Editing Sam Cooke (section)

== Death ==
{{Redirect|Lady, you shot me|the Har Mar Superstar song|Bye Bye 17}}
Cooke was shot and killed on December 11, 1964, at the Hacienda Motel at 91st and South Figueroa streets in [[Vermont Vista, Los Angeles|South Central Los Angeles]]. Answering separate reports of a shooting and a kidnapping at the motel, police found Cooke's body. He had sustained a gunshot wound to the chest, which was later determined to have pierced his heart.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Krajicek |first=David |title=The Death of Sam Cooke |url=http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/celebrity/sam_cooke/9.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150210053736/http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/celebrity/sam_cooke/9.html |archive-date=February 10, 2015 |access-date=September 9, 2016 |website=[[Crime Library]]}}</ref>

The motel's manager, Bertha Franklin, said she shot Cooke in self-defense. Her account was immediately disputed by Cooke's friends, who were not there at the time of the incident.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 24, 1964 |title=Singer Sam Cooke Shot To Death |pages=62–63 |work=[[Jet (magazine)|Jet]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xMADAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA62}}</ref>{{sfn|Goodman|2015|p=57}} The motel's owner, Evelyn Carr,<ref group="note">Some sources identify the motel owner's last name as "Card", according to Guralnick</ref> said that she had been on the telephone with Franklin at the time of the incident. Carr said she overheard Cooke's intrusion and the ensuing conflict and gunshot, and called the police.{{sfn|Guralnick|2005|p=619}}

The police record states that Franklin fatally shot Cooke, who had checked in earlier that evening.<ref name="Wolff">{{Cite book |last=Wolff, Daniel |url=https://archive.org/details/yousendmelifetim00wolff |title=You Send Me: The Life and Times of Sam Cooke |date=1995 |publisher=[[William Morrow and Company|William Morrow]] |isbn=0-688-12403-8 |location=New York City}}</ref> Franklin said Cooke had banged on the door of her office, shouting "Where's the girl?!", in reference to Elisa Boyer, a woman who had accompanied Cooke to the motel, and who had called the police that night from a telephone booth near the motel minutes before Carr had.{{sfn|Guralnick|2005|pp=619, 627}}

Franklin shouted back that there was no one in her office except herself, but an enraged Cooke did not believe her and forced his way into the office, naked except for one shoe and a sport jacket. He grabbed her, demanding again to know the woman's whereabouts. According to Franklin, she grappled with Cooke, the two of them fell to the floor, and she then got up and ran to retrieve a gun. Franklin said that she then fired at Cooke in self-defense because she feared for her life. He was struck once in the [[torso]]. According to Franklin, Cooke exclaimed, "Lady, you shot me", in a tone that expressed perplexity rather than anger, before advancing on her again. Franklin said she hit him on the head with a broomstick before Cooke finally fell to the floor and died. A [[coroner]]'s [[inquest]] was convened to investigate the incident.{{sfn|Guralnick|2005|pp=619, 627-628}}

Boyer told the police that she had first met Cooke earlier that night and had spent the evening in his company. Boyer said that after they left a local nightclub together, she had repeatedly requested that he take her home, but it appeared Cooke was intoxicated and drove her against her will to a place to have sex. As they sped down Harbor Freeway, Boyer noted they had passed a number of hotels and motor courts.

Cooke ended up at the Hacienda Motel, a black-owned business in south central Los Angeles. Boyer noted Cooke's familiarity with the layout as if he had been a repeat customer. She said that once in one of the motel's rooms, Cooke physically forced her onto the bed, and then stripped Boyer to her panties. She said she was sure he was going to [[rape]] her. Cooke allowed her to use the bathroom, from which she attempted an escape but found that the window was firmly shut. According to Boyer, she returned to the main room, where Cooke continued to molest her. When he went to use the bathroom, Boyer quickly grabbed her clothes and ran from the room. She said that in her haste, she had also scooped up most of Cooke's clothing by mistake.

Boyer said she ran first to the manager's office and knocked on the door seeking help. However, she said that the manager took too long to respond, so, fearing Cooke would soon be coming after her, she fled from the motel before the manager opened the door. Boyer said she then put her clothes back on, hid Cooke's clothing, went to a telephone booth, and called the police.{{sfn|Guralnick|2005|pp=616–619}}

Boyer's account is the only one that exists of what happened between her and Cooke that night, and it has long been called into question due to reports by diners at Martoni's Restaurant, where Cooke dined and drank earlier in the evening. These reports claimed Boyer seemed to be enjoying herself. However, critics argue that just because a woman seems to have a good time during dinner, does not mean she is obligated to have sex later on.{{sfn|Guralnick|2005|p=643}}<ref name=Wolff />

According to restaurant employees and friends, Cooke was carrying a large amount of money at Martoni's. A search of Boyer's purse by police revealed nothing except a $20 bill, and a search of Cooke's [[Ferrari]] found a money clip with $108 ({{Inflation|US|108|1964|fmt=eq}}),{{Inflation/fn|US}} as well as a few loose coins near the ashtray.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Krajicek |first=David |title=The Death of Sam Cooke |url=http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/celebrity/sam_cooke/11.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150210053736/http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/celebrity/sam_cooke/11.html |archive-date=February 10, 2015 |access-date=September 9, 2016 |website=CrimeLibrary.com}}</ref>

As Carr's testimony [[corroborating evidence|corroborated]] Franklin's version of events, and because both Boyer and Franklin later passed [[polygraph]] tests,<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=December 16, 1964 |title=Shooting of Sam Cooke Held 'Justifiable Homicide' |work=[[The New York Times]] |agency=[[United Press International]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/12/17/archives/shooting-of-sam-cooke-held-justifiable-homicide.html}}</ref> the [[coroner's jury]] ultimately accepted Franklin's explanation and returned a verdict of [[justifiable homicide]].<ref name=bookofhits /> With that verdict, authorities officially closed the case on Cooke's death.{{sfn|Guralnick|2005|pp=626–629}}

However, some of Cooke's family and supporters have rejected Boyer's version of events, as well as those given by Franklin and Carr. They believe that the killing took place in some manner entirely different from the three official accounts.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Milicia |first=Joe |date=December 6, 2005 |title=Sam Cooke's story told from 'the inside out' — A thorough effort to give him his due |agency=[[Associated Press]] |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-116060846.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105204309/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-116060846.html |archive-date=November 5, 2012 |quote=That he was killed after being scammed by a prostitute just didn't make sense to many people. It's an end that his sister, Agnes Cooke-Hoskins, still discounts. 'My brother was first class all the way. He would not check into a $3-a-night motel; that wasn't his style', she said while attending a recent tribute to Cooke at the [[Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum]] }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Greene |first=Erik |title=Our Uncle Sam: The Sam Cooke Story from His Family's Perspective |date=2006 |publisher=[[Trafford Publishing]] |isbn=1-4122-0987-0 |location=Victoria, Canada}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=James |first=Gary |date=January 27, 1992 |title=Interview with Solomon Burke |url=http://www.classicbands.com/SolomonBurkeInterview.html |magazine=Classic Bands |quote=I've always felt there was some sort of conspiracy there. ... I listened to the reports and I listened to the story of what happened and I can imagine Sam going after his pants. I can imagine Sam going up to the counter and saying 'Hey, somebody just took my pants.' And he's standing there, seeing the woman with his pants. I can imagine him saying 'Give me my pants.' But I can't imagine him attacking her. He wasn't that type of person to attack somebody. That wasn't his bag. He was a lover, OK. He wasn't a fighter. He wasn't a boxer. You never heard of Sam Cooke beating up his women.}}</ref>{{sfn|Guralnick|2005|pp=642–643}}<ref name="Gordon">{{Cite news |last=Gordon |first=Ed |date=November 16, 2005 |title='Dream Boogie': The Life and Death of Sam Cooke |work=[[NPR]] |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5014891 |quote=...I would say within the community there is not a single person that believes that Sam Cooke died as he is said to have died: killed by a motel owner at a cheap motel in Los Angeles called the Hacienda which he had gone to with a prostitute named Elisa Boyer. I could have filled 100 pages of the book with an appendix on all the theories about his death. Central tenet of every one of those theories is that this was a case of another proud black man brought down by the white establishment who simply didn't want to see him grow any bigger. I looked into this very carefully. I had access to the private investigators' report, which nobody had seen and which filled in a good many more details. And no evidence has ever been adduced to prove any of these theories.}}</ref><ref name="Hildebrand">{{Cite news |last=Hildebrand |first=Lee |date=April 10, 2007 |title=Elvis biographer Peter Guralnick tackles another music legend: Sam Cooke |work=[[San Francisco Bay Guardian]] |quote='In the course of the two or three hundred different interviews with different people that I did for the book, there are two or three hundred different conspiracy theories,' he said. 'While they were all extremely interesting, and while every one of them reflected a basic truth about prejudice in America in 1964 and the truth of the prejudice that has continued into the present day, none of them came accompanied by any evidence beyond that metaphorical truth.'}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Drozdowski |first=Ted |date=March 14–21, 2002 |title=Soul man, Sam Cooke's fulfilling late period |work=[[The Boston Phoenix]] |url=http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/music/other_stories/documents/02192128.htm |url-status=dead |access-date=May 19, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060528185941/http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/music/other_stories/documents/02192128.htm |archive-date=May 28, 2006 |quote=It's hard to buy into conspiracy theories, though several swirl around this incident that paint Cooke as the victim of a plot by white supremacists to silence the country's most popular self-empowered black man.}}</ref>

On the perceived lack of an investigation, Cooke's close friend [[Muhammad Ali]] said: "If Cooke had been Frank Sinatra, the Beatles or Ricky Nelson, the FBI would be investigating."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://people.com/movies/why-mystery-still-shrouds-singer-sam-cookes-shooting-death-nearly-60-years-later/|title = Why Mystery Still Shrouds Singer Sam Cooke's Shooting Death Nearly 60 Years Later|first=Jordan|last=Runtagh|work=[[People (magazine)|People]]|access-date=April 4, 2022}}</ref>

Singer [[Etta James]] viewed Cooke's body before his funeral and questioned the accuracy of the official version of events. She wrote that the injuries she observed were well beyond the official account of Cooke having fought Franklin alone. James wrote that Cooke was so badly beaten that his head was nearly separated from his shoulders, his hands were broken and crushed, and his nose was mangled.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=James |first1=Etta |url=https://archive.org/details/ragetosurviveett00jame/page/151 |title=Rage To Survive: The Etta James Story |last2=Ritz |first2=David |date=2003 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |isbn=0-306-81262-2 |location=New York City |page=[https://archive.org/details/ragetosurviveett00jame/page/151 151] |author-link1=Etta James}}</ref>

Some have speculated that Cooke's manager, [[Allen Klein]], had a role in his death. Klein owned Tracey Ltd, which ultimately owned all rights to Cooke's recordings.{{sfn|Goodman|2015|pp=57–58}} However, no concrete evidence supporting a [[criminal conspiracy]] has been presented.<ref name="Gordon"/><ref name="Hildebrand"/>

=== Aftermath ===
[[File:Sam Cooke Grave.JPG|thumb|200px|Grave of Sam Cooke in the Garden of Honor at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California]]
The first funeral service for Cooke was held on December 18, 1964, at A. R. Leak Funeral Home in Chicago; 200,000 fans lined up for more than four city blocks to view his body.<ref name=Ebony /><ref name="About">{{Cite web |last=Fontenot |first=Robert |title=Today in Oldies Music History: December 18 |url=http://oldies.about.com/od/oldieshistory/a/Today-In-Oldies-Music-History-December-18.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906092613/http://oldies.about.com/od/oldieshistory/a/Today-In-Oldies-Music-History-December-18.htm |archive-date=September 6, 2015 |access-date=August 31, 2015 |website=[[about.com]]}}</ref>

Afterward, Cooke's body was flown back to Los Angeles for a second service, at the Mount Sinai Baptist Church on December 19,<ref name="Corbis">{{Cite web |title=Crowd at Sam Cooke's Funeral |url=http://www.corbisimages.com/stock-photo/rights-managed/BE063840/crowd-at-sam-cookes-funeral |access-date=August 31, 2015 |publisher=Corbis Images}}</ref> which included a much-heralded performance of "The Angels Keep Watching Over Me" by [[Ray Charles]], who stood in for a grief-stricken [[Bessie Griffin]]. Cooke was interred at [[Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)|Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery]] in [[Glendale, California]].<ref name=Ebony /><ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Connell |first=Sean J. |date=March 13, 2014 |title=Here's Where Five Soul Legends Are Buried in L.A. |url=https://www.laweekly.com/heres-where-five-soul-legends-are-buried-in-l-a/ |website=[[LA Weekly]]}}</ref>

Two singles and an album were released in the month after Cooke's death. One of the singles, "[[Shake (Sam Cooke song)|Shake]]", reached the top ten of both the pop and R&B charts. The B-side, "[[A Change Is Gonna Come]]", is considered a classic [[protest song]] from the era of the [[civil rights movement]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 16, 2007 |title=Sam Cooke's Swan Song of Protest |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17267529 |access-date=August 8, 2008 |website=[[NPR]]}}</ref> It was a [[Top 40]] pop hit and a top 10 R&B hit. The album, also titled [[Shake (Sam Cooke album)|''Shake'']], reached the number one spot for R&B albums.

Bertha Franklin said that she received numerous death threats after shooting Cooke. She left her position at the Hacienda Motel and did not publicly disclose where she had moved.<ref name="washington">{{Cite news |date=April 6, 1965 |title=Cooke's killer sues his estate |page=1 |work=[[Washington Afro-American]]}}</ref> After being cleared by the coroner's jury, she sued Cooke's estate, citing physical injuries and mental anguish suffered as a result of Cooke's attack. Franklin's lawsuit sought $200,000 (equivalent to{{nbsp}}${{Inflation|US|0.2|1965|r=1}}{{nbsp}}million in {{Inflation/year|US}}){{Inflation/fn|US}} of [[compensatory damages|compensatory]] and [[punitive damages]].<ref name=washington />

Barbara Womack [[countersue]]d Franklin on behalf of the estate, seeking $7,000 ({{Inflation|US|7000|1965|fmt=eq|r=-3}}) in damages to cover Cooke's funeral expenses. Elisa Boyer provided testimony in support of Franklin in the case. In 1967, the courts awarded Franklin $30,000 in damages ({{Inflation|US|30000|1967|fmt=eq|r=-3}}).<ref>{{cite news |title=Slayer of Singer Gets $30,000 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/05/25/archives/slayer-of-singer-gets-30000.html |work=[[The New York Times]]|editor-last=Catledge|editor-first=Turner|editor-link=Turner Catledge|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230614115158/https://woodstockwhisperer.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/sam-cooke-payment.jpg|archive-date=June 14, 2023|url-status=dead|date=May 25, 1967}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=June 10, 1967 |title=Will Sam Cooke's widow appeal? |page=10 |work=[[The Afro-American]]}}</ref>{{Inflation/fn|US}}