John Robert "Joe" Cocker OBE was born on 20 May 1944 in Sheffield.
On leaving school he became become an apprentice gasfitter while simultaneously pursuing a career in music.
Under the name of Vance Arnold and the Avengers he began his singing career in the pubs and clubs of Sheffield in the 1960s performing mainly covers of Chuck Berry and Ray Charles songs.
He was propelled to fame when his version of With A Little Help From My Friends reached number one in 1968.
The musician performed the song at the famous Woodstock Festival in New York state a year later and was also well-known for his Mad Dogs and Englishmen Tour of 1970, which visited 48 cities across the US.
In 1982 Cocker recorded the duet "Up Where We Belong" with Jennifer Warnes for the soundtrack of the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman. The song was an international hit, reaching number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and winning a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo. The duet also won an Academy Award for Best Original Song, and Cocker and Warnes performed the song at the awards ceremony.
In 1992, Joe Cocker teamed with Canadian rocker Sass Jordan to sing "Trust in Me", which was featured on The Bodyguard soundtrack.
On 3 June 2002, Cocker performed "With A Little Help from My Friends" accompanied by Phil Collins on drums and Queen guitarist Brian May at the Party at the Palace concert in the grounds of Buckingham Palace.
Cocker was awarded an OBE in the Queen's 2007 Birthday Honours list for services to music.
Cocker, who recorded 23 studio albums and some 90 or so singles, lived on The Mad Dog Ranch in Colorado, in the US.
With his unique voice and style, whether in the studio or live, he was consistently able to produce cover versions of classic hits, including those written and performed by Lennon & McCartney, John Sebastian and Bob Dylan, that were equally as good as, if not better than the original recording.
Unfortunately I never had the pleasure to see him live in concert but will leave you with a selection of my favourite Joe Cocker songs.
Finally, if any of you are as big a fan as me and have 2 hours to spare, do yourself a favour and connect your laptop to your big screen TV and surround sound system and “get some of this” from Cologne in 2013:
Absolutely wonderful Joe - you will be sorely missed but your music will live on.
