Joe Cocker

Joe Cocker was an English rock and blues singer recognized for his gravelly voice and visceral stage presence. Born John Robert Cocker on May 20, 1944, in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, he was the son of a civil servant and grew up listening to American blues and rhythm and blues records.

Cocker left Sheffield Central Technical School at fifteen and trained as a gas fitter for the East Midlands Gas Board while playing in local pubs at night. He had no formal music training; his apprenticeship doubled as the day job that supported his early gigs.

His 1968 cover of the Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends," reimagined as a slow rock-soul anthem, reached number one on the UK Singles Chart and brought him international attention; his performance of the song at the Woodstock festival in August 1969 was preserved in the festival film.

He toured America with the Mad Dogs & Englishmen revue led by Leon Russell in 1970 and continued recording through the 1970s, 1980s, and beyond. "You Are So Beautiful" (1974) became a standard, and his duet with Jennifer Warnes, "Up Where We Belong," from the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and a Grammy. He was made an OBE in 2007. Cocker died of lung cancer in Crawford, Colorado, on December 22, 2014.

The name Joe is a short form of Joseph, from the Hebrew Yosef, meaning "he will add" or "may He add," derived from the verb yasaf. In Genesis it is given by Rachel to her son with the wish that God would add another son.