Without the late Sam Cooke, there really is no modern R&B.
Without his multi-faceted talents as a performer, vocalist, songwriter and behind-the-scenes entrepreneur, it’s difficult to imagine versatile artists like Prince or John Legend or Keith Sweat.
All three artists wrote, performed and produced their own music, just like Cooke, who died at 33 in 1964. Without the template he set in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it’s possible we would never have enjoyed those artists.
New Jersey’s Bradd Marquis is another artist who Cooke influenced. On June 14, he’ll pay tribute to Cooke with a show called The Music of Sam Cooke: King of Soul at the Charleston Music Hall.
Marquis and his band, who dress in period-appropriate 1950s and early ’60s styles, recreate classic Cooke tunes like “You Send Me,” “Wonderful World” and the iconic social anthem “A Change Is Gonna Come.” Marquis holds center stage as he intersperses soaring, passionate vocals with stories about Cooke’s life.
As a child, Marquis fell in love with Cooke’s music. And that music inspired Marquis to start his own R&B career. Since then, he’s released Billboard charting hits like “Thank You,” put out three studio albums and performed at Showtime At The Apollo at the legendary Apollo Theater in New York.
Connection with Cooke
To hear Marquis tell it, his introduction to Cooke’s music was more subliminal than anything else.
“There’s a connection between him and my grandparents,” Marquis said in an interview with the Charleston City Paper. “That’s what started it all for me. Without knowing that I grew up on him, I grew up on him. But I didn’t understand what I was listening to until I was older and I went back and did my research.”
Once he did that, Marquis discovered an artist that he could model himself on in multiple ways.
“It’s about more than his music,” Marquis said. “It’s his entrepreneurship. And his social impact resonated with me. After discovering his true impact, he felt so relevant because nowadays, artists want to control their own music and their own distribution, marketing and promotion. And he was a template for that before it became the thing to do.”
Of course, it’s not all about the business side of things. Marquis readily admits that he loves Cooke’s music now just as much as he did as a child.
“He’s one of the greatest male singers of all time,” Marquis said. “He evolved from a crooner like Nat King Cole, Sammy Davis, Jr. or Frank Sinatra. And then he made that transition where he started incorporating his gospel roots into his own original music. That really hit home for me.”
A night of nostalgia
Marquis has been perfecting his Sam Cooke tribute show since 2009, and he says the current edition is his favorite.
“It’s 100% better than what it was in 2009,” he said. “The show started out being a hybrid show, making the correlation between his life and mine and finding parallels in his journey and mine. And then it just became all about his music. Sometimes I may intertwine a couple of my songs here and there, but it’s really an homage to him and his journey.”
Taking on the songbook of one of the most talented and beloved R&B singers ever is no easy task. One might think that Marquis feels some sort of pressure to deliver those classic songs with passion and authority.
“I don’t feel pressure anymore,” he said. “I’ve been doing it so long now that it’s really Bradd Marquis singing Sam Cooke. I’m not attempting to be Sam Cooke. My perspective is that if Sam Cooke was alive in 2025, I believe this is how he would perform and this is how he would showcase his music.”
And occasionally, Marquis gets a message that he’s doing the right thing.
“Folks who have seen him say that I remind them of Sam,” he said, “and that means the world to me. That means I’m doing him justice.”
IF YOU WANT TO GO: The Music of Sam Cooke: King of Soul, featuring Bradd Marquis. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., June 14, Charleston Music Hall, 37 John St. Tickets are $38-$118. charlestonmusichall.com.
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