This was written by Sam Cooke's brother Charles "LC" Cooke. In the '40s, the brothers sang in their family Gospel group, The Singing Children. Cooke wrote "You Send Me" but gave the writer credit to his younger brother L.C. (who used the original family spelling "Cook") because he didn't want his own publisher to profit from the song. Sam's last name was "Cook" before he added the "e" for the stage. His brother LC was trying to make a name for himself in the mainstream music industry as well, so he followed Sam's lead by adding the "e" to his last name after this was released, since Sam had already made the name recognizable in the industry. Cooke was signed to Specialty Records, which was a Gospel label. Cooke's producer, Bumps Blackwell, brought this to Art Rupe, who owned the label. Rupe objected to the use of the choir on this track and was afraid it was too secular and would alienate the label's Gospel fans. He offered Cooke a release from his contract in exchange for outstanding royalties. The song was passed to the Keen label where it sold over 2 million copies.
In 2005, the song was voted #115 by representatives of the music industry and press in Rolling Stone magazine's The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
[–] cynicaloldfart [S] ago
This was written by Sam Cooke's brother Charles "LC" Cooke. In the '40s, the brothers sang in their family Gospel group, The Singing Children. Cooke wrote "You Send Me" but gave the writer credit to his younger brother L.C. (who used the original family spelling "Cook") because he didn't want his own publisher to profit from the song. Sam's last name was "Cook" before he added the "e" for the stage. His brother LC was trying to make a name for himself in the mainstream music industry as well, so he followed Sam's lead by adding the "e" to his last name after this was released, since Sam had already made the name recognizable in the industry. Cooke was signed to Specialty Records, which was a Gospel label. Cooke's producer, Bumps Blackwell, brought this to Art Rupe, who owned the label. Rupe objected to the use of the choir on this track and was afraid it was too secular and would alienate the label's Gospel fans. He offered Cooke a release from his contract in exchange for outstanding royalties. The song was passed to the Keen label where it sold over 2 million copies.
In 2005, the song was voted #115 by representatives of the music industry and press in Rolling Stone magazine's The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.