Sam Cooke: Portrait Of A Legend 1951-1964 includes all of his essential hits and provides a definitive overview of a career that has left a lasting mark on American music that remains indelible today over 40 years after Cooke's untimely death.

ABKCO presents tracks from Cooke's gospel and early RnB career as well as his pop/soul hits 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.