Singer Joe Cocker dies aged 70 after cancer battle

L’Écho du Cambodge n° 169 janvier 2015

But Joe Cocker also struggled with alcohol and drug abuse.

His career revived in 1982, when he sang Up where we belong in a duet with Jennifer Warnes for the film An officer and a gentleman. The song earned Cocker his only Grammy, as well as an Oscar for its writers.

His many studio albums included Fire it up, his last, in 2012.

Cocker is survived by his wife Pam, his brother Victor, a stepdaughter and two grandchildren. Along with his wife, Cocker set up the Cocker Kids’ Foundation to support local youth.■

Joe Cocker, was the raspy-voiced, Grammy-winning singer best known for his cover of the Beatles’ With a little help from my friends

and you are so beautiful, died on Monday 22 December. He was 70.

The rock singer, known for flailing his arms on stage during performances, lost a long battle with lung cancer, his record label, Sony Music, said in a statement.

“His international success as a blues/rock singer began in 1964 and continues till this day. Joe created nearly 40 albums and toured extensively around the globe,” his label added.

Cocker, a native of Britain, lived in Crawford, Colorado.

Musicians and fans took to Twitter to express their grief at the death of the rocker, who was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) at Buckingham Palace for his contribution to music.

“Goodbye and God Bless to Joe Cocker from one of his friends peace and love. R.,” tweeted former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr.

Cocker was born in Sheffield, England, into a working-class family. He worked as a plumber while pursuing a singing career, covering Motown songs in pubs in northern England in the 1960s.

He became known as a white soul singer and for his unique stage presence, twisting his body and face into contortions as he sang with his signature husky delivery.

The late actor John Belushi famously parodied Cocker’s spasmodic style on late-night comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live. Cocker and Belushi appeared together on the show, with both performing in the rocker’s style.

Cocker played at the legendary Woodstock music festival in 1969, where he made his name with his performance of With a Little Help from My Friends.

In the early 1970s The Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour and live album cemented his success. He had a big hit in 1974 with You are so beautiful, co-written with Billy Preston.

Joe Cocker, the British singer whose impassioned, gravel-voiced covers of popular rock and blues songs were an indelible sound of 1960s countercul-ture, has died at age 70 after a battle with lung cancer at his Colorado home.

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« “Goodbye and God Bless to Joe Cocker from one of his friends peace and love. R.,” » Tweet from former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr

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Joe Cocker performs on stage in London, 1972

Joe Cocker in 2011