Eddie Cochran

Edward Raymond 'Eddie' Cochran (October 3, 1938 – April 17, 1960) was an American musician. Cochran's rockabilly songs, such as "C'mon Everybody", "Somethin' Else", and "Summertime Blues", captured teenage frustration and desire in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He experimented with multitrack recording and overdubbing even on his earliest singles, and was also able to play piano, bass and drums. His image as a sharply dressed and good-looking young man with a rebellious attitude epitomized the stance of the 50s rocker, and in death he achieved an iconic status. Cochran was born in Minnesota and moved with his family to California in the early 1950s. He was involved with music from an early age, playing in the school band and teaching himself to play blues guitar. In 1955, he formed a duet with the guitarist Hank Cochran (no relation), and when they split the following year, Cochran began a song-writing career with Jerry Capehart. His first success came when he performed the song "Twenty Flight Rock" in the movie The Girl Can't Help It, starring Jayne Mansfield. Soon afterwards, Liberty Records signed him to a recording contract. Cochran died aged 21 after a road accident, whilst travelling in a taxi in Chippenham, Wiltshire, during his British tour in April 1960, having just performed at Bristol's Hippodrome theatre. Though his best-known songs were released during his lifetime, more of his songs were released posthumously. In 1987, Cochran was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His songs have been covered by a wide variety of recording artists, including The Fall.

Links To Peel
Eddie Cochran was a big influence on Peel's youth when he was in the military. On the VH1 programme, Ten Of The Best, broadcast in 1995, Peel mentioned seeing Eddie Cochran at the Liverpool Empire with Gene Vincent in 1960, four days before Eddie got killed in a car crash:


 * "One of the things I remembered mostly about my military service was going with a gang of my mates to the Liverpool Empire to see Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran, this was about 4 days before Eddie Cochran died in a car accident and it was one of the best gigs I ever went in my whole life. Eddie Cochran was sensational."

Peel described on the same programme, the magic of Eddie Cochran:


 * "He started back to his audience, doesn't sound like much, but when he played his first chord, he turned around, jumped through 180 degrees and there he was, it was magical."

The Fall did a cover of Eddie Cochran's White Lightning, which reached number 15 in the 1990 Festive Fifty.

Shows Played
1972 1979 1980 1984 1990
 * 04 February 1972: Twenty Flight Rock (LP - The Very Best Of Eddie Cochran, released 1970) Liberty
 * 16 June 1972: Nervous Breakdown (single - Skinny Jim b-side) Liberty
 * 26 July 1979: Jeannie, Jeannie, Jeannie (LP - The Eddie Cochran Singles Album) United Artists
 * 24 June 1980: Teenage Cutie (presented by Paul Gambaccini)
 * 12 August 1980: Milk Cow Blues
 * Karl's Tape August 1984: Twenty Flight Rock (7" ) London
 * 30 July 1990: White Lightning