Joe Cocker's 5 Greatest Moments
Joe Cocker succumbed to cancer Monday at the age of 70, but the music of the veteran British belter will undoubtedly live on. Aside from his full-throated, soulful voice, Cocker was known for his funky stage moves, often contorting himself into awkward positions as if overwhelmed by the power of the music moving through his body.
To pay tribute to Cocker, we’ve assembled some of his finest moments.
1. “With a Little Help From My Friends”
Hundreds of artists have covered the songs of Lennon and McCartney over the years, but few have eclipsed the popularity of a Beatles original with their own take. Cocker is one of the select few. He took “With a Little Help From My Friends,” the pleasant, Ringo Starr-warbled second track on the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band, and transformed it into a scorching soul ballad, featuring Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page on guitar. It topped the U.K. singles chart in 1968, and a year later, Cocker famously performed it at Woodstock. Amazingly, in the U.S., the single stalled at No. 68. Years later, though, it became the theme song for the period-piece sitcom The Wonder Years, thus exposing Cocker and his amazing Beatles cover to a whole new generation.
Here’s a clip of Cocker getting by, backed by all-star friends including Phil Collins on drums and Queen’s Brian May on guitar, at the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in June 2002.
2. “You Are So Beautiful”
This track also has a link to the Beatles. It was co-written by Billy Preston, the legendary keyboardist who was sometimes referred to as the “Fifth Beatle” and was featured prominently on the Fabs’ Get Back sessions and legendary 1969 rooftop performance. Preston first recorded the tune, but Cocker made it famous. For his arrangement, Cocker’s producer Jim Price slowed things down, allowing Joe to stretch out and belt it.
In this clip, culled from a German TV performance in the ’90s, Cocker strips it down with a touching, nearly unplugged version.
3. “The Letter”
Cocker didn’t only cover the Beatles. His first hit interpretation, reaching No. 5 on the Hot 100, was a version of the Box Tops’ “The Letter,” which was originally sung by then-teenager Alex Chilton. Cocker covered it in 1970 on his acclaimed Mad Dogs & Englishman album, an all-star live recording that also showcased the keyboard wizardry of Leon Russell.
Watch Joe, Leon, and recently deceased legendary sax man Bobby Keys rip into “The Letter” in this stellar 1970 performance.
4. “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window”
With the same Mad Dogs & Englishman crew, with Leon Russell moving from keyboards to guitar, Cocker also bravely took on the Beatles’ Abbey Road classic with stunning results, scoring a top 30 hit.
5. “Up Where We Belong”
Cocker had a five-decade career, but his biggest hit came in 1983 via a cinematic duet with Jennifer Warnes. The song, written by Jack Nitzsche, Buffy Sainte-Marie, and Will Jennings, was featured prominently in the 1982 box-office smash An Officer and a Gentleman and went on to top the Hot 100 for three weeks. It won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group, as well earning the songwriters a Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Original Song. Although it lacked the grit of some of Cocker’s classic earlier work, it helped expose him to a mainstream audience like nothing he’d ever done before.
Bonus Clip:
It’s often said that imitation is the finest form of flattery, and that’s certainly the case here. In this classic Saturday Night Live clip, the late John Belushi does a spot-on imitation that even impressed Cocker, who later performed “Feelin’ Alright” alongside Belushi on Oct. 2, 1976, when he appeared as musical guest on SNL. In a 2012 interview with the Broward/Palm Beach New Times, Cocker said, “I always found it quite amusing… I thought vocally, he did quite a clever job with it. It put a print on me that kind of stuck to this day.”
