Eddie Cochran

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Cochran was born on October 3, 1938, in Albert Lea, Minnesota, to Alice and Frank R. Cochran. He was of Scottish descent. Cochran took music lessons in school but quit the band to play drums. He began learning guitar, playing country and other music he heard on the radio. In 1952, his family moved to Bell Gardens, California. In January 1955, Cochran dropped out of Bell Gardens High School in his first year to become a professional musician. In 1955, Cochran formed a duo with the guitarist Hank Cochran (no relation) and became known as the Cochran Brothers. When they split the following year, Eddie began a song-writing career with Jerry Capehart. His first success came when he performed the song "Twenty Flight Rock" in the film The Girl Can't Help It, which starred Jayne Mansfield. Soon afterward, he signed a recording contract with Liberty Records and his first record for the label, "Sittin' in the Balcony", rose to number 18 on the Billboard charts. Cochran died in April 1960 in St Martin's Hospital, Bath, Somerset, after a car accident in Chippenham, Wiltshire, at the end of his British tour with Gene Vincent. On April 16, after they had just performed at the Bristol Hippodrome, and when they were on their way to Heathrow Airport to fly home, Vincent, Cochran, their tour manager Patrick Tompkins, and the songwriter Sharon Sheeley were involved in a high-speed traffic accident in a private-hire taxi. The other three passengers survived (albeit with significant injuries); but Cochran, who had been thrown from the vehicle, suffered more serious brain injuries and died the following day. Though Cochran's best-known songs were released during his lifetime, more of his songs were released posthumously.

Reader's Guide

Eddie Cochran's significance lies in his brief but influential career as a rock and roll musician. His songs, including "Summertime Blues" and "C'mon Everybody", became anthems for teenage frustration and desire in the mid-1950s and early 1960s. Cochran experimented with multitrack recording, distortion techniques, and overdubbing, even on his earliest singles. He played multiple instruments—guitar, piano, bass, and drums—and his image as a sharply dressed, attractive young man with a rebellious attitude epitomized the stance of the 1950s rocker. In death, he achieved iconic status. Cochran was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. A wide variety of recording artists have recorded his songs. Paul McCartney chose Cochran's "Twenty Flight Rock" as his audition piece, confident that his performance would impress John Lennon, which it did, and was hired as a member of Lennon's skiffle group, the Quarrymen, which later became the Beatles. Cochran's legacy endures through his recordings and his influence on later musicians.

Did You Know?

• Cochran's first record for Liberty Records, "Sittin' in the Balcony", rose to number 18 on the Billboard charts.
• Paul McCartney auditioned for John Lennon's skiffle group, the Quarrymen, by performing Cochran's "Twenty Flight Rock".
• Cochran was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
• Cochran's song "Three Steps to Heaven" posthumously topped the charts in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom in 1960.
• Cochran played lead guitar on Skeets McDonald's 1959 session for "You Oughta See Grandma Rock" and "Heart Breaking Mama".

Gallery