So Glad He's Standing There

WHEN Joe Cocker stepped forward to accept an Oscar for best original song with Up Where We Belong, it was seen as a victory for the human spirit over the worst that rock 'n' roll could throw at him. His duet with Jennifer Warnes (pictured), from Richard Gere-Debra Winger romantic drama An Officer and a Gentleman, also won a Golden Globe and Grammy Award in the same year, 1983, as well as picking up a BAFTA at the 1984 British film awards. Yet Don Simpson, the movie's producer, was reported to have tried to have the number, written by Jack Nitzsche and Buffy Sainte-Marie with Will Jennings lyrics, dropped from the soundtrack, apparently declaring: "The song is no good. It isn't a hit." So much for his informed opinion. Released by Island Records in 1982, the ballad held the Billboard top spot for three weeks to become soul singer Joe's first US No 1. It also made the UK Top 10 and was featured in a 1989 British TV advertising campaign launching carmaker Rover's 200 series range.

Back home in the northern industrial city of Sheffield, delighted Mother Marjorie, better known as Madge (right), watched the Academy Awards ceremony on TV then proudly told her local evening newspaper how her boy fully deserved the Oscar for all his hard work. She was indisputably Joe's No 1 fan, both supportive and protective. Indefatigable, too, in the early days of Joe's persona as Vance Arnold (with the Avengers), his Big Blues and the Grease Band, keeping open house to the steady stream of visiting friends and musicians, and was equally welcoming when fans dropped in from around the world. Father Harold, a civil servant, was no less proud of his younger son, but was happy to let Madge do the talking.

You Are So Beautiful was her favourite song and Joe dedicated it to her on his home town return after 13 years in September 1982. On next summer's visit following the Academy Awards success he brought her his white suit from the ceremony to wash. Sadly, Madge died suddenly at home in late 1984. A lovely, lively lady, she had not seemed unwell so her death came as a shock to all. Working on new album Cocker in Memphis, Joe flew back for the funeral. There was one thing to be grateful for - two months earlier, Joe had paid a quick call at Sheffield, bringing Pam Baker to meet his parents for the first time. The pair had met after American actress Jane Fonda was persuaded to let him move onto her California ranch to straighten himself out. Pam would marry Joe in secret on the West Coast in 1987 and is credited in the authorised biography, With a Little Help from My Friends, by JP Bean, with cleaning up his act.

It was Billy Preston's You Are So Beautiful that had tempted Joe back to the studio in 1974 and Madge's favourite would feature on I Can Stand a Little Rain, the first Cocker album in some time and hailed by rock reviewers as Joe at his bluesy best, although live shows found him wanting at his boozy worst. If two tours with a new band got panned, critics still had kind words for Jamaica Say You Will, the second set produced by Mad Dog Jim Price. In early 1975, a forgiving Australia welcomed him back and, unlike the 1972 visit which ended prematurely amid drug arrests and deportation calls, Joe completed all his gigs, even included an extra one. Then it was off to Kingston to cut yet another album, Stingray, which he went on a 1976 tour to promote and make a classic appearance on top American TV comedy show Saturday Night Live when he was joined on Feelin' Alright by skitting star John Belushi.

As 1977 opened, Joe was in bad shape, physically and financially. Michael Lang, chief Woodstock Festival organiser, would rescue him as manager, packing him off Down Under with new musicians. It was a great success, followed by South and Central America, and album Luxury You Can Afford with New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint as producer. With things looking up, Joe decided to quit Los Angeles and its distractions. In October of 1978, Jane Fonda had agreed to let him rent the house on her ranch above Santa Barbara where Pam Baker, a Cocker fan, was director of the children's summer camps staged there. At last, Joe was out of the clutches of the usual hangers-on and was in powerful voice on a tour to back up the album, although sales were disappointing and he ended up owing the record company - and the UK taxman. A 10th anniversary Woodstock in Europe trek was generally well received despite Joe slipping off the rails once. Then came club tours with New York's Central Park as a high point that drew 20,000 before it was Europe again and televised Rockpalast 80 in Germany.

A return to New York in 1981 brought about an uneasy meeting with Mad Dogs & Englishmen circus ringmaster Leon Russell then off to Europe, Australia and Japan. That was also the year of Grammy-nominated I'm So Glad I'm Standing Here Today which The Crusaders invited Joe to front and the resurrection of his recording career with Sheffield Steel on Island. With Madge gazing from the 'royal box' at Sheffield's revamped Lyceum Theatre, he performed album tracks, oldies and as yet unrecorded songs to great acclaim. Europe, Down Under and Up Where We Belong were next. Just to prove how prophetic that title was, Joe received a summons to make a 1983 appearance on an LA tribute show to his early inspiration, Ray Charles (above), and duet with him. They would sing together again two years later in the then West Germany.

You can take the man out of Sheffield, but not Sheffield out of the man. All Joe ever wanted to do was perform, whether it be soul, blues, rock, gospel, whatever, yet there were always those ready to mess up his head or rip the T-shirt from his back. On the road to recovery, a bewildered Joe was behind bars again, banged up when a dodgy Austrian promoter falsely claimed he was too drunk to play a gig. Joe was proved blameless, but the experience left a bitter taste. Sheffield provided happier memories - a sold-out 1989 City Hall show as a grand welcome home and being awarded an honorary doctorate by the city's Hallam University at the same venue with Father Harold making a rare public appearance. Albums and tours have kept coming, his prized partnership with fellow Sheffield musician and Grease Band buddy Chris Stainton was resumed.

At 65 (on May 20, 2009), Joe Cocker OBE could look back on a turbulent life as a survivor. He spent his birthday on the road in Nevada on a string of North American dates that had kicked off in Florida on April 17 and climaxed in Memphis on July 18. One early report suggested his next studio project might be an updating of R 'n' B classics and there were glad tidings for fans who welcomed news confirming a 2010 album and tour on the forum of b> now revamped website. Recording in Los Angeles, he had laid down two tracks, was set to work on a couple more - all new material - before Christmas 2009 then return refreshed in the New Year. At the controls was Grammy Award-winning Matt Serletic, keyboardsman with onetime alternative rock band Class of '99 and former Virgin Records chairman/CEO, whose credits range over such diverse performers as Rob Thomas & Matchbox 20, Santana, Aerosmith, Willie Nelson and Courtney Love. A summer release on Joe's new label, Sony/Columbia, was threatened, although plans to hit the road with rock singer-songwriter Tom Petty in North America were rescheduled for June, due to a delay with the onetime Traveling Wilbury's new album.

While Shefffield waited patiently for news of a hoped-for homecoming, European fans were rewarded with his first major arena tour in two years. Opening in Russia in late September, the date sheet took in Latvia, Ukraine, Poland and the Czech Republic then on through France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Austria before winding up back in Germany until December 4. Hard Knocks (well, he'd had a few, but, then again, too few to mention!) was both the CD, out in early October, and the concerts intended to promote it. Rated by many as poppier than his releases of recent years, the 22nd studio album featured nine new songs and a version of the Dixie Chicks' I Hope, produced by Nashville veteran Tony Brown.

For those who had felt starved of new Cocker product, there was also the bonus of Joe performing Jimi Hendrix's Little Wing on Carlos Santana's studio album Guitar Heaven. But it looked like disappointment for UK followers who wanted to see the man back home in 2010.

It is not known if he will ever return to the big screen after his quirky cameo role in 2007 musical film Across the Universe which featured 33 Beatles songs. Joe performed Come Together while playing a bum, a pimp and a mad hippy! In between gigs and recording studio, he can retire to the Mad Dog Ranch at Crawford, Colorado, with its Gothic arches and majestic chimneys, as one visitor from Sheffield noted. Designed and built over two years, this is what he and Pam (seen above) call home, a working ranch breeding American Quarter Horses and Ankole-Watusi cattle originating from Africa, and where Joe enjoys the festive season. The couple are also involved with the non-profit-making, community-supported Cocker Kids' Foundation which, since 1998, has provided almost $700,000 to aid the local youth in the areas of education, recreation, athletics and the arts. Joe himself relaxes by walking his dogs, fishing, tending the garden. Who would deny that he has not earned the right to be king of Cocker Castle, as locals have nicknamed it?

Joe has had an incredible journey to date and has been fortunate to work with some of the finest artists around. But all of us Yorkshire folk know that this journey is so very far from over.

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Joe Cocker:
The Authorised Biography

Joe Cocker:
The Authorised Biography