System Mechanic - Clean, repair, protect, and speed up your PC!Eddie Cochran
October 03, 1938 - April 17, 1960
Ray Edward Cochrane was born in Albert Lea, Minnesota on October 3, 1938 and grew up in Oklahoma City, where he joined the school band on clarinet (he'd been rejected as a drummer and trombonist). However, he fell in love with the guitar and, listening to country and western music on the radio, he taught himself to play.
In 1953 the family moved to Southern California and Eddie soon began playing in a local group, playing dance halls and parties before winding up in a duo with Hank Cochran (no relation). Then he met aspiring songwriter Jerry Capehart, and the two began a partnership. They recorded some tracks that were eventually picked up by the Liberty label, and Eddie was signed.
Still only eighteen, Eddie got a big break when he was cast in the 1956 rock 'n' roll film, The Girl Can't Help It. In the movie Eddie sang the song "Twenty-Flight Rock." This is the same song that Paul McCartney would use to impress John Lennon upon their first meeting in 1957 (Paul could not only play it, but knew all of the lyrics). Another film followed, but music was Eddie's first love. He cut a single 'Sittin' On the Balcony' (1957), and to publicize it joined the Biggest Show of Stars for '57, along with Buddy Holly (who also became a close friend), Chuck Berry and The Everly Brothers.
In 1958, Eddie started playing around with a nifty little riff he had made up. It struck Capehart that no one had written a song about the hassles teenagers faced during summer, and thus "Summertime Blues" was born, becoming a huge hit in the summer of 1958.
The follow-up was deliberately crafted around a similar theme, this time the hassles of trying to have a party, and the music again relied on a simple but heavy acoustic riff and hand-clap backing. Formula or no, "C'mon Everybody" hit the mark and has lasted the test of time almost as well as its predecessor. Eddie was still more interested in the studio side of rock'n'roll and his reluctance to tour was intensified by the death of his friends Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens in February 1959. Afterwards, Eddie avoided flying whenever he could. He recorded John D. Loudermilk's song 'Three Stars' as a tribute to his friends, but ironically it was not released until after his own death.
Eddie's personal life, unusually for the music business, was harmonious. His girlfriend, Sharon Sheeley, was also a songwriter and understood the vagaries of the business. They had been introduced by Phil Everly (Sharon had been his girlfriend), and following Eddie's next single, 'C'mon Everybody', the couple worked together to produce 'Somethin' Else' (1959). He wanted to marry, settle down and work with production and song writing.
'C'mon Everybody' proved to be quite popular in Britain so Eddie decided to undertake a tour of Great Britain with his friend Gene Vincent in early 1960. The tour was such a resounding success that it was decided to extend it for a further ten weeks. First, though, Eddie had recording commitments in the United States. With Sharon Sheeley, now his fiancée, and Gene Vincent, he decided to fly back to the States for the Easter break. On April 17, en route to London Airport, their cab blew a tire and crashed into a lamp post. All three were rushed to hospital.
Gene Vincent was treated for broken ribs and collar-bone and further injury to his bad leg. Sharon Sheeley suffered a broken pelvis. Eddie Cochran had been thrown through the windscreen and had brain injuries. He never recovered, dying the next day in hospital at the age of twenty-one. He was buried quietly at Forest Lawn Cemetery in California. Eddie's record 'Three Steps To Heaven', which was in the charts at the time, rocketed straight up to Number One in the UK charts.
In 1987, Eddie Cochran was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
