Well let me explain this and we'll see how much of a
'conspiracy' it truly is...
To my understanding, Sam Cooke was a very great artist. Having said that it comes as no surprise that he'd draw not just many fans, but most definitely many women. He had a habit of "seeing" women left and right. Not only that but he also wore fine clothes and actually had a red ferrari on the night of his death.
Along with the above-mentioned, Sam was very close to Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam. Word has it that he attended the mosque despite proclaiming Christianity. Of course he did not mention any of this because of the controversy that would have occurred, but that seems to be the case.
Now as far as his death, here are the two scenarios. Despite the fact that the former makes alot of sense, I personally have a strong feeling the latter is what really happened.
SCENARIO #1
Sam Cooke went to a bar. He met a Eurasian woman by the name of Lisa Boyer who was later found to be a hooker. Some other man at the bar started trying to talk to Lisa and Sam seen that, so he approached the dude and got into an argument with him. After the argument as heated (and reportedly drunk) as Sam was, he grabbed Lisa, got in his Ferrari and left the bar to drive uptown to a very cheap $3 a night motel (Hacienda Motel) on Figueroa Street in L.A. When they got there and got into a room, Sam took Boyer's clothes off and started to take his own clothes off. She went into the bathroom in the room then came back out. However when Sam went into the bathroom after her, she reportedly grabbed both of their clothes and jetted out the room. When Sam went chasing her, she was said to have only been wearing a sport jacket and a sock with nothing else on. He went to the Front Office of the motel and no one was there, so he barged into the Manager's Office where he seen the motel clerk and asking "where's the woman I came her with?" He thought the woman would be hiding in there so he kept searching and eventually grabbed the hotel clerk aggressively demanding that she tell him where the woman is, and that is when she picked up her .22 and shot him 3 times.
SCENARIO #2
Sam Cooke met up with Lisa Boyer, a hooker, and went to the Hacienda Motel for a meeting. Around this time Sam Cooke wanted to fire his Business Manager, Allen Klein (the same guy who is reportedly responsible for breaking up the Beatles and Rolling Stones) for bad business, plus the fact that Sam wanted to have his own label (even though many black musicians at the time didn't own their own businesses). He was also on the verge of divorcing his wife, Barbara Cooke, for having an affair with Bobby Womack. The meeting turned out to be a "session" where Sam met with Allen Klein to discuss "business." This is also a good time to mention that Allen Klein was there at the motel with a mob and it is said that Barbara was at the scene as well. When the meeting did not go the way his manager wanted it to go, the mob severely beat Sam to death then shot him.
After Cooke's death, Allen Klein took control of all of Sam's earnings, recordings, profits from businesses and organizations, decision-making regarding Sam's work; all of it. I do need to mention, however, that this was Barbara Cooke's decision.
As I close, the 2 reasons why I feel
SCENARIO #2 was the case:
1) Allen Klein's name is also implicated in the deaths of John Lennon and another artist (forgot the name)
2) Someone close to Cooke was at the funeral and said Sam's face at the funeral looked nothing, nothing like someone who was shot 3 times then passed away (as was the case in
SCENARIO #1). It definitely looked as though someone beat him to death.
I posted the thread and asked because although I checked out a few sources (which i'll list at the end of the post) it would be great to get more info.
Peace!
Sources:
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/celebrity/sam_cooke/index.html
http://www.findadeath.com/Deceased/c/Sam Cooke/sam_cooke.htm
KWABENA