Biography Joe Cocker - Showbiza.com/gb

British white-soul singer Joe Cocker parlayed Ray Charles–ish vocals and an eccentric stage presence into a string of late-'60s hits only to suffer from his excesses in drugs and alcohol by the mid-1970s. In the 1980s and 1990s, however, he went from tragic figure to well-respected interpreter, and his gritty, powerful voice remains one of the most distinctive in rock & roll.

Cocker attended Sheffield Central Technical School and worked as a gas fitter for the East Midlands Gas Board. In 1959 he joined his first group, the Cavaliers, playing drums and harmonica. He moved to lead vocals in 1961, and the band changed its name to Vance Arnold (Cocker) and the Avengers. They released regional singles and toured locally with the Hollies and the Rolling Stones. Decca offered Cocker a contract in 1964, and he took a six-month leave of absence from the gas company. Cocker's version of the Beatles' "I'll Cry Instead" (which he hated so much that he refused to sing it onstage) and an English tour opening for Manfred Mann were ignored, and he went back to his day job.

The following year Cocker and keyboardist Chris Stainton assembled the Grease Band with guitarists Henry McCullough and Alan Spenner and two other musicians. They played Motown covers in northern England pubs until 1967, when producer Denny Cordell became Cocker's manager and persuaded him and the band to move to London. A Cocker-Stainton song, "Marjorine," became a minor British hit, and after some exposure in London, Cocker and the Grease Band recorded With a Little Help From My Friends in 1968 with guests Jimmy Page, Steve Winwood, and others. The title track, one of many cover versions Cocker would record over his career, went to Number One in En¬gland and Number 68 in the U.S. His explosive performance of the song at Woodstock was a festival highlight, and his habit of wildly flailing his arms as he sang became as much a rock archetype as Pete Townshend's windmill. When Cocker sang Traffic's "Feelin' Alright" on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1969, the program's producer hid him behind a group of dancers —shades of Elvis Presley and his wiggling hips.

During the U.S. tour, Cocker met Leon Russell, who wrote "Delta Lady" and coproduced Joe Cocker!, the Grease Band's swan song. Russell also pulled together the assemblage of musicians, hangers-on, and animals for the boisterous Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour Cocker made in 1970, resulting in a Number Two live double album that yielded a pair of hits — "The Letter" (Number Seven, 1970) and "Cry Me a River" (Number 11, 1970) — and a film. But the tour left Cocker broke and ill. On a 1972 tour, with Stainton again leading the band, Cocker was often too drunk to remember lyrics and to hold down food, although material from that tour was released in 1976 as Live in L.A. Cocker toured Britain and then Australia, where he was arrested for possession of marijuana.

At the height of his troubles, Cocker had one of the biggest hits of his career, the achingly tender modern standard "You Are So Beautiful" (Number Five, 1975), written by Billy Preston. He recorded regularly throughout the '70s, but without much success. In 1976 he sang on TV's Saturday Night Live, with comedian John Belushi doing a deadly accurate parody behind him. Given Cocker's state at the time, it seemed more cruel than funny.

Cocker's career turned around in 1982. A duet with Jennifer Warnes, "Up Where We Belong," from the movie An Officer and a Gentleman, hit Number One. Since then, several other Cocker songs have graced films, including his version of Randy Newman's "You Can Leave Your Hat On" (9 1/2 Weeks, 1986) and "When the Night Comes" (An Innocent Man, 1990). The latter, a dramatic hard-rock ballad cowritten by Bryan Adams, hit Number 11 in 1990.

Cocker, who moved to Colorado in 1991, continues to record and tour — sometimes accompanied by old friend Chris Stainton — and remains a popular live attraction in Europe. His 1994 album, Have a Little Faith, hit the U.K. Top 10, and at the request of his German label he revisited several songs from his own catalogue, including "You Are So Beautiful" and "Delta Lady," on 1996's Don Was–produced Organic.

Later career (1982–present)

In 1982, at the behest of producer Stewart Levine, Cocker recorded the duet "Up Where We Belong" with Jennifer Warnes for the soundtrack of the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman. The song was an international hit, reaching number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and winning a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo. The duet also won an Academy Award for Best Original Song, and Cocker and Warnes performed the song at the awards ceremony. Several days later, he was invited to perform "You Are So Beautiful" with Ray Charles in a television tribute to the musician. He then joined singer Ronnie Lane's 1983 tour to raise money for the London-based organisation Action for Research into Multiple Sclerosis, in particular because Lane was beginning to suffer from the degenerative disease. Musicians such as Pete Townshend, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Chris Stainton also participated in the tour which included a performance at Madison Square Garden. While on another tour that year, Cocker was arrested by Austrian police after refusing to perform because of inadequate sound equipment. The charges were eventually dropped and Cocker was released. Shortly after the incident, he released his ninth studio album, Civilized Man. His next album Cocker was dedicated to his mother, Madge, who died when he was recording in the studio with Producer Terry Manning. A track from the album, "You Can Leave Your Hat On" was featured in the 1986 film 9½ Weeks. The album eventually went Platinum on the European charts. His 1987 album Unchain My Heart was nominated for a Grammy Award, although it did not win. One Night of Sin was also a commercial success, surpassing Unchain My Heart in sales.

Throughout the 1980s, Cocker continued to tour around the world, playing to large audiences in Europe, Australia and the United States. In 1988, he performed at London's Royal Albert Hall and appeared on The Tonight Show. After Barclay James Harvest and Bob Dylan Cocker was the first to give Rock concerts in the German Democratic Republic, in East-Berlin and Dresden. The venue, the Blüherwiese next to the Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion, bears the vernacular name Cockerwiese (Cocker meadow) today He also performed for President George Bush at an inauguration concert in February 1989. In 1992, his version of Bryan Adams' "Feels Like Forever" made the UK Top 40.

At the 1993 Brit Awards, Cocker was nominated for Best British Male.[1] Cocker performed the opening set at Woodstock '94 as one of the few alumni who played at the original Woodstock Festival in 1969 and was very well received.

On 3 June 2002, Cocker performed "With A Little Help From My Friends" accompanied by Phil Collins on drums and Queen guitarist Brian May at the Party at the Palace concert in the grounds of Buckingham Palace, an event in commemoration of the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II. In 2007, Cocker appeared playing minor characters in the film Across the Universe, as the lead singer on another Beatles' hit, "Come Together".

Cocker was awarded an OBE in the Queen's 2007 Birthday Honours list for services to music. To celebrate receiving his award in mid December 2007, Cocker played two concerts in London and in his home town of Sheffield.

In April and May 2009, Cocker conducted a North American tour in support of his album Hymn for My Soul.

He sang the vocals on Little Wing for the Carlos Santana album, Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time, released on 21 September 2010. In the autumn of 2010, Cocker toured Europe promoting his studio album Hard Knocks.

Cocker returned to Australia in 2008 and again in 2011, the latter of which featured George Thorogood and the Destroyers as an opening act.

On 20 March 2011, Joe Cocker took part in a benefit concert for Cornell Dupree at B.B. King's Blues Club in New York. Dupree played on two Cocker albums Stingray (1976) and Luxury You Can Afford (1978). Dupree's band Stuff was also Cocker's backing band on a tour promoting Stingray in 1976.