
He, along with his friends, Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens, seemed to have it made as teen idols who appealed to audiences of all ages. Not only did this hit serve as an all-American hit but it also reached an international audience as his North American popularity even reached overseas, namely in Ireland, Scotland, and the United Kingdom regions.

This song served as one of the most important influences on the music industry as a whole, inspiring current and future recording artists on both a lyrical level as well as musical. The record included Untamed Youth‘s hit, “Sittin’ in the Balcony,” which was only one of a few rock singles on the album as the label wanted Cochran to move away from the genre of rock and roll.Ĭome 1958, Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues” catapulted his name even further as more than a teen idol. The summer of 1957 also saw Eddie Cochran sign up with Liberty Records, who released his first and only studio album while he was still alive, Singin’ to My Baby. Now well on his way to becoming a 1950s teen idol, the young star would also appear in his second movie, 1957’s Untamed Youth. The second of these two singles were for the 1956 motion picture, The Girl Can’t Help It, which he also happened to star in alongside Jayne Mansfield. Now Famousġ956 was the official breakthrough year for Eddie Cochran as he not only branched out as a solo artist with “Skinny Jim” but with “Twenty Flight Rock” as well. They did, however, first perform as the Cochran Brothers, which included recording a few singles for Ekko Records before Eddie went solo during the summer of 1956. Despite these two men sharing the exact same last name, neither are related to the other. In the process, he met a songwriter named Hank Cochran. While attending junior high, he formed a band with a pair of friends before attending and dropping out of Bell Gardens High School so he could further pursue his musical career. Almost Famousīorn Ray Edward Cochran on October 3, 1938, in Minnesota, he and his family later moved to California in 1952. Martin’s Hospital in Bath, Somerset, England, before succumbing to his injuries to the shock and dismay of millions. He was on tour in Britain when the vehicle he was traveling in was in an accident that had the young man rushed to St. This rebellious star won over the younger audience while he was still just a teenager during the mid-1950s and continued to wow the crowd until his tragic passing on April 17, 1960, at just twenty-one years old. Not only was he a talented vocal artist but was an accomplished multi-instrument musician that could pick the bass and guitar, play the drums, and tickle the keys of the piano. This classic rock and roll star forever earned his place as one of the most iconic musicians ever to grace the radio station. Feature Photo: Pinterest, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commonsįor the short amount of time he had on this earth, Eddie Cochran made a big impression on the American audience. The agonizing sense of frustration which is so crucial to adolescent life is never very far from his lyrics and in his best songs, like ‘ Donna ’ and ‘ Come On, Let’s Go ’, it is right up front, just as it is in Eddie Cochran ’s classic ‘ Summertime Blues’. ‘ Donna ’ is one of the classic teen love ballads, one of the few which reaches through layers of maudlin sentiment to give you the true and unmistakable sensation of what it must have been like to be a teenager in that strange decade. . Legendary rock critic Lester Bangs has written of this song: “ Valens sang with an unassuming sincerity that made him more truly touching than any other artist from his era. For thickness, the only thing that came close was Bo Diddley.


It had a much ‘thicker’ sound than anything by Elvis, Chuck Berry, Gene Vincent or even Eddie Cochran.

I had never heard anything quite like it. It was a record which really grabbed my teenaged ears.
Eddie cochran tv#
Writing in 1998, Billy Vera recalls “first hearing on Alan Freed ’s TV Dance Party, a local New York equivalent of Dick Clark ’s American Bandstand. His first, “ Come On, Let’s Go ” is now regarded as a straight-up rock and roll classic, but it failed to chart. Ritchie Valens released just two 45’s but still showed incredible versatility. Chuck Berry had previously been a part of Alan Freed ’s touring “ Biggest Show of Stars for 1957 ” that had a truly amazing lineup: Fats Domino, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, LaVern Baker, Eddie Cochran, the Spaniels, the Drifters, Clyde McPhatter, Paul Anka, Frankie Lymon, and others.
