Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke, by Peter Guralnick (2006)
Guralnick, one of the best biographers in the business, is most well known for his exhaustive biography of Elvis Presley. But this biography of Sam Cooke certainly stands up to his Elvis biography. This book covers Sam Cooke in all of his complexities.
You Send Me: The Life and Times of Sam Cooke, by Daniel Wolff (1996)
This is yet another well-written, well-researched biography of Sam Cooke.