As far as learning and experience, being in the presence of people like Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, Count Basie and Joe Williams, they would talk to you and try and educate you.
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stayed one night in this room; he was here for the King Biscuit Festival ... John Lee Hooker and the original Blind Boys of Alabama stayed here. Sam Cooke stayed in Room 7. Room 9 is Ike Turner's room. Room 4 had the Siamese Twins from Chicago. Their mother put the beds together so they could sleep. That was back in the '50s.
We are cats that always looked up to Mary J. Blige, or always looked up to Sam Cooke or R. Kelly. We always wanted to sing, like singers wanted to rap. When we sing, we singing from the heart. It ain't about the key — you're getting exactly the rawness of how it feels. That's why people are digging it. Thank God for Auto-Tune and thank God for T-Pain.
But a change is gonna come/Like Sam Cooke sang in '63/The river sings a song to me/On ev'ry St. Cecilia's day.
Now I’m going to have to go into Marvin Gaye mode, Sam Cooke mode, Donny Hathaway mode in order to stake my claim as a legend ... I believe I have the gift, and I have the music, and I have the fortitude to go forward and be the artist that I was put on this planet to be.
Mr. Doyle, now a longtime collaborator of Mr. Wong's, said in a recent telephone interview that he heard that question as a constant challenge. 'It should be the mantra for all people in the arts.'