1. Bruce Douglas Cockburn is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist.
43 Facts About Bruce Cockburn
1. 2.
Bruce Cockburn's lyrics reflect interests in spirituality, human rights, environmental issues, and relationships, and describe his experiences in Central America and Africa.
3.
Bruce Cockburn was born in 1945 in Ottawa, Ontario, and spent some time at his grandfather's farm outside of Chelsea, Quebec, but he grew up in Westboro, which was a suburb of Ottawa when he was a teenager.
4.
Bruce Cockburn's father, Doug Cockburn, was a radiologist, eventually becoming head of diagnostic X-ray at the Ottawa Civic Hospital.
5.
Bruce Cockburn found his first guitar in his grandmother's attic around 1959, adorned it with gold stars, and used it to play along to radio hits.
6.
Bruce Cockburn had been listening to jazz and wanted to learn musical composition.
7.
Bruce Cockburn attended Nepean High School, where his 1964 yearbook photo states his desire "to become a musician".
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Bruce Cockburn attended Berklee School of Music in Boston, where his studies included jazz composition, for three semesters between 1964 and 1966.
9.
That summer Bruce Cockburn broke up the band with the intention of going solo, but ended up in the band 3's a Crowd with David Wiffen, Colleen Peterson, and Richard Patterson, who had been a co-member of The Children.
10.
Bruce Cockburn left 3's a Crowd in the spring of 1969 to pursue a solo career.
11.
Bruce Cockburn's first solo appearance was at the Mariposa Folk Festival in 1967, and in 1969 he was a headliner.
12.
In 1970 Bruce Cockburn became partners with Bernie Finkelstein in the music publishing firm Golden Mountain Music.
13.
Bruce Cockburn was nominated for Canadian Folksinger of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year at the 1974 Juno Awards.
14.
Bruce Cockburn had written the song a year earlier, after visiting Guatemalan refugee camps in Mexico that were attacked by Guatemalan military helicopters.
15.
Also in 1991, three of Bruce Cockburn's songs were listed in a Toronto Star survey among Toronto's top songs of all time.
16.
Bruce Cockburn frequently refers to Heard as his favourite songwriter and he was one of many artists who paid tribute to Heard on an album and video titled Strong Hand of Love.
17.
In 2001 Bruce Cockburn performed as part of the Music Without Borders concert, a benefit for the United Nations Donor Alert Appeal, which raised funds for refugees from Afghanistan, at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
18.
In January 2003 Bruce Cockburn finished recording his 21st album, You've Never Seen Everything, which features contributions from Emmylou Harris, Jackson Browne, Sam Phillips, Sarah Harmer, Hugh Marsh, Jonell Mosser, Larry Taylor and Steven Hodges.
19.
Some of Bruce Cockburn's previously published material had been collected in several albums: Resume, Mummy Dust, and Waiting for a Miracle.
20.
Bruce Cockburn performed a set at the Live 8 concert in Barrie, Ontario, on July 2,2005.
21.
In 2009 Bruce Cockburn travelled to Afghanistan to visit his brother, Medical Officer Capt.
22.
Bruce Cockburn performed his 1984 song "If I Had a Rocket Launcher" and was temporarily awarded an actual rocket launcher by the military.
23.
Bruce Cockburn has stated that, while unsure of the original Invasion of Afghanistan, he supported Canada's role there.
24.
Bruce Cockburn released the studio album Small Source of Comfort in 2011.
25.
Bruce Cockburn's songwriting is often political, expressing concern for the environment and the welfare of indigenous peoples.
26.
Bruce Cockburn is affiliated with the Unitarian Service Committee of Canada, twice visiting Nepal with the charity, in 1987 and 2007.
27.
Bruce Cockburn wrote and performed the theme song for the children's television series Franklin.
28.
Bruce Cockburn composed and performed, with Hugh Marsh, the music for the National Film Board of Canada documentary feature Waterwalker, directed by Bill Mason.
29.
Bruce Cockburn composed two songs for the classic English-Canadian film Goin' Down the Road, directed by Donald Shebib.
30.
In 1998 Bruce Cockburn travelled with filmmaker Robert Lang to Mali, West Africa, where he jammed with Grammy Award-winning blues musician Ali Farka Toure and kora master Toumani Diabate.
31.
In 2007 Bruce Cockburn's music was featured in the movie adaptation of Irvine Welsh's best-selling novel Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance.
32.
In 2018, Bruce Cockburn contributed the song "3 Al Purdys" to the compilation album The Al Purdy Songbook.
33.
Bruce Cockburn was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1982 and was promoted to Officer in 2002.
34.
Bruce Cockburn has received thirteen Juno Awards, and in 2001, during the 30th Annual Juno Awards ceremony, Cockburn was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
35.
In 2007 Bruce Cockburn received three honorary doctorates, the fourth, fifth and sixth of his career.
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Bruce Cockburn was then awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia.
37.
Bruce Cockburn previously received honorary doctorates from York University in Toronto, Berklee College of Music, and St Thomas University in New Brunswick.
38.
Bruce Cockburn received an Honorary Doctorate awarded by McMaster University in 2009.
39.
In June 2014, Bruce Cockburn received an honorary Doctorate of Letters from Laurentian University in Sudbury, and Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa, from Carleton University, in Ottawa.
40.
Bruce Cockburn received Earth Day Canada's Outstanding Commitment to the Environment Award in 2010, and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.
41.
On September 23,2017, Bruce Cockburn was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame at a ceremony held at Massey Hall in Toronto.
42.
On June 14,2024, Bruce Cockburn received an Honorary Doctorate in Music from Wilfrid Laurier University.
43.
Bruce Cockburn was married from 1969 to 1984 to Kitty Macaulay and has a daughter from that marriage.