Joe Cocker facts: Life, relationships, death and Beatles covers of the Woodstock legend
2 May 2025, 10:14
Joe Cocker is celebrated with a little help from his friends.
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Joe Cocker has – at last – been announced as a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
It's long overdue.
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From his breakthrough in the late 1960s through a stunning 1970s and beyond, Joe Cocker's stunning voice made him a superstar.
He played some of the biggest festivals in rock history, won a Grammy award in the 1980s and was still picking up accolades in the 1990s and 21st century, before his sad death in 2014.
Below, we round up all the fast facts you need about the King of British Blue-Eyed Soul.
When was Joe Cocker born and where did he grow up?
John Robert "Joe" Cocker was born to RAF aircraftman dad Harold Norman Cocker and mum Madge in Sheffield on May 20, 1944.
As for how he got to be known as "Joe", it's a pretty obvious contraction of "John", isn't it? Other theories come from John and Harold playing a game called 'Cowboy Joe' together, or that he picked it up from a window cleaner who worked in the area.
Joe grew up in the Sheffield area and after he left school he worked as a gasfitter for the East Midlands Gas Board.
While they are both Sheffield legends, Joe Cocker is not related to Jarvis Cocker. It's been widely reported that Joe did fit a gas fire for Jarvis's mum once, and is even said to have babysat the future Pulp frontman.
How did Joe Cocker get into music?
I'll Cry Instead
Inspired by soul legend Ray Charles and skiffle master Lonnie Donegan, Joe Cocker was into music from a young age.
He was just 12 when he played his first "gig", joining his brother Victor on stage to sing some skiffle.
Cocker formed his own band The Cavaliers in 1960. Then came Vance Arnold and the Avengers (Joe was "Vance"), around about the time Cocker fell in love with the blues.
The band had some local success, and even supported The Rolling Stones at Sheffield City Hall in 1963. A year later, Cocker signed a solo deal with Decca.
His first single was a Beatles cover... no, not that one, but 'I'll Cry Instead', from A Hard Day's Night.
He then changed the name of his group to Joe Cocke's Blues Band, but they soon fell apart. He then joined forces with Chris Stainton to form The Grease Band.
Joe Cocker - With A Little Help From My Friends (Live)
The band fell apart and reformed with some new faces (though Stainton stayed), and in 1968 he recorded another Beatles song, 'With A Little Help From My Friends', which had just been released on Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band.
Cocker offered up a much grittier take than the original Ringo Starr vocals. The recording featured drummer BJ Wilson and organist Tommy Eyre, as well as backing vocals from Sue and Sunny.
Guitar came from session superstar and future Led Zeppelin icon Jimmy Page. The song climbed and climbed and eventually topped the UK singles chart on November 9, 1968.
How did Joe Cocker end up covering so many Beatles songs?
Joe Cocker - She Came In Through The Bathroom Window (Live)
The Beatles were undoubtedly the biggest band of the 1960s, and arguably the biggest band of all time.
While Joe Cocker could certainly write his own songs, he was most famous as an interpreter of existing work, bringing his gravelly, passionate voice to the table.
So it's no surprise that he took on The Beatles more than once in his stellar career.
His version of 'A Little Help From My Friends' was so good that Paul McCartney was happy to let him cover Abbey Road songs 'She Came in Through The Bathroom Window' on his second album Joe Cocker! while George Harrison was pleased to have him cover 'Something'.
And as late as 2007, Cocker returned to The Beatles to record a cover of John Lennon's 'Come Together' for the soundtrack of Across The Universe.
What famous festivals did Joe Cocker perform at?
Joe Cocker - Let's Go Get Stoned (LIVE in Woodstock) HD
I mean, what famous festivals didn't Joe Cocker perform at.
Cocker and The Grease Band toured with major artists like The Who, Gene Pitney and Marmalade before answering the call of the outdoors.
Joe played the Newport Rock Festival and Denver Pop Festival before the big one. His producer Denny Cordell had got wind of the upcoming Woodstock Festival and cajoled Artie Kornfeld into putting them on the bill,
Along with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Santana, The Who, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Sly and the Family Stone and Janis Joplin, Joe Cocker's was a standout performance at the festival when they took to the stage on Sunday afternoon.
Joe Cocker's Woodstock setlist was as follows:
- Who Knows What Tomorrow May Bring? (The Grease Band without Joe)
- 40,000 Headmen (The Grease Band without Joe)
- Dear Landlord
- Something's Goin' On
- Do I Still Figure in Your Life
- Feelin' Alright
- Just Like a Woman
- Let's Go Get Stoned
- I Don't Need No Doctor
- I Shall Be Released
- Hitchcock Railway
- Something to Say
- With a Little Help from My Friends
And he wasn't done. Less than two weeks later he was back in the UK, playing a set at the Isle of Wight Festival.
Cocker even returned to Woodstock in 1994 to play a well-received set at Woodstock '94.
What were Joe Cocker's biggest songs?
Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes - Up where we belong 1983
It wasn't all Beatles songs. Joe Cocker released 22 studio albums and 80 odd singles during his remarkable career.
He was also a famed live performer, easily racking up over 2,500 concerts.
Joe Cocker's biggest songs included:
- With a Little Help from My Friends
- Delta Lady
- She Came In Through the Bathroom Window
- The Letter
- Cry Me a River
- Bird on the Wire
- High Time We Went
- Feeling Alright
- Midnight Rider
- Woman to Woman
- You Are So Beautiful
- I'm So Glad I'm Standing Here Today (with The Crusaders)
- Up Where We Belong (with Jennifer Warnes)
- Unchain My Heart
- (All I Know) Feels Like Forever
- The Simple Things
- Take Me Home (with Bekka Bramlett)
- Let the Healing Begin
- Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
- Never Tear Us Apart
How did Joe Cocker end up singing the theme for The Wonder Years?
The Wonder Years 1988 - 1993 Opening and Closing Theme (With Snippets)
We didn't know it at the time, but The Wonder Years was one of the all-time great sitcoms.
Running for six seasons from 1988 to 1993, it starred Fred Savage as Kevin Arnold, navigating young adulthood in the late 1960s and early 1970s, mashing up laughter and tears in equal measure.
The Beatles were an obvious choice for the soundtrack, but the show went a little better in choosing Joe Cocker's version – the song that made him a star and closed his stunning Woodstock set.
"The story I got was that they showed Paul McCartney the pilot with them singing their version of it, and Paul McCartney made a call to Apple Records and said, 'If you’re ever going to let The Beatles be used on television, this is the show'," said actor Dan Lauria, who played Jack Arnold on the show.
"Apple Records said, 'Ya know what, we’ll let them use the song, but we’re not going to let them use the version of you singing it'. So they got Joe Cocker to sing it.
"Now, I don’t know if Paul McCartney recommended Joe Cocker, but supposedly, and I’ve heard this a couple times, that he [McCartney] was the one that made the call after seeing the pilot before it was put on the air."
Was Joe Cocker married and did he have any children?
90Joe Cocker had an on-and-off relationship with fellow Sheffielder Eileen Webster that lasted over a decade.
It was when he was living at Jane Fonda's ramnch in Santa Barara that he met local camp director Pam Baker in 1978. They hooked up and eventually married on October 11, 1987.
The couple didn't have any children together, but Joe had a stepdaughter from Pam's previous relationship.
How did Joe Cocker die and how old was he?
A former heavy smoker until he quit in 1991, Joe Cocker died of lung cancer on December 22, 2014. He was 70 years old.
"He was, without a doubt, the greatest rock/soul voice ever to come out of Britain and remained the same man throughout his life," said his agent Barrie Marshall.
"Hugely talented - a true star - but a kind and humble man who loved to perform. Anyone who saw him live will never forget him."
What awards did Joe Cocker win?
During his lifetime, Joe Cocker was showered with awards and accolades in recognition of his tremendous talent.
Joe won a Grammy Award in 1983 Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for 'Up Where We Belong', which he recoded with Jennifer Warnes.
In later years he racked up a clutch of further nominations at the Grammys, and a further nod from the Brits in 1993.
In 2007, Joe was appointed an OBE, and in 2025 Joe Cocker was finally inducted as a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
