With his angelic voice and charismatic style, Sam Cooke was the first rhythm and blues singer to cross Gospel and Pop music. His epic career was marked by an independence unheard of in black performers of the time and a determination to fight racism, shown in his boycott of segregated Southern venues. His life was tragically cut short in a bizarre shooting in an LA hotel room, but his influential legacy has carried on by an indeterminate amount of artists to this day. "Sam Cooke: Crossing Over" is a loving portrait of an icon, made all the more immediate through interviews with friends and family and some great archival footage and songs. The profile is not particularly well written, but Sam's music is so beautiful as to make this more than worth a look.
