HYMN FOR MY SOUL: REMEMBERING JOE COCKER I know you! Youre the president of the Ray Charles Fan Club! So said Blitz Magazine Editor/Publisher Michael McDowell to Sheffield, South Yorkshire native and vocalist extraordinaire John Robert Joe Cocker, upon meeting him for the first time backstage after a live concert performance in the late 1970s, where he had shared the bill with Atlantic label recording artist Jay Boy Adams. The genial, gregarious and most gracious Cocker warmly welcomed the suggestion and responded at length how Charles one of a kind musical persona was a major inspiration in his own mission statement. That mission statement included a brief stint with the Cavaliers in 1960, where he performed primarily Lonnie Donegan-inspired material and continued to develop and perfect his capabilities as a world class soul shouter. By 1961, he had adapted the stage name Vance Arnold, inspired by ABC Paramount Records rockabilly legend Vince Everett and country music pioneer Eddy Arnold. With his band, the Avengers, Cocker as Arnold featured covers of Ray Charles and Chuck Berry material in his set. By 1964 he felt confident enough in his capabilities to cut his first single, Ill Cry Instead under his own name. After a years sabbatical from music, Cocker reemerged in 1966 fronting the Grease Band. By 1968, they had firmly established themselves with a faithful and inspiring cover of Joe Browns With A Little Help From My Friends. Seeing his enormous potential, A&M Records in the United States signed Cocker, who over the next several years firmly established himself alongside John Fred, Mitch Ryder, Monkees drummer Micky Dolenz, and the Animals Eric Burdon as one of the worlds leading soul shouters, with such first rate singles as his definitive rendition of Traffics Feelin Alright, plus Delta Lady, She Came In Through The Bathroom Window, a cover of the Arbors/Box Tops classic The Letter, You Are So Beautiful (which also found its way into the repertoires of both the Beach Boys and Billy Preston, who co-authored the song with Cocker) and the utterly stupendous High Time We Went. Cockers 1970 Mad Dogs And Englishmen for A&M is also widely regarded as one of the greatest live albums in all of rock and roll. Cocker and his wife, Pam Baker in recent years had relocated to their duly named Mad Dog Ranch in Crawford, Colorado. Cocker continued to tour and perform regularly, releasing the acclaimed Fire It Up album in 2012. Sadly, not long after its release, he contracted lung cancer, which finally claimed his life on 22 December 2014. Cocker was 70. Cocker was of course also one of the featured artists in the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival in New York. In 1994, Cocker joined in the celebration of the festivals twenty-fifth anniversary, where he turned in a tour de force rendition of his aforementioned, self-penned (with Chris Stainton) 1971 monster classic, High Time We Went. Although his See you again in 2019 benediction at songs end is now sadly ironic, herein Cocker nonetheless irrefutably underscores that the accolades which have long been afforded him were most assuredly justified: https://youtube/watch?v=sm_k3oQsIrA
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 01:12:35 +0000
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