what a house, oh
boy, that was his castle.

It was quite an accomplishment,

for a guy that came from a
Chicago fourth floor walkup

to a home in such
an exclusive area.

- Success is a
relative proposition

and one of the ways
that you express success

is in your lifestyle, and I
think that he made enough money

to live a certain lifestyle.

[camera shutter clicking]

- Again, if you look
at the big picture

of African's history
in North America,

he's paralleling the idea
that people didn't want

just to vote or to be
manager of a store.

They wanted to own the store,

they wanted to be the
mayor or the president,

and Sam Cooke was a
model for that going on.

Towards the end of his
life, I think his switch

to Allen Klein, who was the man

who at the end of his
life was his manager,

was because Allen Klein
could get him out,

he thought, from under RCA

to where he controlled the
music and the publishing.

- [Narrator] The assertive
and charismatic accountant

succeeded where many artists
of the early pop era failed,

he collected what
the artists were due

from the all powerful
record companies.

Sam Cooke sees him as
the perfect partner.

- Sam met Allen Klein
in the spring of 1963,

and Allen Klein supposedly
approached Sam and said that,

I'm an accountant and
what I specialize in

is finding royalties
from the record labels

that artists weren't aware

that they may have
been entitled to.

And eventually he found that RCA

had had some money
that they owed Sam

and that's where their
relationship started.

- [Narrator] In
1963, Allen Klein

plans to renegotiate
the contracts

with the record company RCA
to Sam Cooke's advantage.

He proposes they establish a
new company, Tracey Limited.

A company with an unclear
ownership structure.

- Allen Klein set up
a tax shelter, Tracey
Limited, for Sam.

Tracey was one of
Sam's daughters,

and it was Sam's understanding
that this was set up

as his record label,
but it ended up

that Allen Klein actually owned
Tracey, whereas Sam didn't,

and Sam was under the
impression that he owned it.

- [Man] Tracey.
- [Man] Tracey.

- [Man] Tracey.
- [Man] Tracey Limited.

- I heard they mention
Tracey all the time,

but I didn't know
what was going on.

[ominous music]

- [Narrator] Donald
Piper, a paralegal,

dedicated his life to Sam Cooke.

In his free time, the president
of the Sam Cooke Fan Club

collects and studies all
publicly accessible documents

about the singer, including
his business activities.

- As a paralegal, I've
worked in a law firm

for almost 30 years, I've done
a lot of investigative work,

and I was just very
curious from my background

about how that came to
be that Sam was on RCA

and they obviously had
the rights to his music,

but as of this time,
ABKCO had the rights.

So, I endeavored to
do a copyright search

of the copyright office to
discover how that happened.

[dramatic music]

Tracey Limited is a
Nevada corporation.

It was created in 1963.

It was presented
to Sam as a company

that would own his
produced records.

The company would own all
of the rights to Sam's music

and there would be
a separate agreement

between Tracey and RCA
to distribute the music.

What's missing from the
articles of incorporation

that were filed was a statement

about the shareholders
of the company.

The articles speak to the
directors of the company.

The board of directors serves

under the pleasure
of the shareholders.

Well, in this particular case,

there was only one
shareholder of Tracey Limited

and that person could change
the board of directors,

could name a different person
as president at any time.

And that person was Allen Klein.

- [Narrator] The shareholders
of Tracey Limited

have never been disclosed and,

under American law,
are not required to be.

Nevertheless, from his
study of the documents

and changes to the Board of
Directors, Donald Piper believes

that Allen Klein was
the main shareholder.

[dramatic music]

- Sam believed everything
Allen Klein told him.

He would stand at my desk
and say, Oh, you know,

we're doin' this now and
Klein is gonna doing this now.

He was so impressed with Klein.

I had no respect for him,
I thought he was a thief,

I heard nothing but
bad things about him.

My friend Florence Greenberg
owned Scepter Records.

And Florence couldn't
stand Allen Klein.

He had been her accountant
and she begged Sam

not to go with him, not to go
with Klein, to sign with him.

- He wound up all
the publishing,

all the publishing he has now,

so I don't know how that
worked and how that came about,

but I know that that was
not a very good thing.

And I think he got
Sam to sign papers

that Sam shouldn't have signed.

[ominous music]

The first time Klein
walked into the office

is when they were signing,
he sets down and he said,

Where are the copyrights?

I said, They're in the file.

He said, Well will you get
them out for me please?

I said, Why?

He said, Well I want to take
them back to New York with me.

I said, I will not!

And that was the one
disagreement I ever,
ever had with Sam.

Afterwards he said,
Why didn't you?

I said, He would take them away
and put them into his name.

- Allen Klein was
basically an accountant.

But he did work with The
Stones and even people say

he's responsible for
breaking up The Beatles.

Paul McCartney,
who I worked with

and spent a lot of
time with said that,

yeah, Allen Klein was one of
the reasons that they broke up.

He wanted to manage them
and a couple of the guys

said we're going that way
and a couple didn't want to.

And I know that had Sam
not have been killed,

he would not have
been happy with him.

He took advantage of the
artists that he dealt with.

- [Narrator] The Rolling
Stones would also succumb

to Allen Klein's contracts.

In doing so, they lose
the exclusive control

of their early work.

In spite of numerous
court cases,

the recordings of
the early classics

of the Rolling Stones
still belong to ABKCO.

- Mick Jagger, I don't think

he has a nice word to
say about this guy.

And he fought for years to get

this guy off of his
money, couldn't do it.

Couldn't get no satisfaction.

Doesn't wanna sing any songs
from that early period,

because that puts money
in somebody's hands.

- [Narrator] Back
to Tracey Limited.

The changes to the
board of directors

are as striking as the
signatures on the documents.

- There's a change over time
in the annual statements

that are filed in the
Nevada Secretary of State.

This one was filed
October 21st, 1963.

Sam Cooke is listed
as President, Allen
Klein Secretary.

On May 5th, 1964 Allen
Klein is the Secretary

and you have to go
all the way down here,

Sam Cooke is chairman
of the board.

Officer who is not a director.

So, in other words,
he's been removed

from the board of directors.

Well look here, who
signed this document?

This is Allen Klein's signature.

- They also had my
grandfather on the board.

After they have finished
with their finagling,

Papa was no longer on the board,

Sam was not President,
Sam was an employee.

[ominous music]

- Now Sam was the kind of person

if you totally disappointed him,

you didn't get a second chance.

He would tell you off, tell
you why and just that's it.

And that's obviously
what he did with Allen

a few days before he was killed.

- And if you believe
the people around him,

before he died, he
was getting ready

to get out from under Allen
Klein because ultimately,

he essentially wanted
to be his own manager.

It's why he started
a record label.

'Cause that way he was the
guy, and he had some control.

[phone ringing]

- Klein said to me when he was
talking to me on the phone,

I know you think I
murdered Sam Cooke.

That shocked me, hearing those
words coming from his mouth.

Not I think that I
was responsible for,

but I murdered Sam Cooke.

- So, a lot of people think
there was a conspiracy,

that maybe Sam was
targeted to be killed

because he wanted to
break up with Allen Klein.

Wow, that's pretty sensational.

I don't know if
that is true or not,

and Allen Klein is dead,
gone, so we can't ask him.

And I don't know,
I just don't know.

That's hard for me to believe.

But who knows,
anything can happen.

- [Narrator] We
travel to Pittsburg.

Dr. Cyril Wecht will review
the forensic documents

of Sam Cooke's tragic murder.

Is there any evidence
that has been overlooked?

- I am a forensic pathologist,

I'm also an attorney and I
work as a forensic pathologist

and medical legal consultant.

I've done about 20,000
autopsies myself.

I have reviewed,
supervised, or signed off

on about 40, 000
other autopsies.

[ominous music]

Well, nobody ever contacted
me about Sam Cooke.

The autopsy was done by
the deputy medical examiner

at the Office of
Coroner in Los Angeles.

An office with which
I am quite familiar.

The pathologist who
did this autopsy,

we weren't personal friends
but I remember him, Dr. Kade.

The autopsy showed the
gunshot wound of entrance.

The bullet entered
on the left side

and traversed across the chest,

perforating first the left lung,

then the heart and
then right lung.

Bleeding, massive bleeding
into both chest cavities

as result of the damage to
the lungs and to the heart.

You've got people claiming

that Sam Cooke had all
kinds of other injuries.

They talk about significant
injuries to his knee,

I think somebody talks
about fractured knee.

And they talk about
fractured hands and so on.

And I would say as you
look at this picture,

they do appear to
be what I would call

abrasions, contusions
on the knee.

However, they are not mentioned

at all in the autopsy
report, zero, zero!

[ominous music]

Then the persons who have
made these observations

and allegations claim that
the pictures of Sam Cooke

in the coffin at
the funeral home

show deformities of his hands.

I don't believe that a
funeral director in America

is going to have somebody's
bloodied hands open.

It's not gonna happen,
I can't tell you

about other countries
in the world.

We're big for open casket
funerals in America,

that I do know.

[camera clicking]

Somebody has
suggested that he was

shot elsewhere
and brought there.

You don't get rid of
blood that easily.

If he had bled out
elsewhere and so on,

you're gonna have blood patterns

going in there on
the floor and so on.

We don't have any of
that to my knowledge.

You don't just lift up a
body and shoot it somewhere

and then transport it
and dump it somewhere,

it's not so easy.

It is these kinds
of negligent acts,

these kinds of incomplete action

that provide the nidus for
conspiratorial minded people.

It's not for me to disparage
or criticize other people

who have that belief and so on,

but to make that quantum leap

from some kind of a business
commercial controversy

between Sam Cooke and
one or more of the people

who were involved in
his professional career

with all of the
things that played out

that we won't repeat now,

ultimately ending in his death

and continuing on
into the autopsy

and the inquest and all
the people involved.

No, I'm sorry, I can't
join that parade.

- [Narrator] There is
no forensic evidence

that would warrant
a reevaluation of
Sam Cooke's death.

But, can the witness Elisa
Boyer perhaps cast new light

on the case, as has
often been suspected?

Since the court trial, over
50 years ago no one has been

able to question her about
what transpired that night.

- I would like to see
an interview with her

saying his is what happened,

He ran out the room naked
without the clothes.

I took the clothes, I left.

If she can substantiate
that story,

I think that we are
going up the wrong tree.

- That's why, if
you could get Elisa.

She is the only one, who
can tell you the truth.

- My name is Mike McCormack,
I'm a private investigator.

I was working with the LAPD
until 1994, when I retired.

Well, Lisa Boyer
was the young lady

that was with Sam Cooke
the night that he died.

It took me quite a
bit of time to do it,

but by doing some
research on the computer,

based upon her age and name
and other names that she used,

I was able to locate her, I
believe she is still alive.

- [Narrator] We found the
now 76-year-old woman,

but her faculties
have diminished.

When asked about the crime,
she repeated her testimony

from back then almost verbatim.

Elisa Boyer ultimately
leads nowhere.

[ominous music]

Nevertheless, there are people
who believe in a connection

between Sam's demise and
his publishing affairs.

- I definitely think
it was a conspiracy.

I don't know who all the
players were in the conspiracy.

If you really trace the
money, the key thing to do

is to go back and look
at Sam Cooke's money.

Look where his money went
immediately upon his death.

- Our next change is
the following year.

This is June 17th, 1965,
which is after Sam's,

six months after
Sam has passed away.

And now look who
is the president of
Tracey Records Limited.

Allen Klein is the
president and Betty Klein,

Allen's wife is the Secretary.

The final link in the chain
filed in March of 1970,

among other music companies
Tracey Records Limited

is being merged into
ABKCO-KLEIN Corporation.

This now explains to
you how Sam's music

was transferred and
ended up with ABKCO.

- [Narrator] Donald
Piper not only believes

that Allen Klein cleverly
disguised his ownership,

but he also doubts the legality

of the notarial authentication

of the certificate
of incorporation.

Contrary to the
legal requirement,

the signatories were apparently

not even present at
the time of signing.

- According to the
articles of incorporation

of Tracey Limited, this document
was signed by Sam Cooke,

JW Alexander, SR Crain
on September 27th,
1963 in New York.

According to this advertisement
in a New Orleans newspaper,

Sam Cooke was a headliner
at a show in New Orleans

on Thursday night on
September 26th, 1963.

So, it's highly unlikely
that all three gentlemen

went from New Orleans
on Thursday night

and flew up to New York
to sign this document.

It made no sense to do that

since Allen Klein and his lawyer

were in New Orleans
the night of the 26th.

But this notarial
certificate on this document

states that these three
gentlemen personally appeared

in New York City
on September 27th.

It brings up a question
of when and where and how

was this document really signed.

It's totally possible that
the notary wrote in this date

here and these three
gentlemen signed

the document undated and
it was notarized later.

So, there is a question
about this document.

About its authenticity as
to signature, when and how.

- [Narrator] It is also
notable that the notary

who certified these and
other ABKCO contracts,

was also Allen Klein's
long time secretary,

Adrienne Theresa
Zanghi-Goldfarb.

Although it's not
conclusively proven

that Allen Klein was the sole
shareholder of Tracey Limited,

the facts speak for themselves.

Even before Sam Cooke's death,

Allen Klein gradually expanded

his control of Tracey Limited.

He then quickly took
complete control

and Tracey Limited
eventually merged

with other companies
to form ABKCO.

Based on the Tracey
Limited contract,

the music label ABKCO collects

highly lucrative
royalties to this day.

Our interview requests for
this film were not answered.

- Nobody ever
studies entertainers

in American society
from the business side.

The aspect that is
probably most unpublicized

about Sam Cooke is the
ownership of his music.

He understood that that was how
those in the record industry

were beating other artists

and he refused to allow
himself to be beat that way.

- It became more encouraging

for another black artist
to start his own company.

They never thought
about it in those days.

That's how we changed it.

He left us with his
music, his sound.

Lot of people try to imitate.

Rod Stewart's favorite
singer is Sam.

He tries to sound like him.

- If you go down a list of
singers that are around today,

how many of them imitate Sam,

and Sam's way of
phrasing, and Sam's style.

I miss him, still,
I miss that smile.

He had an incredible smile,
yeah, he was a great guy.

- Sam Cooke meant more to us,
he was a symbol of direction.

If we worked hard
and we went to school

and did the right
thing, we could prevail,

whether there was
segregation or anything,

that nothing could really hold
us back if we really tried.

[upbeat piano music]