Joe Cocker
After starting out as an unsuccessful pop singer (working under the name Vance Arnold), Joe Cocker found his niche singing rock and soul in the pubs of England with his superb backing group, the Grease Band. He hit number one in the U.K. in November 1968 with his version of the Beatles' "A Little Help from My Friends." His career really took off after he sang that song at Woodstock in August 1969. A second British hit came with a version of Leon Russell's "Delta Lady" in the fall of 1969 (by then, Russell was Cocker's musical director) and both of his albums, With a Little Help from My Friends (April 1969) and Joe Cocker! (November 1969), went gold in America. In 1970, his cover of the Box Tops hit "The Letter" became his first U.S. Top Ten. Cocker's first peak of success came when Russell organized the Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour of 1970, featuring Cocker and over 40 others and resulting in a third gold album and a concert film. Subsequent efforts were less popular, and problems with alcohol (both on- and off-stage) reduced Cocker's once-powerful voice to a croaking rasp. Cocker returned to the U.S. Top Ten in 1975, with the romantic ballad "You Are So Beautiful" and topped the charts in 1982 via a duet with Jennifer Warnes on "Up Where We Belong" (the theme from the film An Officer and a Gentleman). He still charted during the '90s, albeit with less frequency than he did in the '70s and '80s. Across from Midnight arrived in 1997, followed by No Ordinary World two years later. Respect Yourself appeared in 2002, and the covers album Heart & Soul followed in 2004. The European release Hymn for My Soul, which featured cover versions of songs by Stevie Wonder, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, and John Fogerty, was issued on Parlophone in 2007. His complete Live at Woodstock performance was released in 2009. In 2010, Hard Knocks -- his first studio album in three years -- appeared in Europe. Cocker's 23rd studio album, Fire It Up, was issued in November 2012 on Sony. It was produced by Matt Serletic, known for his work with Collective Soul, Rob Thomas, Matchbox Twenty, and numerous others. Slightly over two years later, however, on December 22, 2014, Cocker succumbed to lung cancer.© Cub Koda & William Ruhlmann /TiVo Read more
After starting out as an unsuccessful pop singer (working under the name Vance Arnold), Joe Cocker found his niche singing rock and soul in the pubs of England with his superb backing group, the Grease Band. He hit number one in the U.K. in November 1968 with his version of the Beatles' "A Little Help from My Friends." His career really took off after he sang that song at Woodstock in August 1969. A second British hit came with a version of Leon Russell's "Delta Lady" in the fall of 1969 (by then, Russell was Cocker's musical director) and both of his albums, With a Little Help from My Friends (April 1969) and Joe Cocker! (November 1969), went gold in America. In 1970, his cover of the Box Tops hit "The Letter" became his first U.S. Top Ten. Cocker's first peak of success came when Russell organized the Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour of 1970, featuring Cocker and over 40 others and resulting in a third gold album and a concert film. Subsequent efforts were less popular, and problems with alcohol (both on- and off-stage) reduced Cocker's once-powerful voice to a croaking rasp.
Cocker returned to the U.S. Top Ten in 1975, with the romantic ballad "You Are So Beautiful" and topped the charts in 1982 via a duet with Jennifer Warnes on "Up Where We Belong" (the theme from the film An Officer and a Gentleman). He still charted during the '90s, albeit with less frequency than he did in the '70s and '80s. Across from Midnight arrived in 1997, followed by No Ordinary World two years later. Respect Yourself appeared in 2002, and the covers album Heart & Soul followed in 2004. The European release Hymn for My Soul, which featured cover versions of songs by Stevie Wonder, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, and John Fogerty, was issued on Parlophone in 2007. His complete Live at Woodstock performance was released in 2009. In 2010, Hard Knocks -- his first studio album in three years -- appeared in Europe. Cocker's 23rd studio album, Fire It Up, was issued in November 2012 on Sony. It was produced by Matt Serletic, known for his work with Collective Soul, Rob Thomas, Matchbox Twenty, and numerous others. Slightly over two years later, however, on December 22, 2014, Cocker succumbed to lung cancer.
© Cub Koda & William Ruhlmann /TiVo
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With A Little Help From My Friends
Rock - Released by A&M on Apr 23, 1969
Joe Cocker's debut album holds up extraordinarily well across four decades, the singer's performance bolstered by some very sharp playing, not only by ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Joe Cocker!
Pop - Released by A&M on Nov 1, 1969
Joe Cocker's first three A&M albums form the bedrock of a career that spans over three decades. While Cocker certainly wasn't always in top form durin ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mad Dogs & Englishmen (Live At The Fillmore East/1970/Reissue)
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I Can Stand A Little Rain
Rock - Released by Hollywood Records on Jan 1, 1974
With I Can Stand a Little Rain, Joe Cocker returned to interpreting songs instead of essaying his original songs. As usual, there are a couple of high ...
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Unchain My Heart
Pop - Released by Parlophone UK on Oct 1, 1987
Unchain My Heart was the release Joe Cocker had been rebuilding for. The title cut returned him to the Top 40, and the song "A Woman Loves a Man" foll ...
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Joe Cocker Live
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This is a solid, R&B-heavy live concert. © Dan Heilman /TiVo ...
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The Anthology
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A&M's double-disc Anthology may be too much for casual fans that just want the hits, but anyone else will find this exhaustive 37-track chronicle of J ...
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Mad Dogs & Englishmen (Deluxe Edition)
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The Best of Joe Cocker
Rock - Released by Parlophone UK on Mar 1, 1993
This is a well-chosen little collection of Cocker's post-comeback work, with stylistic nods to several mini-genres of the '80s and '90s. There's a lit ...
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Cocker
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Sheffield Steel
Rock - Released by Island Records (The Island Def Jam Music Group / Universal Music) on Jan 1, 1982
After his one-album stint at Asylum Records with Luxury You Can Afford in 1978, Joe Cocker was without a record label until 1981, when he signed to Is ...
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Civilized Man
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Joe Cocker has always been a good interpreter of other writers' material, and on Civilized Man, he continues to find new avenues to travel. Be it the ...
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Hard Knocks
Rock - Released by Savoy on Oct 4, 2010
Teaming up with Matt Serletic, a producer who made his name via his work with Collective Soul and especially Matchbox Twenty, Joe Cocker comes up with ...
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With A Little Help From My Friends
Rock - Released by A&M on Apr 23, 1969
Joe Cocker's debut album holds up extraordinarily well across four decades, the singer's performance bolstered by some very sharp playing, not only by ...
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Sheffield Steel (Expanded Edition)
Rock - Released by Island Records (The Island Def Jam Music Group / Universal Music) on May 22, 1982
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20th Century Masters: The Best Of Joe Cocker (The Millennium Collection)
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Another one-stop shop from Universal's 20th Century Masters Millennium Collection, here's all the Joe Cocker you need in one packed-with-hits single-d ...
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Joe Cocker's Greatest Hits
Rock - Released by A&M on Nov 1, 1977
Greatest Hits features most, but not all (no "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" or "It's a Sin When You Love Somebody") of Cocker's biggest hit ...
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Classics (Vol.4)
Rock - Released by A&M on Mar 1, 1987
A solid collection from his 1967-1976 peak, it includes "Feeling Alright," "You Are So Beautiful, " and "With a Little Help from My Friends." © D ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo