Ray Lavender took to his Twitter page last week to announce plans that he will portray Sam Cooke in an upcoming biopic.  The project itself is still in the very early stages of development as writers are working on an adaptation of Peter Guralnick’s 2005 biography of the soul crooner entitled Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke.

The film comes with the blessing of Jody Klein, president of ABKCO Music & Records Inc. AKBCO owns all of the required master recordings and rights for the movie.  Klein’s father, Allen Klein, managed Cooke.

Sam Cooke enjoyed success as a gospel singer earlier in his career before ultimately achieving mainstream success with songs like “Cupid,” “Good Times” and the posthumous protest anthem, “A Change Is Gonna Come.”

Lavender most recently appeared in TV One’s Ultimate Merger. The dating series featured men competing for the affects of Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth. Lavender won the competition.

(Photo: Ben Rose/PictureGroup)