These Are The Songwriters Who Are Laughing All The Way To The Bank

Sam Cooke – $650,000

Greatest Hits: Chain Gang, Wonderful World, A Change is Gonna Come
Sam Cooke is an entrepreneur and musician that was well known as an inspiring songwriter, too. He was named as the “King of Soul” thanks to his major contributions to pop music and his wonderful voice. He was a part of The Soul Sisters during his youth as a singer, which would lead to his solo career spawning at a later stage. He worked with all manner of icons of his time, such as Al Green, Aretha Franklin, Billy Preston, Curtis Mayfield, and Marvin Gaye, among many others. He is responsible for Otis Redding and James Brown’s fame. Bruce Eder, the writer of AllMusic, described him as the soul genre’s “inventor”.

Sam Cooke