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Joe Cocker
Joe Cocker (born May 20, 1944) is a pop music singer. After starting out as an unsuccessful pop singer (working under the name Vance Arnold), Joe Cocker found his niche singing rock and soul in the pubs of England with his superb backing group, the Grease Band. He hit number one in the U.K. in November 1968 with his version of the Beatles' "A Little Help From My Friends." His career really took off after he sang that song at the Woodstock festival in August 1969. A second British hit came with a version of Leon Russell's "Delta Lady" in the fall of 1969 (by then, Russell was Cocker's musical director) and both of his albums, With a Little Help From My Friends (April 1969) and Joe Cocker! (November 1969), went gold in America.
He started his musical career in the city of his birth Sheffield, England in some minor bands at the age of 15: the first band was the Avengers (under the stage name Vance Arnold), then Big Blues (1963), and then The Grease Band (1966). In 1969 he was featured on the American TV program The Ed Sullivan Show.
His first big hit was the song "With a Little Help from My Friends," a cover of the song by The Beatles off the Sgt. Pepper's album. The same year he appeared at the Woodstock Music Festival. He had further success covering Beatles tunes with his cover of their song "She Came In Through the Bathroom Window" off their Abbey Road album. Other early hits included "Cry Me a River" and "Feelin' Alright". In 1970, his live cover of the Box Tops' hit "The Letter", which appeared on the tour compilation album Mad Dogs & Englishmen, became his first U.S. Top Ten.
Onstage, he often exhibited a physical intensity as he sang, and his unique stage presence was often spoofed by comedian John Belushi (including an impromptu duet when Joe was the guest musician on Saturday Night Live).
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In the beginning of 1970s he had problems with drugs including alcohol that had a bad influence on his musical career. He managed, however, to make a comeback in the 1980s and 1990s with several massive chart hits like:
