Joe Cocker

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Joe Cocker (2013)

John Robert "Joe" Cocker , OBE (* 20th May 1944 in Sheffield , † 22. December 2014 in Crawford ) was a British rock and blues - singer .

Life

From 1944 to the late 1960s

Cocker with the Grease Band at the Woodstock Festival (1969)

Joe Cocker grew up with a three year older brother Vic in his native Sheffield in West Riding of Yorkshire ; on. He left school at the age of 16. According to press reports, his motor skills are said to have been inhibited by polio, "which resulted in the unique twitching and grasping movements". Cocker himself said that the starting point of his peculiar movements was the orientation towards those of his role model Ray Charles . Elsewhere, he explained that his demeanor stems from the embarrassment of being forced to "stop in one place and do something there" in front of a standing microphone.

The trained gas fitter began his musician career at the age of 15 in several smaller bands in his hometown. His first band was "Vance Arnold and the Avengers" (his stage name was Vance Arnold), which opened a gig by the Rolling Stones . The next band was called "Big Blues" (1963). At that time, Cocker signed a contract with Decca Records , released his first single with the Lennon / McCartney title I'll Cry Instead (1964), stopped working as an installer after five years and finally founded The Grease Band (1966). In 1968 he made it into the UK single charts for the first time with his music. The song Marjorine, which he composed with Chris Stainton , climbed to number 48 in May '68.

His big breakthrough came at the end of 1968 with a cover version of the Beatles song With a Little Help from My Friends , No. 1 in the United Kingdom , No. 3 in Germany. At first, Cocker cared very negligently about finances and contracts the same year had to complete a 56-day US tour, although he had just separated from his band and could hardly benefit financially due to the contractual conditions. His managers had him perform at numerous festivals to promote him.

In August 1969 he opened the third day of the Woodstock Festival . His emotionally wriggling and twitching stage gestures, which he used in front of the microphone, became his trademark from then on. During the guitar solo of With a Little Help from My Friends , he unconsciously recreated the music with his bare hands and thus shaped the forms of movement of the air guitar . Also in 1969 he appeared on Ed Sullivan's television show in the United States .

In the 1970s

Cocker (1970)

A large part of his other record successes were cover versions such as She Came In Through the Bathroom Window , also by the Beatles, or The Letter by The Box Tops , both in 1970. Cocker had other early hits with Cry Me a River (1970), im Originally written in 1955 by Julie London , Dave Masons Feelin 'Alright (1969/1972) and You Are so Beautiful (1974) written by Billy Preston and Bruce Fisher , all of which are in the top 40 in the US, some as live versions -Billboard charts could be placed.

An important songwriter for Cocker was Leon Russell , who composed, among other things, the British top ten hit Delta Lady for him in 1969, organized the tour known as Mad Dogs & Englishmen and was also part of the band as a guitarist and keyboardist . During this 56-day tour across the USA, from Detroit to San Bernardino (California) , Cocker and a big band of 40 musicians recorded the live album of the same name in 1970 , which reached number 16 on the LP charts in Great Britain . This tour was also made into a film and was released as a concert film with the same title.

Together with bassist Chris Stainton, also born in Sheffield in 1944 , Cocker also wrote his own songs. Stainton was a member of Cocker's early bands, was part of the live formation at the Woodstock Festival and on the Mad Dogs & Englishmen Tour, and was involved in almost all recordings up to and including the 1972 album Something to Say . During this collaboration, songs such as High Time We Went (No. 22 in the USA), Pardon Me Sir and Woman to Woman were created , whose groove and distinctive piano riff were sampled by 2Pac in its 1996 top hit California Love .

Cocker in Dublin (1980)

In the early 1970s, Cocker had problems with various addictive substances, which had a negative impact on the quality and sales of his music. After his first successes, he soon had money problems again. Cocker also said he forgot a $ 100,000 check in a pair of jeans his mother had washed in the washing machine. He also didn't bother to get a replacement check because he was a drug addict.

For years he didn’t record anything, but toured permanently to pay his bills. Psychological problems often made his concerts a risk and in 1974 even led to a stay in prison. Because of this detention due to various crimes (including drug offenses and bodily harm), a concert in Vienna could not take place.

Since the 1980s

In 1981 he entered into a cooperation with the Crusaders . He released the track I'm So Glad I'm Standing Here Today and the album Sheffield Steel (1982). In the following years, Cocker landed several big chart hits like When The Night Comes (US # 11), N'oubliez jamais , Unchain My Heart (by Bobby Sharp ) or Up Where We Belong in a duet with Jennifer Warnes (# 1 in the USA, 7 in UK, 6 in D). Randy Newman's You Can Leave Your Hat On became world famous in Cocker's 1986 version. The song was played in the US erotic film for 9½ weeks .

Also in 1987 there was collaboration with the German rock singer and composer Klaus Lage and the singer, composer, songwriter and lyricist Diether Dehm . Among other things, the title song Now, That You're Gone was created for the WDR cinema production Zabou . In 1988, Cocker was one of the few Western musicians who were allowed to perform twice in front of a total of 170,000 people in the GDR , namely in Berlin and Dresden , where the Cockerwiese has been popularly known since then . In 1989, three days after the fall of the Berlin Wall , he performed at the concert for Berlin . In 1991 Prince wrote him the song Five Women , which Cocker released on his album Night Calls . In 1995 Cocker sang the beer commercial song Sail Away (originally by Hans Hartz ) for the Beck’s brewery in Bremen . In 1996 he appeared in the television production Crossroads with the Kelly Family . Among other things, he presented Up Where We Belong there together with Kathy Kelly .

From the 2000s

In 2002, Cocker appeared with Phil Collins and Brian May at the Party at the Palace , which was held on the occasion of Queen Elizabeth II's golden jubilee .

Cocker with typical stage gestures (2003)

On June 16, 2007, Cocker was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II and on September 22, 2007, during the SWR3 New Pop Festival, he was awarded the “Pioneer of Pop” for his life's work. Also in 2007, Cocker appeared in a supporting role as a tramp, pimp and hippie in the US musical Across the Universe and worked as a film actor for the first time.

The album Hard Knocks , released in October 2010 , hit the top of the German charts straight away. In February 2013 he received the Golden Camera for his life's work. The studio album Fire it up , released in 2012, was followed by an extensive tour that began in the USA in 2012 and led to Europe in 2013. In Germany alone, Cocker played 25 concerts. The concert on April 22, 2013 in the Lanxess Arena in Cologne was later published in full on CD and DVD under the title Fire it up Live . The final concert of the tour and at the same time Cocker's last live performance took place on September 7, 2013 on the open-air stage Loreley near Sankt Goarshausen . In the months that followed, his health deteriorated rapidly. Joe Cocker, who had been a heavy smoker until 1991, died of lung cancer at his Crawford home in December 2014 .

Mad Dog Ranch

On October 11, 1987, Cocker married the American educator Pam Baker, whom he had met in 1979 and then lived in seclusion in Crawford , Colorado, where he ran a ranch called Mad Dog Ranch with almost 100 acres of land. He also owned an ice cream parlor there that his wife ran. In 1999 he and his wife founded a charitable foundation, the "Cocker Kids' Foundation", which is involved in sports, school and cultural projects for children from the district in which Cockers Ranch is located.

Discography

Studio albums

  • With a Little Help from My Friends , 1969
  • Joe Cocker! , 1969
  • Something to Say , 1972
  • I Can Stand a Little Rain , 1974
  • Jamaica Say You Will , 1975
  • Stingray , 1976
  • Luxury You Can Afford , 1978
  • Sheffield Steel , 1982
  • Civilized Man , 1984
  • Cocker , 1986
  • Unchain My Heart , 1987
  • One Night of Sin , 1989
  • Night Calls , 1991
  • Have a Little Faith , 1994
  • Organic , 1996
  • Across from Midnight , 1997
  • No Ordinary World , 1999
  • Respect Yourself , 2002
  • Heart & Soul , 2004
  • Hymn for My Soul , 2007
  • Hard Knocks , 2010
  • Fire It Up , 2012

Awards

such as

literature

  • Petra Zeitz : Joe Cocker . Bastei Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1993, ISBN 3-404-61256-6 .
  • Julian P. Bean: Joe Cocker. The Authorized Biography . Virgin Books, London 2003, ISBN 1-85227-043-8 . Originally as:
  • Julian P. Bean: Joe Cocker. With a Little Help from My Friends. The Authorized Biography . Omnibus Press, London / New York 1990, ISBN 0-7119-2226-8 . German translation:
  • Julian P. Bean: With a Little Help from My Friends. Joe Cocker. Success through hell. Authorized biography . Hannibal-Verlag, Vienna 1991, ISBN 3-85445-064-8 .
  • Christof Graf: Joe Cocker - The biography. With goose bumps through the decades. Hannibal-Verlag, 2nd edition, Höfen 2015, ISBN 978-3-85445-475-5 .

Web links

Commons : Joe Cocker  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ I screamed and the sky opened ; Tagesspiegel, November 7, 2010; accessed on September 23, 2017
  2. ↑ Joe Cocker: The singer who loved not only the Germans ; Rolling Stone v. December 22, 2015
  3. ↑ "Teething Problems of Rock'n'Roll"; Schweriner People's Newspaper v. May 21, 2018
  4. ↑ Why Joe Cocker is rowing his arms like that live; BZ Berlin v. May 20, 2014
  5. ↑ Der Spiegel 36/1997: I was already at the bottom
  6. ↑ a b c everyhit.com , search mask, "Joe Cocker".
  7. ↑ Hit record. German chart singles 1956–1980 . Taurus-Press, ISBN 3-922542-24-7 .
  8. ↑ a b Der Spiegel 36/1997: I was already at the bottom
  9. ^ John McKenna, Michael Moffitt: The Complete Air Guitar Handbook, p. 47 , 1981, Pocket Books, ISBN 978-0-671-49677-7
  10. ↑ Peter Buckley: The Rough Guide to Rock, p. 1763 , 3rd Edition, Rough Guides, 1999, ISBN 978-1-85828-457-6
  11. ↑ Airstory: A record of air guitar history, trivia, and miscellany ( Memento from March 28, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ↑ a b c d e Joel Whitburn: The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits , ISBN 0-8230-7690-3 .
  13. ↑ everyhit.com , search mask, "Joe Cocker", Category: Album.
  14. ↑ tagesspiegel.de: Sunday interview: "I screamed - and the sky opened"
  15. ↑ Hit record. German chart singles 1981–1987 . Taurus-Press, ISBN 3-922542-34-4 .
  16. ^ Culture in the GDR. Exodus and cultural ice age ( Memento from April 23, 2006 in the Internet Archive ). On the side of the Department of Germanic Studies , Trinity College, Dublin , tcd.ie .
  17. ↑ Joe Cocker in the Internet Movie Database .
  18. ↑ Bandsintown.com: Joe Cocker Tour History 2007–2013 ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  19. ↑ Rock singer Joe Cocker is dead , page on www.zeit.de , accessed on December 22, 2014.
  20. ↑ Julian P. Bean: Joe Cocker. The Authorized Biography . Virgin Books, London 2003, ISBN 1-85227-043-8 , p. 171.
  21. ↑ Sales video that shows the ranch in detail in 2016 (accessed January 1, 2020).
  22. ↑ The rock and blues master Joe Cocker as a guest at the NRW local radio stations ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  23. ↑ Joe Cocker, British blues and rock singer Munzinger archive
  24. ↑ Theguardian.com: Joe Cocker, Grammy-winning singer, dies at age of 70 , accessed December 25, 2014.
  25. ↑ "Mojo - Top 100 Singers Of All Time - Issue 66 - May 1999 , accessed December 25, 2014.
  26. ↑ Rolling Stone: "100 Greatest Singers of All Time December 2010 , accessed December 25, 2014.
personal data
SURNAME Cocker, Joe
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cocker, John Robert (real name); Arnold, Vance (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British rock and blues singer
DATE OF BIRTH May 20, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Sheffield , West Riding of Yorkshire , England, United Kingdom
DATE OF DEATH 22nd December 2014
Place of death Crawford , Colorado , United States