Eddie Cochran - Summertime Blues

Eddie Cochran (October 2, 1938 – April 17, 1960), was an American rock and roll pioneer who in his brief career had a small but lasting influence on rock music through his guitar playing. Rolling Stone ranked him number eighty-four on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of all Time in 2003.

He experimented with multitracking and overdubbing even on his earliest singles, and was also able to play piano, bass and drums. His image as a sharply dressed, rugged but good looking young man with a rebellious attitude epitomized the stance of the Fifties rocker, and in death he achieved iconic status.

Cochran was 21 when he died in April 1960, in a road accident during his British tour.

Though his best known songs were released during his lifetime, more of his songs were released posthumously. Cochran's brief career included only a few 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".

In 1988, "C'mon Everybody" was used by Levi Strauss & Co. in an advertisement to promote its 501 Jeans catalogue and re-released as a promotional single, hitting #14 in the UK charts.

His most famous hit, "Summertime Blues" (co-written with Jerry Capehart), was an important influence on music in the late 1950s, both lyrically and musically. The song charted at #8 on August 25, 1958.

In 1987, Cochran was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His songs have been much covered, by bands such as The Who, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Dick Dale & his Del-Tones, Blue Cheer, Led Zeppelin, Humble Pie, Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Teenage Head, Tiger Army, UFO, The White Stripes, The Stray Cats and Sex Pistols.