Joe Cocker, RIP

[GA Russell]

Perhaps he will be remembered by many for singing alongside John Belushi on Saturday Night Live.

http://radio.com/2014/12/22/joe-cocker-dead-at-70/

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2014/12/22/joe-cocker-dead-at-70/

[mjazzg]

Sheffield steel

[Hardbopjazz]

Wow. Didn't expect this. RIP Joe.

[trane123]

Mad Dogs and Englishmen is still great. Interestingly, I recently saw an interview with Derek Trucks who said a major inspiration for the Tedeschi-Trucks band was that tour and album.

RIP

Edited December 22, 2014 by trane123

[A Lark Ascending]

Loved the early 70s music. 'Delta Lady'!

[soulpope]

RIP

Edited December 22, 2014 by soulpope

[mjzee]

RIP, Joe. I remember when Joe first hit big, Ralph J. Gleason made a big deal of putting Cocker down, saying he was just a Ray Charles imitator. I don't even hear the similarity; it was just a cheap shot. Joe had his own thing going.

[kinuta]

It's very sad news.

I knew him personally and we often drank together when he was still known as Vance Arnold and playing with The Avengers.

I remember he sometimes surprised me with his tastes, he liked Sinatra a lot and raved about Mingus Oh Yeah.

There will be many sad people in Sheffield today.

Edited December 22, 2014 by kinuta

[A Lark Ascending]

That's Conisborough Castle!

[paul secor]

RIP, Joe. I remember when Joe first hit big, Ralph J. Gleason made a big deal of putting Cocker down, saying he was just a Ray Charles imitator. I don't even hear the similarity; it was just a cheap shot. Joe had his own thing going.

I always heard the similarity. No Ray - no him.

[danasgoodstuff]

RIP, Joe. I remember when Joe first hit big, Ralph J. Gleason made a big deal of putting Cocker down, saying he was just a Ray Charles imitator. I don't even hear the similarity; it was just a cheap shot. Joe had his own thing going.

He had his own thing, but the "no no" interjection early in "With a Little Help From My Friends" is very, very Ray Charles.

[Sundog]

RIP Joe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8IvCyw_aTQ

[JSngry]

Always a fun experience, one way or the other.

"You are So Beautiful"...we sang that to both of our babies every day, and I played it at our son's wedding.

RIP, and thanks.

[BFrank]

RIP, Joe.

I'm sad every time I read about an artist dying of lung cancer - and it happens MUCH too often. It makes me hate the cigarette industry that much more.

[romualdo]

RIP Joe

I always remember the hoo ha surrounding his bust in Adelaide & "brawl" the next day in Melbourne & being thrown out of the country during his Australian tour (October 72)

if this had happened less than two months later (Gough Whitlam's Labor party came to power) I doubt the deportation would have occurred

[B. Goren.]

Very sad news.

[CJ Shearn]

RIP, great voice

[sgcim]

It's very sad news.

I knew him personally and we often drank together when he was still known as Vance Arnold and playing with The Avengers.

I remember he sometimes surprised me with his tastes, he liked Sinatra a lot and raved about Mingus Oh Yeah.

There will be many sad people in Sheffield today.

Cool picture. I never knew about the Avengers or 'Vance Arnold'.

I've been reading a few books about the history of UK rock music of the 60s, and the strong tie-in with jazz.

Many of them started off as jazzers (Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker, Graham Bond, etc...), and then switched to rock when they realized they had to pay bills.

The others (Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page) hated jazz, and were more devoted to blues.

Joe Cocker and Stevie Winwood were solidly in the 'Brother Ray' bag.

RIP, Joe/Vance.

[kinuta]

I think the Vance Arnold name came about when he was giving an interview to a reporter from The Sheffield Telegraph & Star.

The reporter thought Joe Cocker was a nonstarter as a stage name and talked Joe into using Vance Arnold. Names like Vince, Lance etc were commonly used for pub rock bands in the '60s.

Joe was a lovely man, very down to earth and dedicated to music, he wasn't interested in money.

One of the first big pay cheques he had from his manager, I think it was Denny Cordell, was in his jeans pocket when his mother decided to wash them.

Joe showed the papier mache to the manager and got a replacement. He was loved by very many people.

Edited December 23, 2014 by kinuta

[Cali]

 

mjzee, on 22 Dec 2014 - 12:56 PM, said:

RIP, Joe. I remember when Joe first hit big, Ralph J. Gleason made a big deal of putting Cocker down, saying he was just a Ray Charles imitator. I don't even hear the similarity; it was just a cheap shot. Joe had his own thing going.

From Joe Cocker's biography: Born on May 20, 1944, in Sheffield, England, singer Joe Cocker counted Ray Charles and Lonnie Donegan among his early influences.

And this from Wikipedia, In 1961, under the stage name Vance Arnold, Cocker continued his career with a new group, Vance Arnold and the Avengers.^[8] The name was a combination of Vince Everett, Elvis Presley's character in Jailhouse Rock (which Cocker misheard as Vance); and country singer Eddy Arnold.^[9]The group mostly played in the pubs of Sheffield,^[8] performing covers of Chuck Berry& Ray Charles songs.

Impossible for me to listen to Joe Cocker and not hear some Ray Charles, and I really dug Joe.

Edited December 24, 2014 by Cali

[kinuta]

I like this picture, it really captures him.