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Rocking to fame
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Robert Cocker's rise to the top in rock music is incredible
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BORN JOHN Robert Cocker in Sheffield, England, he began life as a gas fitter for the East Midlands Gas Board.
His first musical foray was in 1959 with the Cavaliers, for whom he played harmonica and drums when he was 15 years old.
With Cocker taking up the vocals, the band renamed itself Vance Arnold and the Avengers. His outfit provided local backup to big names such as the Hollies and the Rolling Stones. Decca offered Cocker a contract in 1964, for which he went on leave from his gas company for six months.
His version of the Beatles' I'll cry instead, failed commercially and Decca dropped him. Cocker refused to give up but went back to his day job.
Grease band
With keyboardist Chris Stainton, guitarists Alan Spenner and Henry McCullough, he formed the Grease Band, which performed in northern England pubs till 1967. Stainton and Cocker recorded a minor hit, Marjorine, following a shift to London.
Teaming up with guests Steve Winwood and Jimmy Page, the Grease Band sang With a little help from my friends, which topped the British charts, touching No. 68 in the U.S.
Incidentally, the track had a blood-curdling scream and remains a rock classic. His rendition of the song at the Woodstock festival, arms flailing wildly, filmed vividly in the movie of the three-day gig, became as typical of him as Pete Townshend's windmill.
The event had made Cocker a star and his appearances on the Ed Sullivan show only increased his popularity. By the year-end, he had two more hits — Leon Russel's Delta Lady and Dave Mason's Feeling Alright.
Russel paired with Cocker on the album, Joe Cocker, which was the Grease Band's swansong, but a major success for the soul singer, reckoned to be the finest Britain has produced.
The famous Mad Dogs and Englishmen was a live double album that hit No. 2 and produced Cry me a river (No. 11) and The Letter (no. 7). Most of the material for this set came from a tour of 60 dates in as many days. That took its toll on Cocker, who was broke and ill at the end of it. Cocker at times was too drunk to remember his lyrics. In Australia, he was arrested for carrying marijuana and deported.
Cocker could capture some of his magic in the studio though, evidence of which was his rendition of Gregg Allman's Midnight Rider and the touchingly tender You are so beautiful, penned by Billy Preston. Through drugs and alcohol, he survived the Seventies surfacing in 1982 with Sheffield Steel, which received critical acclaim but wasn't very successful commercially.
Disproving critics
Never one to mope in defeat, his duet with Jennifer Warnes on the soundtrack for the film An Officer and a Gentleman disproved those who had written him off. The song "Up Where We Belong" made its way into the U.K. charts, which he celebrated with a concert in his hometown.
Cocker moved to Colorado in 1991 and three years later, a highly publicised tour marked his attaining 50 years of age and the accompanying album, Have a Little Faith, emerged his best work to date. Many remakes, of his own songs and those of others, arrived to mixed responses. Nonetheless, his gravelly voice, modelled on Ray Charles's, continues unrestrained, producing new material with amazing gusto.
A. GEORGE ANTONY
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