John Robert "Joe" Cocker was a British singer known for his gritty, bluesy voice and dynamic stage performances that featured expressive body movements.
53 Facts About Joe Cocker
2.
Joe Cocker continued his success with his second album, which included a second Beatles song: "She Came In Through the Bathroom Window".
3.
Joe Cocker's 1974 recording of "You Are So Beautiful" reached number five in the US, and became his signature song.
4.
Joe Cocker released a total of 22 studio albums over a 43-year recording career.
5.
In 1993, Joe Cocker was nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Male.
6.
Joe Cocker was awarded a bronze Sheffield Legends plaque in his hometown in 2007, and received an OBE the following year for services to music.
7.
Joe Cocker was ranked number 97 on Rolling Stones 100 greatest singers list.
8.
Joe Cocker was born on 20 May 1944 at 38 Tasker Road, Crookes, Sheffield.
9.
Joe Cocker was the youngest son of a civil servant, Harold Norman Cocker, at the time of his son's birth serving as an aircraftman in the Royal Air Force, and Madge.
10.
In 1960, along with three friends, Joe Cocker formed his first group, the Cavaliers.
11.
The Cavaliers eventually broke up after a year and Joe Cocker left school to become an apprentice gasfitter working for the East Midlands Gas Board, later British Gas Corporation, while simultaneously pursuing a career in music.
12.
Cocker is not related to fellow Sheffield-born musician Jarvis Cocker, despite a rumour to this effect, although Joe was a friend of the family and even did some babysitting for Jarvis when the latter was an infant.
13.
In 1961, under the stage name Vance Arnold, Joe Cocker continued his career with a new group, Vance Arnold and the Avengers.
14.
Joe Cocker developed an interest in blues music and sought out recordings by John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Lightnin' Hopkins and Howlin' Wolf.
15.
In 1964, Joe Cocker signed a recording contract as a solo act with Decca and released his first single, a recording of the Beatles' "I'll Cry Instead".
16.
In 1966, after a year-long hiatus from music, Joe Cocker teamed up with Chris Stainton, whom he had met several years before, to form the Grease Band.
17.
Joe Cocker recorded the single "Marjorine" without the Grease Band for Cordell in a London studio.
18.
Joe Cocker then moved to London with Chris Stainton, and the Grease Band was dissolved.
19.
In 1968, Joe Cocker found commercial success with a rearrangement of "With a Little Help from My Friends", another Beatles song, which, many years later, was used as the opening theme for The Wonder Years.
20.
Joe Cocker's music evolved into a more bluesy type of rock, comparable to that of the Rolling Stones.
21.
Russell and Joe Cocker had personal problems; Joe Cocker became depressed and began drinking excessively as the tour wound down in May 1970.
22.
In early 1972, after nearly two years away from music, Joe Cocker went on tour with a group that Chris Stainton had formed.
23.
Joe Cocker opened with a performance in Madison Square Garden which was attended by about 20,000 people.
24.
Joe Cocker then returned to the United States for another tour in autumn 1972.
25.
In October 1972, when Joe Cocker toured Australia, he and six members of his entourage were arrested in Adelaide for possession of marijuana.
26.
Joe Cocker recorded a new album in a Kingston, Jamaica studio, Stingray.
27.
In 1976, Joe Cocker performed "Feelin' Alright" on Saturday Night Live.
28.
Joe Cocker then recorded a new album with session work by Steve Gadd and Chuck Rainey, and a new, young bassist from Scotland, Rob Hartley.
29.
In 1979, Joe Cocker joined the "Woodstock in Europe" tour, which featured musicians like Arlo Guthrie and Richie Havens who had played at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.
30.
Joe Cocker performed in New York's Central Park to an audience of 20,000 people.
31.
Joe Cocker toured Europe and appeared on the German television recording amphitheatre Rockpalast, the first of many performances on the show.
32.
In 1982, Joe Cocker recorded two songs with the jazz group the Crusaders on their album Standing Tall.
33.
One song, "I'm So Glad I'm Standing Here Today", was nominated for a Grammy Award and Joe Cocker performed it with the Crusaders at the awards ceremony.
34.
Joe Cocker then released a new reggae-influenced album, Sheffield Steel, recorded with the Compass Point All Stars, produced by Chris Blackwell and Alex Sadkin.
35.
In 1982 Joe Cocker recorded the duet "Up Where We Belong" with Jennifer Warnes for the soundtrack of the film An Officer and a Gentleman.
36.
In 1983, Joe Cocker joined a star-studded line-up of British musicians, including Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Steve Winwood and Bill Wyman for singer Ronnie Lane's 1983 tour to raise money for the London-based organisation Action for Research into Multiple Sclerosis, in particular because Lane was beginning to suffer from the degenerative disease.
37.
In 1992, Joe Cocker teamed with Canadian rocker Sass Jordan to sing "Trust in Me", which was featured on The Bodyguard soundtrack.
38.
At the 1993 Brit Awards, Joe Cocker was nominated for British Male Solo Artist.
39.
Joe Cocker performed the Saturday opening set at Woodstock '94 as one of the few alumni who played at the original Woodstock Festival in 1969 and was well received.
40.
On 3 June 2002, Joe Cocker performed "With A Little Help From My Friends" accompanied by Phil Collins on drums and Queen guitarist Brian May at the Party at the Palace concert in the grounds of Buckingham Palace, an event in commemoration of the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II.
41.
In 2007, Joe Cocker appeared playing minor characters in the film Across the Universe, as the lead singer on another Beatles' hit, "Come Together", Joe Cocker was awarded an OBE in the Queen's 2007 Birthday Honours list for services to music.
42.
Joe Cocker sang the vocals on "Little Wing" for the Carlos Santana album, Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time, released on 21 September 2010.
43.
In 2000, Joe Cocker was the opening act in select cities in the United States and Europe for Tina Turner's Twenty Four Seven Tour.
44.
Joe Cocker returned to Australia in 2008 and again in 2011, the latter of which featured George Thorogood and the Destroyers as an opening act.
45.
Dupree's band Stuff was Joe Cocker's backing band on a tour promoting Stingray in 1976.
46.
Joe Cocker played 25 shows in Germany alone on the European leg of the tour, which reflects the popularity Cocker enjoyed there.
47.
In 1994, fellow Yorkshire musician Philip Oakey, on behalf of his group, the Human League, said that Joe Cocker was their "hero".
48.
In 1963, Joe Cocker began dating Eileen Webster, a resident of Sheffield.
49.
In 1978, Joe Cocker moved onto a ranch owned by Jane Fonda in Santa Barbara, California.
50.
Pam Baker, a local summer camp director and fan of Joe Cocker's music, persuaded the actress to lend the house to Joe Cocker.
51.
Joe Cocker died from lung cancer on 22 December 2014 in Crawford, Colorado, at the age of 70.
52.
Joe Cocker had smoked 40 cigarettes a day until he quit in 1991.
53.
Joe Cocker is buried in the town cemetery in Crawford, Colorado.