Soul music open in acknowledging the influence of Pilgrim Travelers vocalist Jesse Whitaker on his singing style. Little Richard, who inspired Otis Redding, and James Brown both were equally influential. Brown was nicknamed the "Godfather of Soul Music", and Richard proclaimed himself as the "King of Rockin' and Rollin', Rhythm and Blues Soulin'", because his music embodied elements of all three, and since he inspired artists in all three genres. Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson also are often acknowledged as soul forefathers. Cooke became popular as the lead singer of the gospel group The Soul Stirrers, before controversially moving into secular music.
The Godfather Returns and Tom Hagen join the family business, as well as the deaths of Pete Clemenza and Sal Tessio. "The Godfather Returns" was followed by "The Godfather's Revenge" in 2006, also written by Winegardner. In the 1990s, Puzo had been approached to write a sequel to "The Godfather;" he declined, but stated that he would not object to a sequel being written by another author after he had died. Several years after Puzo's 1999 death, Random House held a contest to select a potential author: entrants were required to write a synopsis of their proposed book along with a completed sample