Joe Cocker: singer song-writer dies aged 70: agent
Updated 9 minutes agoTue 23 Dec 2014, 5:56am
Joe Cocker, the raspy-voiced, Grammy-winning singer song-writer, best known for his cover of the Beatles' With A Little Help From My Friends, has died his agent said. He was 70.
Cocker was born in 1944 in Sheffield and began his trade singing in pubs, in a career lasting more than 40 years.
His many other hits included duet Up Where We Belong and You Are so Beautiful.
Cocker's agent Barrie Marshall confirmed his death and said it would be impossible to fill the space he leaves in his friends' hearts.
In a statement, Sony Music said he died "after a hard fought battle with small cell lung cancer".
I just opened my iPad and saw the CNN blurb that Joe Cocker had died. I have all of his music and I'm very sad a great talent is gone. Boomer, I'm so jealous, I always wanted to see Joe Cocker in concert. Rest in peace Joe.
0 Replies
Walter Hinteler
3
Reply
Mon 22 Dec, 2014 02:47 pm
@boomerang,
I saw him in 1963, in a pub. (I must confess that I confused him with Alexis Corner when going there. )
Posted this on the Beatles thread earlier
Joe Cocker's I'll Cry Instead, his first (Decca) record, from 1964, with Big Jim Sullivan and Jimmy Page playing guitars.
Joe Cocker, best known for his cover of the Beatles' With A Little Help From My Friends, has died today, aged 70. RIP
For a while my dad built recording studios and he built one for Leon Russel. Of course, me and my sisters used to try to hang out at his house and they were the nicest people. His friend Emily (of "Sweet Emily" fame) once drove my sister and I, along with our sick cat to the vet. She waited with us and then drove us home.
One time he invited our family to a big concert in Dallas. We all drove down there and somehow ended up on a band bus headed off to a party. Leon, George Harrison, Billy Preston... I forget who all was there. Good times.
Now I am really missing my dad. He was always up to something interesting and surrounded by people who were fun.
Sure? According to a "Guide on British Music of the 60's", "Cocker was persuaded to ditch the rest of the Avengers and recorded The Beatles’ I’ll Cry Instead with backing from session musicians including Big Jim Sullivan and The Ivy League on vocals."
As a first call studio musician in Los Angeles, Russell played on many of the most popular songs of the 1960s, including some by The Byrds, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, Bobby "Boris" Pickett, and Herb Alpert. He can be seen in 1964's T.A.M.I. Show, playing piano with "The Wrecking Crew" (an informal name for the top L.A. session musicians of the 1960s), sporting short, dark, slicked-back hair, in contrast to his later look.[8] Soon after, he was hired as Snuff Garrett's assistant/creative developer, playing on numerous #1 singles, including "This Diamond Ring" by Gary Lewis and the Playboys
Known mostly as a session musician early in his career, as a solo artist he has crossed genres to include rock and roll, blues, and gospel music, playing with artists as varied as Jan & Dean, Gary Lewis, George Harrison, Gram Parsons, Delaney Bramlett, Ringo Starr, Doris Day, Elton John, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton, The Byrds, The Beach Boys, The Ventures, Willie Nelson, Badfinger, Tijuana Brass, Frank Sinatra, The Band, Bob Dylan, J.J. Cale, B.B. King,[7] Dave Mason, Glen Campbell, Joe Cocker and The Rolling Stones.[
Also -- he was working closely with Cocker in the 60s
Quote:
Russell's first commercial success as a songwriter came when Joe Cocker recorded the song "Delta Lady" for his 1969 album, Joe Cocker![8] The album, co-produced and arranged by Russell, reached #11 on the Billboard 200
Well, his onstage contortions started back in the 60's, so I reckon we'd have to look up the data for Sheffield. I don't know what radon poisoning does to a body...
I also saw him in concert once.....loved his voice. He had so many good songs *sigh* I believe only Eric Clapton is still alive from the old "Cream" group.
)
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