Eddie Cochran

Extremely scarce autograph sentiment in his beautifully florid script, “Michael, Don’t forget me, Eddie Cochran”, on lightly toned paper, affixed to a 10″ x 12″ mat board beneath a gorgeous and rarely seen vintage photograph of Eddie. Minor white ink mark at top left edge of his hair, otherwise in fine condition.

Edward Ray “Eddie” Cochran (1938-1960) was an American rock and roll musician and an important influence on popular music during the late 1950s, early 1960s. Having died at just 21 years old, Eddie Cochran remains one of the most sought after rock autographs in entertainment history, especially considering his impact on so many rock and roll giants who came after him.

His most famous hit, “Summertime Blues” was an important influence on music in the late 1950s, both lyrically and musically. Released on Liberty Records, the song charted #8 on August 25, 1958. Cochran’s brief career included only a few more hits, such as “C’mon Everybody”, “Somethin’ Else”, “My Way”, “Weekend”, “Teenage Heaven”, “Sitting in the Balcony”, “Three Stars”, “Nervous Breakdown”, and his posthumous UK number one hit “Three Steps to Heaven.”

One of the first rock & roll artists to write his own songs and overdub tracks, Cochran is credited with being one of the first to use an unwound third string, in order to “bend” notes up a whole tone—an innovation which has since become an essential part of the standard rock guitar vocabulary. Artists such as The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Van Halen, Tom Petty, Rod Stewart, The Who, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Buck Owens, Dion, Paul McCartney, and Jimi Hendrix, among countless others, have covered his songs. Hendrix performed “Summertime Blues” early in his career and Pete Townshend of The Who was heavily influenced by Cochran’s guitar style.

Cochran was a prolific performer, and the British Label Rockstar Records has released more of his music posthumously than had been released during his life. One of his posthumous releases was “Three Stars,” a tribute to J.P. Richardson, better known as The Big Bopper, and Eddie’s friends Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens, who had all died together in a plane crash just one year earlier. It was originally written and recorded by Tommy Dee just hours after the deaths were officially reported, and Cochran recorded his version the day after. His voice broke during the lyrics about Valens and Holly.

On Saturday, April 16, 1960, at about 11:50 p.m., while on tour in the United Kingdom, 21-year-old Cochran died in a traffic accident in a taxi in Chippenham, Wiltshire, about a hundred miles (163 km) west of London. In 1987, Cochran was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Rockabilly Hall of Fame has also recognized his pioneering contribution to rockabilly.

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