Portrait of a Legend 1951-1964 is a career-spanning 30-track collection of music pioneer Sam Cooke's greatest works, released by ABKCO records for the first time ever as a vinyl double LP. The new release is part of ABKCO's Sam Cooke Remastered Collection, an initiative to offer state of the art editions of restored and remastered Sam Cooke albums.

"The sound quality is, arguably, as close to what Sam Cooke and his fellow musicians heard when the engineer pressed the 'playback' button for the first time after those original sessions," notes Jody Klein, restoration producer for The Sam Cooke Remastered Collection. This luxury gatefold double 180-gram LP collection was pressed at Quality Record Pressings, the world's finest LP manufacturer.

Sam Cooke: Portrait Of A Legend includes all of his essential hits and provides a major overview of a career that has left an everlasting mark on American music that remains indelible today almost 40 years after Cooke's untimely death. ABKCO presents tracks from Cooke's gospel and early R&B career as well as his pop/soul hits from the Specialty and RCA labels and has combined them with the cream of the masters that are part of his own company, Tracey Records. He was one of the first recording stars, black or white, to command this kind of artistic control, the most noteworthy other example at the time being Frank Sinatra.

Sam Cooke: Portrait of a Legend:1951 - 1964 highlights Cooke's astounding command of the gospel idiom when, at age 19, he joined the world renowned Soul Stirrers. With Cooke singing lead, the veteran group recorded "Jesus Gave Me Water," on March 1, 1951 at a session for Specialty Records; Sam Cooke's professional career had begun. More than a half century later, that same song closes this collection that starts with another Soul Stirrers song, "Touch The Hem Of His Garment," that was written by Cooke. After his decision to sing secular music as a solo artist, Cooke began to dominate the charts, starting with "You Send Me," released by Keen Records in 1957. A simultaneous pop and R&B No. 1 smash hit, the career-making song is included in this new retrospective.

Throughout the late 1950's and until the time of his death, Cooke was one of the most popular vocalists in the world with a streak of Top 10 Billboard Pop Chart hits that, of course, began with "You Send Me" and continued through "Chain Gang," "Twistin' The Night Away," "Another Saturday Night" and "Shake," all of which are on Sam Cooke: Portrait of a Legend.