Photogenic, hugely talented and as cool as they come, Eddie Cochran was one of a kind
EddieCochran’s place in the pantheon of 1950s rockers is unquestioned. He has an instantly recognisable image, and was responsible for several songs that, no matter how often revived elsewhere, are indelibly associated with him. But he stands alittle apart from the rest of that elite group because in the US during his short lifetime he was only a middle-status performer, and never managed to land more than one solitary single, Summertime Blues, in the Billboard Hot 100’s Top 10.
Like Buddy Holly, the tragic nature of Eddie’s death made him one of the first rock’n’roll martyrs. But time has revealed amore complicated character than the stock image of the handsome dude with the gruff, remarkably mature voice, grinning and pouting while twirling abig orange Gretsch. Widely liked, it’s been shown that, despite his charisma, this easy-going guy wasn’t totally at home on stage, took his musicianship very seriously, and preferred experimenting with sound and the studio dynamics of writing, arranging and producing.