Edward Ray Cochran
(October 3, 1938 – April 17, 1960)
was an American
rock and roll musician.
His songs,
such as
"Twenty Flight Rock",
"Summertime Blues",
"C'mon Everybody"
and
"Somethin' Else",
captured teenage frustration
and desire
in the
mid-1950s
and early 1960s.
Cochran experimented
with multitrack recording,
distortion techniques,
and overdubbing,
even on his earliest singles.
Cochran played the guitar,
piano,
bass, and drums.
His image as a
sharply dressed
and attractive young
man with a
rebellious attitude
epitomized the stance
of the 1950s rocker,
and in death,
Cochran achieved
iconic status.
Cochran was involved
with music from
an early age,
playing in the school band
and teaching himself
to play blues guitar.
In 1955,
Cochran formed a duo
with the guitarist
Hank Cochran
(no relation)
and became known as
the Cochran Brothers.
When they split
the following year,
Eddie began a
song-writing career
with
Jerry Capehart.
His first success
came when he
performed the song
"Twenty Flight Rock"
in the film
The Girl Can't Help It,
starring
Jayne Mansfield.
Soon afterward,
he signed a
recording contract with
Liberty Records
and his first record
for the label,
"Sittin' in the Balcony",
rose to number 18
on the
Billboard charts.
Cochran died in
April 1960
in St Martin's Hospital,
Bath, Somerset,
after a car accident
in Chippenham, Wiltshire,
at the end of his British tour
with
Gene Vincent.
On April 16,
after they had
just performed
at the Bristol Hippodrome,
on their way to
Heathrow Airport
to fly home,
Vincent,
Cochran,
their tour manager
Patrick Tompkins,
and the songwriter
Sharon Sheeley
were involved in a
high-speed traffic accident
in a private-hire taxi.
The other three passengers
survived
(albeit with significant injuries);
but Cochran,
who had been thrown
from the vehicle,
suffered more serious
brain injuries
and died
the following day.
Though Cochran's
best-known songs
were released
during his lifetime,
more of his songs
were released posthumously.
In 1987,
Cochran was inducted
into the
Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame.
His songs have been
recorded by a
wide variety of
recording artists.
Paul McCartney
chose Cochran's
"Twenty Flight Rock"
as his audition piece,
assured to impress
John Lennon
by his performance of it,
which he did
and was hired as
a member of Lennon's
skiffle group
the Quarrymen,
which later became
the Beatles
TRACKLIST
C'mon Everybody
Weekend
Somethin' Else
May Way
Drive In Show
Cut Across Shorty
Twenty Flight Rock
Jeanie, Jeanie, Jeanie
Three Stars
Let's Get Together
Blue Suede Shoes
Long Tall Sally
Theresa
Teenage Cutie
Hallelujah, I Love Her, So
Have I Told You Lately
(That I Love You)
Am I Blue
Mean When I'm Mad
Little Lou
Sweetie Pie
Nervous Breakdown
Teenage Heaven
Sittin' In The Balcony
Lonely
Three Steps To Heaven
Completely Sweet
Heart Breakin' Mama
Boll Weevil Song
Skinny Jim
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