Joe Cocker passed away

[fender7]

News in... Joe Cocker has passed away aged 70 ,after a battle with lung cancer. Another big loss this year ......Steve

[sixchannel]

A unique voice, a unique Talent.
RIP Joe.

[bor64]

Unique stage act too...thanks for the music!
RIP Joe

[kipper]

i can still remember the first time i heard him sing with a little help from my friends it was in a car just outside guildford great sound rip joe.

[stratsnstuff]

Another legend gone, so sad. As already been said, a unique singer and performer. Saw him at Ipswich a few years ago, magic. RIP Joe.

[Deleted]

This is so sad

Sent from my SM-G900F using proboards

[istvan]

Sad!
R.I.P Joe

[philc]

Sad news.

[ha2he]

Great voice. Such a shame.

[Charlie Hall]

Very sorry to hear this. Although I never became a fan for whatever reason, he was a part of the whole scene that was relevent to me at the time. RIP.
Charlie

[asimmd]

Sorry to hear this,such a distinctive voice.

RIP Joe thanks for the music.

Alan

[milko]

It's very sad news. I first saw Joe Cocker as Vance Arnold and The Avengers, when I was a very young lad in early1960s Sheffield. His treatment of the blues was electrifying. I remember his lead guitarist, back in that day. He was called Dave Hopper, I think, and played a sunburst Strat' , probably late 50s vintage, through a Fender Vibroverb, probably early 60s vintage.
The 'Verb was usually fairly well cranked up, nicely crunchy, and Dave used to make it sing! A very tasty blues guitarist. indeed. He and Joe were two of the golden boys of the Sheffield music scene.
I hope Dave's still got that pair of Bluesers. They'll make a nice little pension nest egg!
Joe used to sing though a Reslo Ribbon Microphone in those days, I seem to remember.
Of course, Joe's band later transmogrified into Joe Cocker's Big Blues and then the Grease Band - maybe chronologically the other way round, before becoming just Joe Cocker, with various line up changes along the way.
Sheffield was blessed with several guitar virtuosi at that time - Frank White springs to mind.
I also remember seeing Joe at The Esquire Club in Sheffield, a year or two later - mid 60s.
The stage there, was, I think, 2 old grand pianos with the legs cut off. Pretty trendy. I don't remember the club serving alcohol. Coffee and Cola were the order of the day.
One night, a now EXTREMELY famous band stopped by, returning from a Manchester gig. They were skint then and so begged a slot to play a set to scrape together enough fuel money to drive their Transit van back to London!
I bet these (now) VERY VIP rockers remember this with much laughter. Sheffield was quite bohemian in those days, and every lad wanted to play guitar.

Anyway; back to where we came in. Joes's passing. He was a real gentleman. Kindly and easy going. In fact once, when I was a very young lad, who'd sneaked into a Church Hall where Joe was playing, Joe let me have a try of his microphone as they were packing up, and Dave Hopper let me have a twang on his Strat' through his 'Verb. Even showed me a chord or two. I'd never touched ANY guitar whatsoever, before; and there I was playing a the Rolls Royce of them!

I'd pocket moneyed my way to a (very) beaten up Dallas Tuxedo guitar within 6 months of this, played through my mum's Radiogram, which I'd wired up with a jack socket. It sounded terrible, but the bug had bitten; the virus taken hold. 'Apache' was within my reach! (Rubbish EQ and no echo, but hey! it was me playing!)

Always had a thing about Strats since then! The home of tone really, aren't they?

enough rambling:-

RIP Joe. You were a diamond bloke. You and your guitarist Dave, gave me a love of Blues guitar, which is only matched by my love of The Shadows.

Thanks Joe. Rock on. 

Milko. . ......... (who now lives in the South East.) Mind you; you can take a boy out of Sheffield, but not, of course, Sheffield out of the boy.

[bobe]

Very sad indeed, to my ears Joe gave us one of the best love songs ever. When you think about it, a man with Joe's life style of the time could sing "You are so beautiful" with such feeling, it must have come straight from the heart. Will miss you mate. RIP.

[sandra]

Nice memories to have of a true legend Milko, but you must tell us all who the guys were who were skint, I can't see how it would be harmful in any way or at all libelous

[milko]

Hi Sandra!
Thanks for your interest in the old Esquure Club!
A Google search will eventually find the info you are looking for! I'm too cautious to go further!
Still: as you say; great memories from childhood!
I'm still a Shadows fanatic, of course. The ringtone on my phone is, naturally, one of their hits!
And Charlie, of course,! has helped me to get much closer to 'That Sound'. It's only me that's the weak link!
The compliments of the season to you and yours, and indeed to all.
Milko

[Viv]

Dec 24, 2014 2:24:07 GMT sandra said:

Nice memories to have of a true legend Milko, but you must tell us all who the guys were who were skint, I can't see how it would be harmful in any way or at all libelous

Hi Sandra,

Here is part of the answer. Read here

[sandra]

Dec 24, 2014 7:47:36 GMT Viv said:

Here is part of the answer. Read here



Thanks for that Viv but it is too long an article for me to read at the moment.

If anyone else has the time to read through it and can post the answer I would apreciate it

[oldrenders]

If I read the article correctly, it appears it was the Small Faces who needed fuel money to get back to London...