Eddie Cochran

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Eddie Cochran

Eddie Cochran (* 3. October 1938 in Albert Lea , Minnesota as Ray Edward Cochrane ; † 17th April 1960 in Bath , UK in a car accident) was an American rock 'n' roll - and rockabilly musician. Within his short career he had success with songs like Summertime Blues and C'mon Everybody .

Life

Beginnings

The singer and guitarist, who played guitar since he was twelve, began his career in 1954 as part of the Cochran Brothers , but was not related to his partner Hank Cochran ; rather, he dropped the "e" in the surname to match the prevailing preference for hillbilly duos at the time. A record deal with the American Music Corporation led to the first single releases and television appearances in 1955. The duo separated in 1956 and Cochran worked from then on with the composer Jerry Capehart .

Career

Eddie Cochran - Summertime Blues

The first demo recordings were made on April 4, 1956 in Hollywood's Gold Star Studios , where all of Cochran's big hits were later produced. After appearances in the films The Girl Can't Help It (in which he presented his famous Twenty Flight Rock and which was released in US theaters on December 1, 1956) and Ripe Blossoms (May 10, 1957), Eddie Cochran had his 1957 first chart success with the piece Sittin 'in the Balcony from the pen of John D. Loudermilk . This was followed by an Australian tour with Gene Vincent and Little Richard . The musician had his biggest hit in 1958 with Summertime Blues . This rock song about the needs of a US teenager who works in the summer vacation, is not allowed to use his parents' car and longs for a vacation, is still very well known today, not only because it has the "most erotic guitar riff of all" ( Crawdaddy ), but also through the numerous cover versions of other bands, of which the Who , Blue Cheer and Stray Cats are particularly noteworthy. There are two versions of the Eddie Cochran version in circulation; one with the correct end and one with a later blinded end.

After the death of Buddy Holly , Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper in 1959, Cochran recorded the tribute song Three Stars , which was only released after his own death.

Memorial plaque at Rowden Hill, Chippenham

Eddie Cochran had an accident in April 1960, one day after the end of a tour of Great Britain that he was doing with his friend Gene Vincent , during a taxi ride from Bristol to London between Bath and Chippenham (old A4) when a tire burst on the vehicle and the car hit a lamppost. He died of his head injuries 16 hours after the accident at St. Martins Hospital in Bath. Gene Vincent suffered a broken collarbone, several broken ribs and another leg injury. Manager Pat Thomkins and the 19-year-old taxi driver were unharmed. Cochran's girlfriend Sharon Sheeley suffered a fractured pelvis. The police student and later musician Dave Dee recorded the accident at the time. The musician was buried on April 25th in Glendale , California . The recently recorded song with the tragically ironic title Three Steps to Heaven became a posthumous number 1 hit in the UK.

Since Sid Vicious sang Swindle Something Else and C'mon Everybody in The Great Rock 'n' Roll in 1979 , Eddie Cochran has also been considered an early forerunner of punk rock . It is noteworthy that Eddie Cochran's loyal fan base could still expect "new" releases into the 21st century. Unpublished recordings have been tracked down in the archives of recording studios or radio and television stations around the world since the early 1970s and published on the British fan label Rockstar Records .

In 1987 Eddie Cochran was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame .

Discography

US albums

  • Singin 'to my Baby (Liberty LRP 3061) November 1957

Chart placements

All albums only entered the British charts posthumously . Except for Singin 'to My Baby , all albums are best-of albums or compilations .

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)
Remarks
UK UK
1960 Singin 'to my baby UK19 (2 weeks)
UK
the only studio album that was made during Cochran's lifetime
Eddie Cochran Memorial Album UK9 (30 weeks)
UK
1963 Cherished Memories UK15 (3 weeks)
UK
Singin 'to my baby UK15 (3 weeks)
UK
1970 The Very Best of Eddie Cochran UK34 (3 weeks)
UK
1979 The Eddie Cochran Singles Album UK39
silver
silver

(6 weeks)UK
1988 C'mon Everybody UK53 (3 weeks)
UK
2008 The very best of UK31 (3 weeks)
UK

US singles

The Cochran Brothers:

  • Mr. Fiddle / Two Blue Singin 'Stars (EKKO 1003), June 1955
  • Your Tomorrows Never Come / Guilty Conscience (EKKO 1004), July 1955
  • Walkin 'Stick Boogie / Rollin (Cash 1021) January 1956
  • Tired and Sleepy / Fool's Paradise (EKKO 3001), June 1956

Eddie Cochran:

  • Skinny Jim / Half Loved (Crest 1026), July 1956
  • Dark Lonely Street / Sittin 'in the Balcony (Liberty 55056), March 1957 / January 1957
  • One Kiss / Mean When I'm Mad , (Liberty 55070), March 1957
  • Drive-In Show / Am I Blue , (Liberty 55087), May 1957
  • Twenty Flight Rock / Cradle Baby (Liberty 55112), November 1957
  • Jeannie, Jeannie, Jeannie / Pocketful of Hearts , (Liberty 55123), January 12, 1958
  • Teresa / Pretty Girl (Liberty 55138), May 1958
  • Love Again / Summertime Blues (Liberty 55144) March 28, 1958 (June 1958)
  • C'mon Everybody / Don't Ever Let Me Go (Liberty 55166), October 10, 1958 / July 7, 1958
  • Teenage Heaven / I Remember (Liberty 55177) January 17, 1959
  • Somethin 'Else / Boll Weevil Song (Liberty 55203), June 23, 1959
  • Hallelujah! I Love Her So / Little Angel (Liberty 55217), August 31, 1959 / October 23, 1959
  • Cut Across Shorty / Three Steps to Heaven (Liberty 55242), March 1960
  • Lonely / Sweetie Pie (Liberty 55278), August 1960

Chart placements

year Title
album
Top ranking, total weeks / months, awardChart placementsChart placementsTemplate: chart table / maintenance / monthly data
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks / months, awards, notes)
Remarks
DE DE AT AT UK UK US USTemplate: chart table / maintenance / charts non-existent
1957 Sittin 'in the balcony - - - US18 (13 weeks)
US
Author: Johnny Dee
Drive in show - - - US82 (6 weeks)
US
Author: Fred Dexter
1958 Jeannie, Jeannie, Jeannie - - UK31 (4 weeks)
UK
US94 (1 week)
US
Author: Ricky Page
Summertime Blues a DE25 (2 weeks)
DE
AT18 (1 month)
AT
UK18 (14 weeks)
UK
US8 (16 weeks)
US
Authors: Eddie Cochran, Jerry Capeheart
Song That Shaped Rock and Roll / Grammy Hall of Fame (1999) / 74th place of the Rolling Stone 500
C'mon Everybody - - UK6 (20 weeks)
UK
US35 (12 weeks)
US
Authors: Eddie Cochran, Jerry Capeheart
Song That Shaped Rock and Roll / Place 411 of the Rolling Stone 400
1959 Teenage Heaven - - - US99 (1 week)
US
Authors: Eddie Cochran, Jerry Capeheart
from the movie Go, Johnny, Go!
Somethin 'Else b - - UK22 (4 weeks)
UK
US58 (9 weeks)
US
Authors: Eddie Cochran, Sharon Sheeley
in UK including a chart week in 1988 (100th place)
1960 Hallelujah I Love Her So - - UK22 (4 weeks)
UK
-
Original / Author: Ray Charles
Three steps to heaven - - UK1 (15 weeks)
UK
-
Author: Eddie Cochran
entered the charts less than a month after Cochran's death
Sweetie pie - - UK38 (3 weeks)
UK
-
Authors: Eddie Cochran, Jerry Capeheart
Lonely - - UK41 (1 week)
UK
-
Author: Sharon Sheeley
1961 Weekend - - UK15 (16 weeks)
UK
-
Authors: Bill Post, Doree Post
1963 My way - - UK23 (10 weeks)
UK
-
Authors: Eddie Cochran, Jerry Capeheart

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

a Summertime Blues was in the charts in 1958 only in Great Britain (6 weeks) and the USA, in 1968 the single was placed in Germany and Austria and another 8 weeks in Great Britain (highest position 34th)
b C'mon Everybody made it to the UK charts twice: 1959 for 13 weeks (6th place) and in 1988 for 7 weeks (14th place)

literature

  • Bobby Cochran with Susan Van Hecke: Three steps to heaven: The Eddie Cochran Story . Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard 2003. ISBN 0-634-03252-6 .
  • Julie Mundy and Darrel Higham: Don't forget me: The Eddie Cochran Story . Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing Company 2000. ISBN 0-8230-7931-7 .

swell

  1. a b Chart sources: Germany Austria UK USA
  2. a b BPI gold / platinum database (Great Britain)
  3. Top Pop Singles 1955-2006 by Joel Whitburn , 11th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-172-1 .
  4. a b 500 Songs That Shaped Rock , copy from infoplease, accessed on May 27, 2018
  5. ^ Grammy Hall of Fame , grammy.com, accessed May 27, 2018
  6. a b 74. Eddie Cochran, 'Summertime Blues' / 411. Eddie Cochran, 'C'mon Everybody' in 500 Greatest Songs of All Time , Rolling Stone, 2010 Edition, accessed May 27, 2018

Web links

Commons : Eddie Cochran  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files