Only Sixteen
original song written, composed, and performed by Sam Cooke
"Only Sixteen" is a song by American singer-songwriter Sam Cooke, released in May 1959. It was a top 15 hit on Billboard's Hot R&B Sides chart and also charted within the top 30 of the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart. In the UK it was covered, and taken to No. 1, by Craig Douglas.
Background
"Only Sixteen" was inspired by the sixteenth birthday of Lou Rawls's stepsister, Eunice. It was originally intended for actor Steve Rowland, who often hung around the Keen studio. Rowland asked Cooke to write a song for him, and Cooke borrowed the bridge from an earlier song of his, "Little Things You Do". Rowland's manager disliked the result, and Cooke re-recorded it for himself. The composition was originally credited to Barbara Campbell, a pseudonym used for Cooke, Lou Adler and Herb Alpert. Cooke married the real Barbara Campbell in October 1959.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Only Sixteen” is original song written, composed, and performed by Sam Cooke. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Only, Sixteen and original, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “original song written, composed, and performed by Sam Cooke” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q11993869. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1959.
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This entry incorporates text from “Only Sixteen” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.