![]() ![]() "Twenty Flight Rock" was written by AMI staff writer Ned Fairchild (a pen name-her real name is Nelda Fairchild). In 1957, Cochran starred in his second film, Untamed Youth, and had yet another hit, " Sittin' in the Balcony", one of the few songs he recorded that was written by other songwriters (in this case John D. Cochran agreed and performed the song " Twenty Flight Rock" in the movie. In the spring of 1956, Boris Petroff asked Cochran if he would appear in the musical comedy film The Girl Can't Help It. It featured "Skinny Jim", now regarded as a rock-and-roll and rockabilly classic. In July 1956, Eddie Cochran's first "solo artist" single was released by Crest Records. Eddie Cochran also worked as a session musician and began writing songs, making a demo with Jerry Capehart, his future manager. They recorded a few singles for Ekko Records that were fairly successful and helped to establish them as a performing act. Although they were not related, they recorded as the Cochran Brothers and began performing together. During a show featuring many performers at an American Legion hall, Cochran met Hank Cochran, a songwriter. Cochran dropped out of Bell Gardens High School in his first year to become a professional musician. As his guitar playing improved, Cochran formed a band with two friends from his junior high school. Also, rather than taking piano lessons, he began learning guitar, playing country and other music he heard on the radio.Ĭochran's family moved to Bell Gardens, California, in 1952. Cochran took music lessons in school but quit the band to play drums. Paul McCartney himself chose Cochran's " Twenty Flight Rock" as his audition piece, assured to impress John Lennon by his performance of it, which he did and was hired as a member of Lennon's skiffle group The Quarrymen, which later was renamed The Beatles.Įarly life The Cochran Brothers.Ĭochran was born on October 3, 1938, in Albert Lea, Minnesota, to Alice and Frank R. His songs have been recorded by a wide variety of recording artists. In 1987, Cochran was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Though Cochran's best-known songs were released during his lifetime, more of his songs were released posthumously. Sheridan later became influential in the musical training of many British groups playing in Hamburg, many of whom would be instrumental in the British Invasion. While they were preparing to board their taxi, Vincent and Cochran rebuffed musician Tony Sheridan's request to ride along with them, resulting in Sheridan's avoiding involvement in the accident. The other two passengers survived with major injuries, but Cochran, who had been thrown from the vehicle, suffered serious brain injuries and died the next day. After they had just performed at the Bristol Hippodrome, on their way to their next venue, Vincent, Cochran and the songwriter Sharon Sheeley were involved in a high-speed traffic accident in a private-hire taxi. Soon afterward, he signed a recording contract with Liberty Records and his first record for the label, " Sittin' in the Balcony", rose to number 18 on the Billboard charts.Ĭochran died at the age of 21 in St Martin's Hospital, Bath, Somerset, after a road accident in Chippenham, Wiltshire, at the end of his British tour with Gene Vincent on 16 April 1960. His first success came when he performed the song " Twenty Flight Rock" in the film The Girl Can't Help It, starring Jayne Mansfield. ![]() When they split the following year, Eddie began a songwriting career with Jerry Capehart. In 1954, Cochran formed a duo with the guitarist Hank Cochran (no relation). Ĭochran was involved with music from an early age, playing in the school band and teaching himself to play blues guitar. His image as a sharply dressed and attractive young man with a rebellious attitude epitomized the stance of the 1950s rocker, and in death he achieved iconic status. Cochran played the guitar, piano, bass, and drums. He experimented with multitrack recording, distortion techniques, and overdubbing even on his earliest singles. Cochran's songs, such as " Twenty Flight Rock", " Summertime Blues", " C'mon Everybody" and " Somethin' Else", captured teenage frustration and desire in the mid-1950s and early 1960s. Ray Edward Cochran ( / ˈ k ɒ k r ən/ KOK-rən Octo– April 17, 1960) was an American rock and roll musician. ![]()
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