Born on this day: raspy-voiced and outrageous platinum blond-pompadoured blue-eyed soul brother and showman Wayne Cochran aka “The White Knight of Soul” aka “The White James Brown” (10 May 1939 - 21 November 2017). The self-described “hillbilly with a sixth-grade education” had a profound influence on his friend Elvis Presley, who (at least according to Cochran!) adopted aspects of Cochran’s flamboyant style and wardrobe of white jumpsuits for his own Las Vegas extravaganzas. (Wait? In which grade did Cochran quit school? His New York Times obituary asserts "He dropped out of school in the ninth grade to pursue music - the story is that his school gave him the choice of either cutting his hair or leaving, and he left”). Anyway, in addition to Presley, his admirers included Ike and Tina Turner. Cochran and his band The C C Riders often played on the same bill and venues as the Ike and Tina Turner Revue both in Vegas and the chitlin’ circuit. Cochran was already covering Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Proud Mary”, which might have prompted the Turners to adopt it, scoring them a major hit single. In later life Cochran embraced religion and worked as a minister in Miami. Cochran is best remembered for the songs “Last Kiss” and “Goin’ Back to Miami”, but my favourite track of Cochran’s will always be his early lecherous 1959 rockabilly throb-a-thon “The Coo”. As the liner notes to the essential CD compilation You Better Believe It! White Trash Rockers 1955-69 concludes: “The Smell of cheap cologne, boozy breath and funky, none-too-clean glitter jumpsuit just oozes out the grooves.”
