Considered a pioneer of soul music, Cooke was an American singer of gospel, R&B and pop, who had 29 Top-40 hits from 1957 until he died in 1964. Some of those were “You Send Me,” “A Change is Gonna Come” and “Chain Gang,” Boyd said.
“He is the best vocalist to ever come along — the way that he impacted people on gospel and the R&B side,” Boyd said. “People around the planet sing his music. He’s a musical hero to all of us. He influenced me more than anybody to become a singer.”
Boyd has been doing legends shows, recreating the music of his idol Cooke for more than 25 years. He’s produced more than 200 tribute shows, with Al Wilson and Cuba Gooding Sr. from the group the Main Ingredient in Las Vegas and Laughlin, he said.
“I combine my act with other singers and performers who do imitator acts for Judy Garland, Elvis, Marilyn Monroe and James Brown,” he said.
He got the idea to bring the act to Burbank while he watched the building of the Hampton Inn on Glenoaks Boulevard, he said.
“It caught my attention,” he said. “I never thought about doing a show there.”
In July, he produced a show to raise funds for American soldiers and veterans in July at Stengel Field in Glendale and approached the Hampton Inn hotel management to see if they would provide rooms for the talent and they did. So to reciprocate, Boyd told them he’d like to do a show at the hotel, he said.
