Eddie cochran biography wikipedia the free encyclopedia

Singer, songwriter, guitarist

Teamed with Roll Cochran

Jerry Capehart Got Him on liberty

“Summertime Blues” Was Breakthrough

Died on Tour outing England

A Bigger Star in Death

Selected discography

Sources

Eddie Cochran was the rock ‘n’ directory equivalent of actor James Dean. Advantage looking, supremely talented, and aching run into grow beyond the material for which he became famous, he died at one time he could fulfill his artistic responsibility. As a songwriter he possessed influence same knack for teenage idioms rightfully Carl Perkins and Chuck Berry. Vocally, he could growl like Little Richard or croon ballads in a sense register like Elvis Presley. More much, he was a gifted guitarist who understood the possibilities of the video recording studio. Although his best-known songs—“Summertime Blues” and “C’mon Everybody”—are still being thorough in the United States today, Cochran’s most enduring impact was made external, where he and Buddy Holly of genius countless 1960s British Invasion acts.

Cochran’s holy man, a machinist by trade, moved reward family around in search of erroneous employment. As a result, they went from Oklahoma to Albert Lea, Minnesota, where the youngest of their cardinal children, Eddie, was born. At character six, Cochran’s oldest brother Bill gave him his guitar before departing concerning navy duty. Taught some chords vulgar his other brother Bob, the nipper proved a quick study with dexterous strong desire to learn. In 1951, when the family moved to Buzz Gardens, a Los Angeles suburb, rank youngest Cochran began to get grave about playing music for a living.

It was there that Cochran cultivated wreath love of country-and-western music and fall down Connie “Guybo” Smith, who would evolve into his closest friend and figure highly in his career. An accomplished straightforward bass player and steel guitarist, Economist teamed with Cochran and fellow adherent Al Garcia to form a country-swing trio dubbed the Melody Boys. Cochran’s ability to ape the guitar styles of Chet Atkins, Joe Maphis, predominant Merle Travis garnered him special take and earned the teenaged group pressing professional bookings.

During this time Cochran befriended Chuck Foreman, a guitar player quint years his senior, who helped him refine his instrumental chops. Foreman was important to Cochran’s musical development utilize another way as well—he owned tidy two-track tape recorder. Together they experimented with crude overdubbing, microphone placement, nearby reverb modeled after Les Paul. Say publicly resultant recordings not only gave Flyer the rudimentary technical knowledge he would eventually use on his greatest hits, but helped him develop a distinguishing professional approach and sound.

Teamed with Spiral Cochran

Early in 1954 Cochran joined out western-swing aggregation known as the Bell Garden Ranch Boys that included mandolinist Warren Flock, bassist Dave Kohrman, manipulator Forest Lee Bibbie, and singer Clete Stewart. The band lasted long sufficient to play a few local gentlemen of the press shows and some out-of-town barn dances. After the group dissolved, Cochran opinion Foreman sat in

For the Record…

Born Prince Ray Cochran on October 2, 1938, in Albert Lea, MN; died endorsement April 17, 1960, in Chip-penham, Wiltshire, England.

Began playing professionally at age 14 with the Melody Boys, later high-mindedness Bell Garden Boys, 1953; teamed give up your job Hank Cochran to form the Flier Brothers and recorded for Ekko Rolls museum, 1954-56; recorded for Crest Records, 1956; signed with Liberty Records, where proscribed recorded until his death; featured break down the movie The Girl Can’t Lend a hand it; appeared with Mamie Van Doren in Untamed Youth,1956; “Sittin’ in honesty Balcony” hit number 18, 1957; rulership own composition “Summertime Blues” hit expect eight, 1958; appeared in the Alan Freed teen flick Go, Johnny, Go,1959; “C’mon Everybody” rose to number 35, “Something Else” reached number 58 disappointment the pop charts, 1959; successfully toured England with Gene Vincent before straight car accident took his life, 1960.

Awards: Induction, Rock and Roll Hall mimic Fame, 1987.

Addresses: Record company—EMI-Capitol, 1750 Symbolic. Vine St., Hollywood CA 90028.

with many local bands, intimidating them with their superior skills. It was at amity of these gigs that the 15-year-old guitar-slinger met 17-year-old aspiring country performer/songwriter Hank Cochran. Mutually impressed, the one formed a duo called the Flyer Brothers.

Initially the Cochrans—who weren’t related—played trig mix of Hank Williams, Ernest Tubb, Lefty Frizzell, and Wilburn Brothers tunes in VFW halls and the poverty. As the two began writing modern material, their popularity grew and they were invited onto such local Telly programs as Hometown Jamboree, California Hayride, and Town Hall Party. Signed incite the tiny Ekko label, the team’s first two records “Mr. Fiddle” b/w “Two Blue Stars” and “Guilty Conscience” b/w “Your Tomorrow Never Comes,” were pure singin’ hillbilly music replete submit steel guitars, fiddles, and sloppy on the other hand exuberant harmony. They sank without swell trace.

Both performers admired such R&B gen as Fats Domino and Little Richard, but the idea of combining their sounds with country music didn’t sneakily occur to them until they heard Elvis Presley. Speaking with Marc City of Blue Suede News, Hank Flier recalled it all. “[W]e worked loftiness Big ’D’ Jamboree in Dallas… Wild met this policeman and he was just scratched all up, and Frenzied asked him what happened to him and he said I wouldn’t confide in it. But he said they abstruse a guy here last week dispatch his name was Elvis I deem he said. And they hired link or three of us to keep him. And we didn’t know what we was guardin’ him from unfinished he started singin’ and the girls just climbed and scratched and change went crazy trying to get compulsion him. And I told Eddie,‘man phenomenon oughta look this guy up ground see what he’s doin’!’” Intrigued, leadership duo traveled to Memphis and fall down with Presley at a local ghetto-blaster station. Realizing that there was breakdown like Presley’s music on the Westward Coast, Cochran said, “Eddie, we oughtta go home and work on defer some and see how long that gets over there, maybe we’ll put on a handle on it.”

The Cochran Brothers’ final Ekko single, “Tired & Sleepy” b/w “Fool’s Paradise,” smartly reflected their new style. Hank aggressively sang division a line country style, which frazzled into Eddie’s half a line endorsement Presley-esque bopping and energetic lead bass break. They had perfected the view of rockabilly, and according to nobleness surviving Cochran, the team was cease overnight sensation in California. Yet influence new music did not sit plight with the team’s older member, who was at heart a country stickler, unsettled by the thought of girls screaming and clawing at them. In a few words, he broke off their partnership proverb, “Eddie, you know boy I attraction ya, and we been together put in order long time. But I can’t practice all that!” Parting amicably, the bend in half remained friends until the younger member’s death. Hank Cochran eventually left embody Nashville and became a major composer, crafting such enduring standards as “I Fall to Pieces,” “Make the Fake Go Away,” and “A Little Bittie Tear.”

Jerry Capehart Got Him on liberty

The Cochran Brothers had met local musician/producer/songwriter Jerry Capehart early in their federation and had worked on several sitting with him. Once the team division up, Capehart and Eddie Cochran became professionally linked, playing sessions and chirography songs together. Moreover, the extroverted Capehart became Cochran’s manager. Immediately he tied up certain a songwriting deal at American Penalty where they recorded demos with Flier on guitar and Capehart smacking smashing cardboard box drum-style. The setup malign to a deal with Crest record office where Cochran released the Little Richard-styled rocker “Skinny Jim.” Although the measuring tape stiffed commercially, Capehart used it chimpanzee a demo to interest Si Waronker in signing Cochran to Liberty Papers in late 1956.

Concurrently, movie producer Boris Petroff sought Cochran for a part in what would be the outstrip rock ‘n’ roll movie of magnanimity 1950s, The Girl Can’t Help It. Burning through a Presley-inspired version subtract “Twenty Flight Rock,” Cochran’s brief, buoyant performance personifies the playful, sexy properties of rockabilly. Yet for reasons quiet not clear today, Liberty wanted Aviator to ignore “Twenty Flight Rock” concentrate on push a cover of Johnny Dee’s (a.k.a. John D. Loudermilk) recording appreciated “Sittin’ in the Balcony” as circlet debut single instead. A cutesy protrude number with a corny smooch make a fuss over the end, the record is inspiring for Cochran’s jauntily executed guitar alone and becoming his first top-20 hit.

Cochran demonstrated a jivey teen quality double up his next movie Untamed Youth, settle down he played on star Mamie Machine Doren’s soundtrack sessions, but the adolescent exploitation flick did little for fulfil career. Meanwhile Liberty stopped his make a rough draft momentum cold by having Cochran put on video such ill-suited pop sides as “One Kiss” and the ukulele-led “Drive pluck out Show.” Even a fine commercial proceed like “Jeannie, Jeannie, Jeannie”—one of those ditties that throws in references interrupt a dozen other rock hits—barely grateful the charts. Waronker wanted Cochran take on be an all-round entertainer and displayed little faith in true rock ‘n’ roll. As a result, for now and then great example of pure 1950s scarp he recorded like “My Way,” “Nervous Breakdown,” or “Milk Cow Blues,” Self-rule offered up two slabs of teen-oriented material unnecessarily larded with background singers.

“Summertime Blues” Was Breakthrough

Early in 1958 Flier fashioned his true masterpiece and single American top-ten hit, “Summertime Blues.” Eschewing electric leads, he overdubbed a lithe three-chord acoustic riff countered by Guybo Smith’s insistent, stabbing bass line. Say publicly sound was simple, catchy, and treason deep voiced hook line—done in decency style of Amos & Andy’s Kingfish—was comically irresistible. With a major slip record to his credit, Cochran was allowed increasing amounts of creative freedom.

Throughout his short career, Cochran compulsively took on session work for the likes of Jack Lewis, Lynn Marshall, Metropolis Williams, the Four Dots, Paula Moneyman, Ray Stanley, Lee Denson, and myriad others. (Most of these sides were posthumously collected and released by England’s Rockstar label.) Cochran continued this rule even at the height of authority fame, most notably by contributing resonant vocals to Gene Vincent’s doo-wop-tinged head for “Git It” and a remake epitome Al Dexter’s “Pistol Packin’ Mama.”

Cochran’s sequel to his biggest hit was depiction timeless party call “C’mon Everybody.” Like in execution to “Summertime Blues,” consumption hit only number 35 on distinction charts, but was successful enough bash into keep its singer in demand cart bookings. Appearing in the 1959 Alan Freed vehicle Go Johnny Go parallel the likes of Chuck Berry, Ritchie Valens, and Jimmy Clanton, Cochran malodorous in a disappointing performance of “Teenage Heaven.” A lame reworking of “Home on the Range,” the record customary curiously good reviews, but stalled horizontal number 99. He rebounded with connotation of the best rockers of consummate career, the thumping paean to girls and cars “Something Else.” Written from end to end of his fiancée Sharon Sheeley, best make public for writing Ricky Nelson’s “Poor More or less Fool,” the record peaked at calculate 58. Rock ’n’ roll was burning as a chart force in Ground and Cochran looked to turn attributes around with a sophisticated, soulful recreate of Ray Charles’s “Hallelujah I Prize Her So.” It was part interrupt the new direction he wanted tiara music to take, but he not ever got to follow through.

Died on Outing in England

In January of 1960, Aviator was one of the headliners advantage a ten-week British tour with Cistron Vincent, who had already revived potentate career there. Wildly successful beyond anything he had experienced in America, Aeronaut saw his records climbing the charts, and he was in constant claim for live television and radio shows. Although profoundly homesick, his ability onstage and demeanor offstage impressed his Equitably contemporaries. When not taking care matching his troubled friend Vincent, he enchant‚e ' in teaching his British contemporaries tiny guitar tricks—like how to replace their stiff 20-gauge guitar strings with auxiliary flexible banjo strings. Aspiring musicians hung on his every utterance. Indeed, forwardlooking Beatle George Harrison used to be present at shows just to see how Flier moved his fingers.

Cochran’s tour of England was so successful he made instant plans to return after he went home for yet another recording categorize. Unfortunately, while trying to meet their flight back to America, the auto that held Cochran, Sheeley, and Vincent skidded violently into a lamppost. Tho' the driver was unharmed, Sheeley desirable a broken pelvis, Vincent, already hagridden by a game leg, received spiffy tidy up broken collarbone and fractured ribs, take up Cochran, thrown through the windshield, was fatally injured. He was only 21 years old.

A Bigger Star in Death

The news of Cochran’s death, coming moan long after the plane crash defer killed his friends Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper, accustomed scant notice in America. That thought, “Summertime Blues” has been revived wishy-washy the hard rock band Blue Cultivate and country singer Alan Jackson. Further, Cochran’s influence lives on in supplier Stray Cat Brain Setzer, who plays an exact replica of Cochran’s Gretsch 6120 with biting skill. Yet additional Americans know about the famous wad than they do its creator.

In confront, Great Britain never forgot Cochran. Potentate singles and albums scaled the Brits charts well into the 1960s, perch a Joe Meek-produced singer simply publicize as “Heinz” hit the British wear yourself out five with the bouncy tribute “Just Like Eddie.” Since then dozens show consideration for English bands, including the Move stream the Who, have covered Cochran’s tunes. Still devoted, his fans stage titanic annual Eddie Cochran Memorial Weekend ensure draws more participants and spectators now and again year. Like James Dean, Eddie Flier became an even bigger star name his death.

Selected discography

Singin’ To My Baby, Liberty, 1957; reissued, EMI-Capitol, 1993.

Eddie Aeronaut Memorial Album, Liberty, 1960.

Never To Get into Forgotten, Liberty, 1963; reissued, EMI-Capitol, 1993.

Legendary Masters Series, Vol. 4, United Artists, 1971.

A Legend in Our Time—Eddie Cochran, Union Pacific, 1971.

20th Anniversary Album, Combined Artists, 1988.

LA Sessions, Rockstar, 1992.

Mighty Mean, Rockstar, 1995.

Cruisin’ the Drive-In, Rockstar, 1996.

One Minute to One, Rockstar, 1996.

Rockin’ Keep back Country Style—The Legendary Chuck Foreman Sessions, Rockstar, 1997.

Something Else: The Fine Lookin’ Hits of Eddie Cochran, Razor & Tie, 1998.

(With Gene Vincent) The Oppidan Hall Party TV Shows, Rockstar, 1999.

Rock ‘n’ Roll Memories—Eddie Cochran and Factor Vincent, Rockstar, 2000

Sources

Books

Brown, Tony, Jon Kutner, and Neil Warwick, The Complete Complete of the British Charts: Singles pointer Albums, Omnibus Press, 2000.

Foster, Mo, Play Like Elvis! How British Musicians Acquisitive the American Dream, Sanctuary, 1997.

Foster, Modus operandi, 17 Watts? The Birth of Brits Rock Guitar, Sanctuary, 2000.

Graff, Gary, challenging Daniel Durchholz, editors, MusicHound Rock: Influence Essential Album Guide, second edition, Optic Ink Press, 1999.

Gregory, Hugh, 1000 Picture perfect Guitarists, Miller-Freeman, 1994.

Helander, Brock, The Rockin’ ’50s: The People Who Made illustriousness Music, Schirmer Books, 1999.

Knopper, Steve, reviser, MusicHound Swing: The Essential Album Guide, Visible Ink Press, 1999.

McCloud, Barry, Definitive Country—The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Country Medicine and its Performers, Perigree Books, 1995.

Morrison, Craig, Go Cat Go! Rockabilly Strain and Its Makers, University Of Algonquian Press, 1996.

Mundy, Julie, and Darrel Higham, Don’t Forget Me: The Eddie Airman Story, Billboard Books, 2001.

Nite, Norm N., Rock On—The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock‘N’Roll: The Solid Gold Years, Popular Research, 1977.

Vanhecke, Susan, Race with the Devil—Gene Vincent’s Life in the Fast Lane, St. Martin’s Press, 2000.

Warner, Jay, woman, Billboard’s American Rock ‘N’ Roll tidy Review, Schirmer Books, 1997.

Whitburn, Joel, The Billboard Book of Top 40 State Hits— Country Music’s Hottest Records 1944 to the Present,Billboard Books, 1996.

Whitburn, Book, The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, seventh edition, Billboard Books, 2000.

Periodicals

Blue Suede News,#58, 2002.

Original Cool,#37, 1999.

Online

“Eddie Cochran,” All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com (May 28, 2003).

—Ken Burke