Rock’n’Roll Heroes – Eddie Cochran

Eddie Cochran – Too Good To Be Forgotten

With the first official documentary about Eddie Cochran heading our way, we meet Don’t Forget Me filmmaker Kirsty Bell to find out what fans can expect, and rocker Darrel Higham, who explains why the legendary icon really was Somethin’ Else…

Eddie Cochran will be forever remembered as one of the brightest stars to shine on planet rock. His premature passing in 1960 deprived rock’n’roll of one of its leading lights and his influence remains immeasurable. Now, over six decades after his tragic death, his story is going to be told in a feature-length documentary, poignantly titled Don’t Forget Me.

Director Kirsty Bell, and her production team at Goldfinch Entertainment, have worked closely with Cochran’s family to compile the first official examination of the life and music of this much-missed trailblazing talent.

“We’re expecting to complete making the feature towards the end of the year or sometime in the first quarter of 2024,” Bell tells Vintage Rock. “We find ourselves in a situation where so many people want to speak lovingly about Eddie and share their memories. As a result, our schedule has been pushed back.

“While I was worried about it a few months ago, I had a little word with myself and thought about how Eddie has waited 63 years for this. I just want to do the best job possible with the picture and showcase this fine man who was taken too soon… if it takes a little bit more time, then it takes a little bit more time.”

Goldfinch, who enjoyed success with Quant, a documentary celebrating 60s fashion designer Mary Quant, and Ronnie’s, an acclaimed account of Ronnie Scott and his legendary Soho jazz club, have been granted access to Cochran’s unheard masters, paintings, intimate photographs and 8mm film, which has never been viewed publicly before.

Bell explains: “Our producer, Ben Charles Edwards, contacted me after a friend of his told him about some Eddie memorabilia he’d collected. He floated the idea of a theatrical documentary as he knew his story had never really been told before. I was immediately interested and, I must admit, working on this project has entirely changed my idea of who Eddie was as a person. Initially, I thought of him as a great rock’n’roller who died too young, but when I started to understand more about the man behind the songs, I was hooked.

“I have gained so much on a personal level from exploring his life and music. I was fascinated by his songwriting capabilities and his ground-breaking approach to playing the guitar, his ability to operate and develop techniques in the studio, and his forward-thinking attitude towards fashion. I was also intrigued by his fanbase and family life. The fact, at the tender age of 21, he was writing ‘Don’t Forget Me’ on all his autographs and letters has really stuck with me. While his music has most definitely lived on, I think it’s incredibly sad that the man behind the songs is often overlooked and has been forgotten.

“We were introduced to Eddie’s family and spoke at length about exactly what we intended to do. We wanted to stress that the focus was on his brilliance, his innovation, and the legacy that he has left. They were delighted that we were doing this as an independent production company and were really pleased that there was a woman directing, too. I’m thrilled that our documentary has the blessing of the Cochran family as they’ve never allowed an official film before. They’ve been so lovely to us.”

A guitar hero is born

Born in Albert Lea, Minnesota, on 3 October 1938 to Alice and Frank R. Cochran, Eddie was the youngest of five children. When his family moved to California to join his brother Bill, who had settled there after he’d left the military, the precocious young talent became fascinated with music. Initially keen to play drums in the school orchestra, he dropped the sticks on discovering he needed to take piano lessons first. So, he picked up Bill’s unused guitar and asked his elder brother Bob to show him some chords.

“Eddie’s childhood was interesting in the fact he came from a family that encouraged his music,” says Bell. “He was a session musician as a young teen and played in various outfits before he went solo.”

Inspired by the picking technique of Chet Atkins, Cochran honed a style of his own and soon became a versatile player himself, attracting attention from various groups on the local scene. In 1953, while playing in a collective called The Melody Boys, he met and started performing with the country singer Hank Cochran. Although they were not related, they recorded as the Cochran Brothers in 1955 and toured under that moniker until 1956.

“It was while he was performing with Hank,” adds Bell, “that Eddie heard about a guy called Elvis Presley who was sending all the girls wild wherever he played. So, they went to watch him and when he saw the crowd reaction, Eddie thought, ‘I want a bit of this’. He adopted a more rocking style and started to do this shoulder shrug that had the desired effect with the audience.”

“Around that time Eddie was constantly touring and he became friends with fellow rocker Buddy Holly,” Bell says.
“They regularly played the same venue on back-to-back nights and would often leave each other notes in the dressing room. On one occasion Buddy wrote: ‘It will be a cold day in hell before you pack them in here the way I did’…  So, when Eddie arrived at another venue before Buddy, he responded by saying: “You’ll have your work cut out here tonight, this audience is a frost’… They were great friends and had a mutual respect for each other.”

It was while Cochran was making music on a low budget movie that film producer Boris Petroff noted his teen idol potential and asked the handsome James Dean lookalike to play the song Twenty Flight Rock in an upcoming flick called The Girl Can’t Help It. Debuting in US theatres on 1 December 1956, his scene-stealing performance in the ground-breaking movie resulted in Liberty Records releasing the number as his fourth single for the label.

It was also the choice track to introduce Cochran to the UK’s record-buying public. Put out here on Decca’s London American Recordings in April 1957, Twenty Flight Rock failed to chart. However, it would still go on to have a monumental impact on Britain’s music landscape when Paul McCartney, knowing John Lennon was a big fan, sang it during his audition to join The Quarrymen.

Cochran made his first significant impression on the UK charts in December 1958 when Summertime Blues reached No.18. Written with Capehart, the song captured the imagination of frustrated kids on both sides of the pond, making No.8 on the US Billboard chart. Hot on its heels came another timeless teen anthem, C’mon Everybody, which sat in the Top 10 of the British hit parade for three weeks and peaked at No.6. The fact that the rollicking single, Somethin’ Else, penned by his girlfriend Sharon Sheeley and brother Bob, only made No.22 suggests that listeners were not entirely ready for Cochran’s hard-hitting approach.

“Listen to those iconic singles and you can hear how Eddie was ahead of his time,” reflects Bell. “His unique
style changed the way everyone plays guitar. He didn’t just accept a guitar for being a guitar and wanted to make it do more. He was the first to use an unwound third string to bend notes and now, because of Eddie and his iconic Gretsch 6120, the guitar comes with the third string unwound.

“He sang about the youth of the day. His manager tried to push him down the ballad route because his voice lent itself to softer songs, but they weren’t as successful. The ones that have lasted and been covered countless times, are those that have simple stories and melodies. Eddie knew he didn’t need to complicate the music if it worked, and it has subsequently struck a chord with teenagers across generations.”

Wintertime blues

Ever since Buddy Holly & The Crickets had rocked UK shores in 1958, the appetite for the sweet sounds from across the pond could not be satisfied. Jack Good, who had brought Oh Boy! to British TV screens, launched a new show called Boy Meets Girl and wanted to attract the hottest Stateside stars. It was announced that Gene Vincent would visit towards the end of 1959, and that Cochran would follow him in January 1960.

In early 1959, Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper were killed in a plane crash between destinations on their ill-fated Winter Dance Party Tour of America. Shaken by their deaths, Cochran’s close associates later claimed that he developed morbid thoughts about his own mortality. With assurance from the British pop manager and promoter Larry Parnes that all internal UK travel would be by road or rail, Cochran arrived in Britain for two scheduled appearances on Boy Meets Girl and embarked on an 11-week tour with Vincent.

“You could make a whole film about that tour with Gene,” Bell says. “It’s one of those subject matters where you wish you could go back in time and follow them around as a fly on the wall.

“It was a hard slog for the both of them, but I think Eddie in particular found it tough going. He was so young and very close to his family, especially his mother. He phoned Alice every night when he was away and racked up huge telephone bills.

“It wasn’t a particularly well-planned tour, and they had to constantly travel the length and breadth of the UK by bus, car, or train. Starting in Ipswich at the end of January, the pair experienced dreadful winter weather during their visit. Being lads from warmer climes, they hated the freezing cold conditions – almost as much as the British food. There were no drive-in burger restaurants or anything like what they were used to and, while they were no doubt treated better than other people on the tour, they had no home comforts. I think it took its toll on Eddie and Gene.

“They still had a lot of fun, though, and Eddie had a wicked sense of humour. He liked to play pranks and would often hide the support Gene needed for his injured leg. The pair shared one hell of a bond and I find Gene’s influence over Eddie’s fashion style really interesting. He went from a 21-year-old dressing like he was 48 in America, to adopting the rebellious teen look over here. Where he loved wearing cardigans, massive preppy blazers, peg slacks, and loafers before, he suddenly started rocking leather trousers, silver waistcoats, and brightly coloured shirts.

“Eddie was fabulous and outrageous, British fans loved him. When he took to the stage for that first night in
Ipswich he said, ‘Hello Hip-swich’, and of course the girls went crazy. But he was universally liked – men saw
him as a man’s man and copied his style, while the women thought he was a blond Elvis. Groups waited outside venues and chased after them, so the pair had to employ decoys to get in one car while they snuck out a different exit and drove off in another.

“While he had an intoxicating and enticing charisma there was no ego. Gene would close every night on the tour and, while there were attempts made for them to switch, Eddie refused out of respect for his friend. He only ever wanted to get out on to the stage and give the best performance that he possibly could.

“Eddie was an intriguing character who seemed to have an endearing shyness. Gene recalled how, following shows, Cochran would often sit quietly in the corner on his guitar and when girls came into the dressing room, they would bypass everyone else and head straight for Eddie. He was very kind with fans and no one we’ve spoken to has had a bad word to say about him.

“However, I keep asking myself why a 19- 20- 21-year-old would ever write the words ‘Don’t Forget Me’ above his autographs? Is it because he was a humble guy who thought he might be a flash in the pan and was insecure about the fame that he was finding? … or did he think that he wasn’t ever going to get old?”

A visionary artist

On 16 April 1960, following the final show of the tour at Bristol’s Hippodrome, the car transporting Cochran, Vincent, and Sheeley towards London, crashed in nearby Chippenham. While the other occupants in the vehicle all survived the accident, Cochran would be pronounced dead at St Martin’s Hospital in Bath the following day. He was only 21.

“For artistic license it would be easy to say that the fortune teller Gypsy Rose Lee had predicted his downfall when she met the singer in Blackpool,” admitted Bell. “Sharon Sheeley also said that Eddie would have regular night terrors about his death during the tour and there’s a lot of reports claiming that he did have a sense of doom.

“However, I think he knew he was living in a very fast world and that fame could be fleeting. They didn’t have to go back to London that night as their plane wasn’t until the afternoon on that Easter Sunday. I think they were having a good time after the show and maybe wanted to get back to London early to party some more. It just shows how you can make decisions in a moment that will literally affect the rest of your life… or tragically take it away.

“We cover his death at the end of act two in our film, but this documentary is not about that. I think to concentrate on that fateful night would be a mistake. We want to tell the story of a man who considered his guitar to be his best friend and was loved by everyone he met. He created a legacy that somebody his age should never have been capable of.”

For an artist so young and with such a promising career still ahead of him, Vintage Rock wonders what Bell thought Cochran could have gone on to achieve. “I think if Eddie was around today, he would be heralded as a visionary music producer,” she offers. “He would have helped bring on loads more talent because he loved to help other people.

“He always looked to push boundaries when it came to recording and thought that the studio was the place to be innovative. He was experimenting with overdubs when he was in his late teens and had such a progressive approach.

“Eddie also had a burgeoning film career. He loved the big screen and was notorious for using a pan stick during concerts after he learned how to wear it in the movies. Like Elvis, Eddie was a very handsome man and a bad photograph of him doesn’t exist. However, while Elvis always aspired to be an actor and never regarded himself as a guitar player, Eddie was always a musician first and a great guitarist.

“I think, from what I’ve read and seen, he would be humbled by the fact we’re making this film. But, given he had such a playful side, I think he’d turn to the camera and say with a cheeky wink, ‘Of course you are’.

“If the fans recognise their hero on the big screen and see homage paid to his short life, then I will have done my job. However, I want to do more than this, I want everyone to know of his extensive influence and for new fans to emerge loving his music like we do. Then, I suppose, it would be nice for someone like Yungblud to take Eddie back to the top of the charts and for kids to be captivated by his music once again.

“This project has really been a labour of love. There are so many different aspects to the story, and I want to say it’s been like peeling back the layers of an onion… but it’s been so much nicer than that, it’s more like watching the unfurling of a beautiful rose.”

On 22 April, the Goldfinch production crew led by co-producer Julian Oliver, gathered alongside rock’n’roll fans of all ages at the legendary Ace Café on London’s North Circular to catch rockabilly guitarist and Cochran fanatic, Darrel Higham, perform an electric tribute to our cover star with his band The Enforcers.

“I love playing his music”, Higham told Vintage Rock after his scintillating set. “I have been gifted the opportunity
to get up on stage and sing his music for many years. Sadly, a lot of the people that remembered him when he was alive are no longer with us. With every passing generation, there’s less people that remember the pioneers like him. That said, we attract a healthy number of young people at events like this and I think that’s partly because Eddie didn’t live to an old age.

“When a young person sees his picture, they’re still looking at a young man. His music was created for them, and he knew that all kids wanted was songs they could dance and sing along to. That’s exactly what he gave them. The immediacy of his tracks, and the simplicity of his lyrics, made them easy to learn. Sometimes simple is the best way forward with music.

“I first discovered Eddie around the mid-70s. My mum and dad had a copy of his Singin’ To My Baby album, which had originally belonged to my Aunt Keira who had covered the back sleeve in love hearts and things like ‘Keira loves Eddie’. There are three atmospheric photos of Eddie on the front cover of that LP, and I was mesmerised by that fantastic middle picture of him holding his Gretsch. The moment I put that record on, was the moment I wanted to learn to play the guitar and become a musician. The music seemed to fit with the image of the guy on the cover and it pained me that none of my school friends knew who he was… I couldn’t understand why they were listening to the Bay City Rollers or Showaddywaddy.

“It goes without saying that he was an unbelievable guitarist, but he seemed to reserve his better performances for when he played for other artists. When he recorded his own songs, he placed more emphasis on the rhythm and melody. He was aware of how fast and far rock’n’roll had progressed since Rock Around The Clock and how the music he and his contemporaries were playing would continue to evolve.

“He had such a profound influence and that’s why he is ranked alongside other originators like Presley, Holly, Chuck Berry, and Little Richard, as one of the founding fathers. While they might get more recognition, I think Eddie’s music appealed to musicians and that’s where his credibility has always been. I have no doubt, as the 60s progressed, Eddie would have been accepted by the likes of The Beatles, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, and Jimmy Page. They would’ve all wanted to hang out with him and learn from him. He would’ve been the cool rocker from the 50s that they loved.

“In 1992 I got a very good insight into the kind of guy Eddie was, when I spent six months working in the US with
his backing band, The Kelly Four. His drummer Gene Riggio, piano player Jim Stivers, and bassist David Shriver, all spoke very highly of him. When we all visited Eddie’s grave it became abundantly clear how much they loved him.
It was an incredibly emotional experience.”

Again, Vintage Rock was intrigued to hear what Higham thought Cochran might’ve gone on to do had his life not been so tragically taken away. He said: “At the point of his death, his record label was going through a real purple patch. Eddie was going to record another album and I think that the success of his UK tour would have reverberated back home in the States. When I spoke to Simon Waronker, founder of Liberty Records and producer on the final 8 January 1960 session where Eddie recorded Three Steps To Heaven, Cherished Memories and Cut Across Shorty, he suggested the label would have got behind him and offered Eddie a lot of the songs that were subsequent hits for Johnny Burnette and Bobby Vee. I imagine he would’ve had tremendous success as a pop singer.

“I also think that he would have probably returned to his country music roots at some point. He would have enjoyed a number of revivals throughout the 60s and 70s. Whether he would have ended up playing the rock’n’roll festivals of the 80s and 90s, like so many of them did, I don’t know. But I’m sure his career would’ve been similar to that of Roy Orbison’s. Roy always believed he was a contemporary artist right up until the day he died and never thought of himself as an oldies act.”

Having delighted his Ace Café audience with fantastic renditions of favourites such as Twenty Flight Rock, Sittin’ In The Balcony, Hallelujah, I Love Her So and Nervous Breakdown, Higham closed with the Cochran classics Summertime Blues, C’mon Everybody and Somethin’ Else.

“You can play those last three songs to any audience, regardless of what music they’re into, and they’ll know them,” opines Higham. “They won’t necessarily know that it was Eddie Cochran, but they’ll know those songs. To have one track like that is extraordinary, but Eddie has several and that really is incredible. I have so many favourites which I love dearly. However, I think Somethin’ Else is the perfect rock’n’roll song and has lost none of its power.

“It’s really been my life mission to do whatever I can to keep his memory and music alive. All I have ever wanted to do, since he first inspired me to pick up the guitar, was to learn to play so I can get on stage and perform Eddie Cochran songs, and nothing has changed in all the years I’ve been doing this.”