2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25
Coker Joe, English singer, born May 20, 1944 in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, UK. He is the patriarch of English pop music, from 1960 to the present time he works in the genre of blues, soul and rock. The main advantage over other performers is a low, husky voice that fits well into blues compositions.
Joe Cocker's family lived in poverty, the young man had to leave school and go to work. He got a job as an assistant railway fitter, and in the evenings he disappeared in the pubs of Sheffield, trying to break into the field of blues performances. Throughout his concert career, Joe Cocker had only one problem - the lack of a repertoire. The singer had no connections with composers and did not communicate with management in show business. He simply sang popular hits, and that's how he lived. Cocker borrowed Unchain My Heart and What'd I Say from Ray Charles, borrowed I'll Cry Instead from the Beatles.
First successes
Everyone knew Joe Cocker's pirate habits, but since he performed songs professionally, sparing no money forarrangements, no one complained to him. On the contrary, the owners of the hits encouraged Cocker's work, as the popular songs he covered sounded new and their ratings increased. Sometimes Joe even managed to replay the original performance. For example, Ray Charles' hit Unchain My Heart of 1963, made by the author in the style of pure soul, Cocker Joe released his version in 2002 at a concert in Cologne, Germany. He gave the composition a classic eight-beat blues move with a good syncopated accent, and the song sounded in a new way. And although Joe Cocker does not have such a luxurious backing vocal as Ray Charles had (he had two girls with a conservative education), but on the whole Cocker's version was a success.
Tours
1966 was the beginning of the singer's active performances. Joe Cocker, whose biography was then replenished with a new page, organized the Grease Band and performed at several venues in Sheffield, then traveled around the north of England with concerts. The repertoire consisted mainly of blues, and as the first performances showed, the singer made the right choice, since the public always and everywhere welcomes blues compositions favorably. And where the blues is, there is boogie-woogie loved by everyone. In addition to the blues, Cocker Joe performed famous Beatles songs, which also contributed to raising his popularity. And when the Grease Band recorded their own version of the Beatles' hit With A Little Help in 1968, the band rose to widespread acclaim, with the song hitting 1 on the national charts.
In March 1969 Cocker Joe with a bandwent on his first US tour. In the same year, 1969, in August, the group performed at the Woodstock festival, and in 1970, Joe Cocker again toured the United States. This time the concerts were held in 48 cities.
Decay
The seventies became a difficult period in the singer's life, the repertoire did not develop in any way, and it was increasingly difficult to conclude tour agreements on foreign hits. Out of desperation, Joe Cocker began to drink, and then became addicted to drugs. Gradually, he began to lose control of himself, often went on stage drunk. The musicians endured for a while, and then gradually began to leave their patron.
Joe Cocker's lifeline was The Crusaders, who invited the singer to perform the song I'm So Glad I'm Standing Here Today, written especially for him, under his voice. By sheer coincidence, the content of the song exactly followed the story of Cocker's decline, with all the pain and loss.
Rebirth
The singer seemed to have tried on the plot of this number, he seemed to be born again and believed in himself. A new close friend of Cocker, Pam, who appeared with him during that difficult period of his life, also played a role. In a few years she will become Joe's wife. The situation gradually improved, Joe Cocker, whose photos reappeared in glossy magazines, stopped drinking, his work became in demand, the public welcomed his idol.
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