Eddie Cochran (October 3, 1938 – April 17, 1960) was an early American rockabilly musician. He was born Edward Ray Cochrane, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and was raised in Albert Lea, Minnesota. He began his musical career in 1955 with an unrelated friend named Hank Cochran (later a country music songwriter). The duo recorded as The Cochran Brothers . Eddie Cochran also worked as a session musician, and began writing songs and made a "demo" with Jerry Capehart , his future manager.
In 1956, Boris Petroff asked Cochran if he would appear in The Girl Can't Help It . He agreed and sang a song called "Twenty-Flight Rock" in the movie. In 1957, Cochran had his first hit song, "Sittin' in the Balcony", one of his only songs written by someone else (John D. Loudermilk). He is best remembered for his own composition, "Summertime Blues", which helped to shape the future of music in the late 1960s, both lyrically and musically. Cochran's brief career included only a few more hits, such as "C'mon Everybody", "Somethin' Else", "My Way", "Weekend", "Nervous Breakdown", and his posthumous UK Number 1 hit "Three Steps to Heaven ".
In 1960, Cochran died in a high speed traffic accident in a London taxicab: his girlfriend, songwriter Sharon Sheeley, and the singer Gene Vincent survived the crash.
Eddie Cochran is interred in the Forest Lawn Cypress cemetery in Cypress, California. A posthumous album My Way was released in 1964.
The British Label Rockstar Records is still looking for unpublished songs and has brought much more stuff to the public since the early Seventies than was put on records during Eddie's lifetime.
Cochran is also known for his favorite instrument, the Gretsch 6120 electric guitar.
In 1987, Eddie Cochran was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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