When Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin began singing popular music, they brought melisma to more mainstream audiences.

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They toured with soul star Sam Cooke, who took them under his wing.

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Well, you know, I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Sam Cooke fan and listened to him a lot coming up, and he was an early influence.

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Three or four Sam Cooke records and you're set for life.

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So the thing about Sam Cooke, for me, is that, generally speaking, his stuff is so--his material is so positive, it's so--you get the feeling of how much Sam Cooke loves being Sam Cooke.

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