Joe Cocker Estate Inks Deal With Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists (EXCLUSIVE)
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The estate of legendary British singer Joe Cocker has entered into an agreement with Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group to acquire and develop the singer’s five-decade catalog. The acquisition includes the singer’s music intellectual property assets, including his interest in his sound recordings, compositions, and his name, image and likeness; further terms were not disclosed.
After working as a singer through the early 1960s, Cocker burst into the mainstream in 1969 with his electrifying cover of the Beatles’ “With a Little Help from My Friends,” which topped the British charts and sparked a major U.S. following, thanks in large part to his show-stopping performance at the Woodstock festival (and subsequent film). With his powerful and unmistakable soul-blues voice and explosive stage presence, Cocker’s popularity grew with the “Mad Dogs & Englishmen” tour, live album and film, which featured an all-star band helmed by Leon Russell.
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Cocker then withdrew for several years, re-emerging as a hit balladeer. His 1974 reimagining of Billy Preston’s “You Are So Beautiful” reached No. 5 in the U.S., and several years later his duet with Jennifer Warnes, “Up Where We Belong,” became a U.S. No. 1 and Grammy winner. He released a total of 22 studio albums over his 43-year recording career. He was awarded a bronze Sheffield Legends plaque in his hometown in 2007 and received the distinction of Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) the following year for services to music.
The estate’s Pam Cocker tells Variety, “I had been considering this move for some time. It’s a big responsibility to manage such a wonderful legacy. Wanting only the best for it, I, along with the heirs to the estate, felt that now was the right time to turn over this role to Iconic.”
Iconic president Jimmy Edwards added, “We are excited to have the opportunity to tell the story of Joe’s brilliant career as an artist. Our initial focus will be on Joe’s emergence as the preeminent interpreter of song in the late ‘60s early ‘70s, when he electrified the world with the Grease Band and ‘Mad Dogs and Englishmen.’ Through social channels and original content, we plan to celebrate not only Joe’s tremendous voice, but a golden era in rock music culture.”
The deal follows Iconic’s recent acquisitions of interests in the catalogs of Dean Martin, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Nat King Cole, and Linda Ronstadt. The company launched in January 2020 with the acquisition of a controlling interest in the legendary catalog of The Beach Boys.
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