Courtesy: ABKCO Records/merlis for hire
Sam Cooke is set to receive a very special honor. His song, ‘A Change is Gonna Come’ is one of a small handful of songs to receive the “2013 Songwriters Hall of Fame Towering Song Award.” The presentation will be made at the 44th annual Induction and Awards Dinner on Thursday, June 13th. The dinner and awards ceremony will be held at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City.
The song—which was originally written by Cooke in 1963 and recorded in 1964—was referenced as recently as the 2008 election by President Barack Obama after winning the election that year. It was also used as an anthem during the Civil Rights movement. Since its original release, it has been covered over five hundred times by various artists from the likes of: Aretha Franklin, Al Green, and Otis Redding to more modern artists such as: R. Kelly, Gavin DeGraw, and Seal just to name a few. These are just a few of the song’s accolades. It has even been deemed by National Public Radio (NPR) as “the most important ever recorded” and has been selected by the Library of Congress for inclusion into its National Recording Registry. Cooke himself was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987.
‘A Change is Gonna Come’ will be inducted into the SHOF along with works from Tony Hatch, Mick Jones & Lou Gramm, Holly Knight, JD Souther, and Steven Tyler & Joe Perry. A full list of inductees and bios is available online via the SHOF’s virtual museum at http://songwritershalloffame.org.
Tickets for the induction ceremony are available now. They start at $1,000 each. They are available through Buckley Hall Events by phone at 212-573-6933.
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