Sam Cooke News

Legendary R&B group The Manhattans will bring their soulful sound to Sam's Town Live! tonight, April 2.

Legendary R&B group The Manhattans will bring their soulful sound to Sam's Town Live! on Saturday, April 2.

Black Ensemble Theater's 40th anniversary season opens with audience-favorites Doo Wop Shoo Bop and Those Sensational Soulful '60s, running in repertory. Both shows opened today, February 21st. Scroll down to see photos of the productions!

Today Coast 2 Coast Mixtapes announces the release of 'Tell Me', the latest music video by Chicago hip-hop artist Dray'Soul. The video can currently be viewed in its entirety at the Coast 2 Coast Mixtapes website.

FIGHT SONG, the first annual charity cabaret concert presented by BLOWN by bocaj, will be held on January 24, 2016 at 7:00 pm at the Uptown Underground lounge in Chicago, Ill.

Black Ensemble Theater's Founder and CEO Jackie Taylor announces the 40th Anniversary Season: The Season of Greatest Hits. The season opens with audience-favorites Doo Wop Shoo Bop and Those Sensational Soulful '60s, running in repertory. The 40th Anniversary Season continues with popular tributes to musical legends including Dionne Warwick, Marvin Gaye, Jackie Wilson, and Teddy Pendergrass and will close with the Black Ensemble Theater holiday classic The Other Cinderella.

This week at FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz and beyond. To purchase tickets or for more information, visitwww.54Below.com/Feinsteins or call (646) 476-3551.

INTRODUCING DARLENE LOVE, Love's first solo LP in 27 years, was released this fall on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon and other retailers. Now, you can stream the full album via Spotify. Check it out below, plus scroll down for a list of Love's 2016 tour dates!

Z2 Entertainment will present An Evening with George Winston at the Boulder Theater tonight, December 23rd, 2015.

Luigi Creatore, who with his cousin Hugo Peretti wrote and produced iconic hits for such stars as Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke, Perry Como, Sarah Vaughan, Della Reese, Jimmie Rodgers, Patti Page and many others, including the Tokens' “Lion Sleeps Tonight,” Presley's “Can't Help Falling in Love” and “Wild in the Country,” and Cook's “Another Saturday Night” and “Twistin' the Night Away,” died of pneumonia at a Boca Raton hospice on Sunday, Dec. 13. He was 93.

The new Broadway revival of THE COLOR PURPLE opened just last week, December 10, at theBernard B. Jacobs Theatre (242 W 45th Street). Grammy, Academy Award, and Golden Globe award winner Jennifer Hudson makes her Broadway debut opposite Cynthia Erivo, the breakout star of John Doyle's acclaimed Menier Chocolate Factory production, and Orange is the New Black's Danielle Brooks, in the highly anticipated production of The Color Purple. BroadwayWorld was on hand for the whole evening, starting with the sacred Gypsy Robe ceremony. Below, check out photos of gypsy robe recipient Grasan Kingsberry with the company!

The new Broadway revival of THE COLOR PURPLE opens tonight, December 10, at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre (242 W 45th Street). Scroll down to learn more about the company and watch highlights from the show!

Marquis Publishing, an affiliate of the Marquis Gallery announces the release of author and photographer Marques Vickers' 'Murder in California: The Topography of Evil.' The 417-page edition is a visual return to 101 infamous crime scenes detailing the shocking and often searing narratives behind each tragedy. Over 200 images amplify the experience by escorting the reader to the crime location, offering a critical context and perspective for understanding. The captured snapshots portray visual testimonies of extinguished lives removed by acts of violence. Crime scenes often revert back into unremarkable landscape or unassuming buildings over the ensuing years and decades. Several have altered little since their moment of infamy. Many are passed daily by pedestrian and vehicular traffic unaware of a location's unique significance. California has been the residence for many notorious individual and serial killers including the Zodiac, Ted 'Unabomber' Kaczynski, Dan White, Charles Manson, Sirhan Sirhan, Jim Jones, Richard Allen Davis, David Carpenter, Menendez Brothers, Juan Corona, Rodney Alcala, Phil Spector, Juan Corona, Richard Ramirez and Scott Peterson. The media has renamed some such as the Trailside Killer, Co-ed Killer, Children of Thunder, Vampire of Sacramento, Zebra Killers and the Death House Landlady. The region has also buried notables among the profiled victims including Senator Robert Kennedy, San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, Supervisor Harvey Milk, Mobster Bugsy Siegel, Black Panther Huey P. Newton, Journalist Chauncey Bailey, Nicole Simpson-Brown, Rapper Christopher Wallace a.k.a. Notorious B.I.G., Actors Haing Ngor, Ramon Novarro and Sal Mineo, Singers Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke, Polly Klaas, Lacy Peterson and members from the People's Temple Massacre in Jonestown, Guyana and Heaven's Gate cult suicide in Rancho Santa Fe. 'The Murder in California' edition is segmented into nine categories including assassinations, abductions, historical legacies, reckless homicides, chance encounters and manslaughters, law enforcement fatalities and controversies, unsolved murders, rampage and serial killers. An extensive listing of fatality victims is included along with convicted and deceased killers. Each living convict still registered within the California and other state penal systems is identified by their respective current penitentiary residence. A paperback edition is available through Amazon.com and in electronic format via the Amazon Kindle online store. Supplementary videos on numerous prominent chapters are available on YouTube.com and Vimeo.com. For further information regarding Marquis Publishing, visit MurderInCalifornia.com and InsiderSeriesBooks.com.

Annenberg Center Live opens its dance season with four performances from Urban Bush Women. This legendary all-female dance troupe performs this weekend, October 22-24 as part of Dance @ Annenberg Center Live and the Annenberg Center's African Roots, American Voices programming series. Tickets cost $20 - $50.  Tickets are available online at AnnenbergCenter.org or by phone at 215.898.3900. The Annenberg Center is located at 3680 Walnut Street.

Annenberg Center Live opens its dance season with four performances from Urban Bush Women. This legendary all-female dance troupe performs October 22-24 as part of Dance @ Annenberg Center Live and the Annenberg Center's African Roots, American Voices programming series. Tickets cost $20 - $50.  Tickets are available online at AnnenbergCenter.org or by phone at 215.898.3900. The Annenberg Center is located at 3680 Walnut Street.

Marcus Center Presents series, sponsored by Envoy Restaurant and Lounge, will celebrate the Holidays with the powerful voice of Darlene Love in Love the Holidays, on Tuesday, December 15 at 7:30 pm in Uihlein Hall. Tickets go on sale today, September 25 at 12:00 pm.

Marcus Center Presents series, sponsored by Envoy Restaurant and Lounge, will celebrate the Holidays with the powerful voice of Darlene Love in Love the Holidays, on Tuesday, December 15 at 7:30 pm in Uihlein Hall. Tickets go on sale this Friday, September 25 at 12:00 pm. Tickets can be purchased at the Marcus Center Box Office at 929 North Water Street, online at Ticketmaster.com or MarcusCenter.org or by phone at 414-273-7206. Groups 10 or more SAVE! and should call Group Sales at 414-273-7121 x210.

Richmond CenterStage today announced the return of its acclaimed U.S. TRUST Life is a Cabaret Series: A Celebration of the American Songbook for its fifth season.

Z2 Entertainment will present An Evening with George Winston at the Boulder Theater on Wednesday, December 23rd, 2015. Tickets are on sale August 28th for $25 balcony, $35 reserved or $45 gold circle. 

The Marcus Center for the Performing Arts announces the Marcus Center Presents and Off Broadway series for the 2015/16 season which is sponsored by Envoy. Flex packages will be available through the Marcus Center Box Office starting on Thursday, August 27.