Gravel voiced British rocker, Joe Cocker died today at his home in Crawford, Colorado after a battle with small cell lung cancer. He was best known for his memorable Woodstock performance of The Beatles’ With A Little Help from My Friends in 1968 and his duet in 1980 with Jennifer Warnes, “Up Where We Belong,” that appeared in the movie “An Officer and a Gentlemen.” Joe is survived by his wife of 27 years, Pam; his brother, Victor; his step-daughter, Zoey Schroeder; and his two grandchildren, Eva and Simon Schroeder.
Tag: Joe Cocker
Oct 02 2010
Original v. Cover — #45 in a Series
Can’t decide which genre you like best? Does this list include Southern rock, soul music, blues and country music? This week’s selection covers all four bases, temporarily delaying such a choice.
This week’s song, released in 1970, provided an early and convincing glimpse of the considerable success that this group was to achieve. Although the original group never release the song as a single, four subsequent cover versions by other artists would reach the charts. The original group continues to include this song in its playlist during their live concerts, which continue to the present day.
Mar 20 2010
Original v. Cover — #17 in a Series
The featured song this week was originally written and performed in 1967 by one of the most successful rock groups of all time. Even though this week’s selection should sound instantly familiar to most, it never reached the Billboard Top 40 charts. Cover versions of this song rose to #1 three times in the U.K., beginning in the 1960s and resurfacing during alternating decades to follow.
Despite its lack of success as a single in this country, the album on which it appeared, for my money, is the best of all time, and was #1 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Best Albums of All Time. The song itself was ranked at #304 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
This week’s selection has also surfaced in various films and was used as the opening theme song for a popular television series during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
