Monday, December 22, 2014

Joe Cocker: obituary for the man who gargled broken glass – Spiegel Online

When asked whether his beer, for which he sang long at all tastes, Joe Cocker replied with an amused laugh times and then praised Mexican competitor. He was so absurd get a lot of money on advertising that ultimately could not care less whether, whether he likes the beer or not, he justified himself later.

It was the same with the career of the British, who always . balancing on the thin line between artistic ambition and commercial imperatives

The man, whose voice sounded as if he had just gargled with broken glass, never made a secret of the fact that he also – especially in the later stage his career – had sung songs that him not interested and of which he solely hoped that they sell. What to consider sober balance of a great talent that had survived dark crashes and focused at a certain point in his career primarily on survival.

Starting had Joe Cocker, of the British industrial city of Sheffield for 1944 world came in the pubs and clubs of his rough hometown. Learned he had laying gas pipelines. After work, he was in his early years at night with all kinds of bands on small stages and covered American soul and R & B numbers of Ray Charles, Chuck Berry and the likes.

He was 19 years old when his 1963 got an idea of ​​fame: He joined with the Rolling Stones at Sheffield. But soon after released their debut single “I’ll Cry Instead”, a cover of a Beatles song remained unnoticed.

It was clear to the young Cocker but early on that he was neither a songwriter, was a virtuoso on the instrument, but only could his voice and an instinct for appropriate songs give him a career.

His breakthrough was He then but thanks to the Beatles, with their song “With a Little Help From My Friends” Cocker in 1968 landed on the charts. A year later he built his reputation from a memorable performance at the Woodstock Festival.

That Cocker knew how to make a song actually own, to take it that way, and be filled with life as if there had written it myself, impressed the Beatles. Both George Harrison and Paul McCartney invited Cocker a home. “I felt like I was visiting kings”, Cocker commented.

They left him her song “Something” and “She Came Through The Bathroom Window”, which at that time amounted to a knighthood. But with fame came the turmoil that a large part of his career by shaking this artist long. There was one hand the money, specifically Cockers complete disinterest in what the artist made them easy prey windy Manager, to the slope, problems like and extensively washed away with alcohol came.

Legendary and probably Joe Cocker’s artistic highlight is his “Mad Dogs and Englishmen” tour of 1970. A ludicrous Concert odyssey that graduated Cocker with Leon Russell and eccentrics a 30-strong backing. The Mamut ensemble shone with a furious mix of rock & amp; Roll, R &. B, Soul and excesses of the most extravagant kind

Because he was with Leon Russell but not particularly green, Joe Cocker soon fell to excessive alcohol consumption, which he maintained in the following years. Decades later, he testified that his memories were completely washed away in the seventies almost.

How Cocker after many crashes roused again

Numerous witnesses reported for concerts, where Cocker drunk tipped off the stage, or appearances, in which he does not even appear. The seventies are considered to be lost decade, and he himself has always amazed that he survived at all this time.

With a mixture of luck and hard working-class discipline but he caught himself. At that time he must have decided that it’s okay to do things that do not really care, but are well paid one. One can find cynical – or accept as a survival tactic.

Cocker, who always appreciated frank words, has never made a secret of it. The Schmacht number “Up Where We Belong”, his only US number-one hit, the singer did like as “barren” beginning. Thus, the second half of his career, although the commercially lucrative but artistically significant looser.

In Germany, where Cocker has always loved something more than the rest of the world, he was a regular on “Wetten Dass ..?”. And probably the Briton will always have inside laughed at himself when his worshipers Thomas Gottschalk again of “handmade music” fabled.

Final inner peace found Cocker when he married an American woman in the late eighties and with it settled on a remote ranch in Colorado. From there, he restored his health and finances.

His last notable record was released in 2007. In “Hymns For My Soul” he sang, accompanied by a hip staff, sophisticated songs by Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder and Lennon & amp; McCartney. That the success of the fine work was subtle, it is likely to have little surprised. For this he sold his vote just once for a beer brand.

On his ranch in Colorado Joe Cocker died on Monday of lung cancer.

SPIEGEL Interview with Joe Cocker

The SPIEGEL spoke late nineties with Joe Cocker , In the memo was at that time: “He became famous for his voice, notorious was his use of alcohol Solved said the superstar of the music and his eventful life, and for his boozing and other setbacks that he should have received over again.. Cocker was a distinctive statement: He has some good – and what can you do there – on ‘any gene that is programmed to self-destruct.’ ” Here the conversation for future reference.

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