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By: Sam Cooke (born Samuel Cook January 22, 1931, died of gunshot wounds in a hotel December 11, 1964 in Los Angeles, California.) He added an "e" to the end of his name to add a touch of class.
He was one of eight children of (Pentecostal minister) Reverend Charles Cook and Annie Mae Cook. Cooke initially sang in gospel groups, including the Soul Stirrers, which he joined in 1950 at the age of 19, achieving fame and success within the gospel community.
He released his pop single under an alias ("Dale Cooke") because it was then considered taboo for gospel singers to perform secular music. However, the alias could not hide Sam's distinctive voice, and he soon left the Soul Stirrers.
Cooke had a total of 29 top 40 hits on the pop charts, including "Twistin' the Night Away".
"Twistin' the Night Away" was recorded December 18, 1961.
Chart position: #9 (US), #1 (US R&B), #6 (UK).
The Top Ten Songs: March 24, 1962 (US Hot Billboard 100).
- "Hey! Baby" (Bruce Channe)
- "Don't Break the Heart That Loves You" ()
- "Midnight in Moscow" (Kenny Ball)
- "Let Me In" (Sensations)
- "Duke of Earl" (Gene Chandler)
- "Dream Baby" (Roy Orbison)
- "Slow Twistin'" (Chubby Checker)
- "What's Your Name" (Don and Juan)
- "Twistin' the Night Away" (Sam Cooke)
- "Her Royal Majesty" (James Darren)
Written by: Sam Cooke.
Cooke also wrote such songs as "You Send Me" (#1 US, #29 UK), "I'll Come Running Back to You" (#18 US), "Wonderful World" (#12 US, #2 UK), "Chain Gang" (#2 US, #9 UK), "Bring it On Home to Me" (#13 US), "Another Saturday Night" (#10 US, #23 UK), and "A Change is Gonna Come" (#31 US, posthumously.)
The inspiration for "Twistin' the Night Away" came when Cooke was at home watching footage of the Peppermint Lounge in New York on the Today Show.
Also by: Rod Stewart (born Roderick David Stewart January 10, 1945 in Highgate, North London, England.)
In 1973, Stewart released a version as a single from his album Never a Dull Moment
. It reached #59 on the Billboard Hot 100. A new version by Stewart was featured in the movie Innerspace
. When released as a single in 1987, that version hit #80 on the Hot 100.Download MP3s from Amazon.com:
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, all of the profits from "Man in the Mirror" went to charity.
(of course,) but it was originally published in 1929! Many years later it reached the top spot. The catch: it was a dance remix by Mint Royale. It was a #1 hit in the UK in 2008.
. It was Nelson's first #1 country hit as a singer, and reached #21 on the pop charts. One of the greatest of all rain songs - in every sense of the word. (This also made our list of 
) composed the song's intro on a piano with only ten working keys. Truth: you don't need every note in the book to make a great song.
). It reached #2 in the US and #3 (US R&B). 
Tough choice. Both were written by John Fogerty; both are cool songs. But I just had to go with this one. "Who'll Stop The Rain" was a US #2 hit in 1970. In 2004 Rolling Stone ranked it #188 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
in 1953. It was written by Johnny Bragg and Robert Riley. Both were inmates at the Tennessee State Prison. Johnny wrote the majority of the song but could not read or write. Robert wrote down the lyrics in exchange for songwriting credit. The rest is history. How cool is that? 
with artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne and the core members of Elvis' TCB band.
) Orbison died of a heart attack on December 6, 1988 at age 52.
(The Animals) and succeeded by 
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,) ". . . He had the most incredible voice. He'd had so many hit songs and people could sit and listen to him all night. He didn't have to do anything, he didn't have to wiggle his legs, in fact he never even twitched, he was like marble . . . Roy would be out there every night and at the end he'd be singing, 'She's walking back to me, do do do do da do-do...' And the audience would go wild. We'd be waiting there and he'd do another big encore and we'd be thinking, 'How are we going to follow this?'"