Rip Joe Cocker

[Harry]

Great talent.

[TheTastyGreek]

I'll get the obligatory BIH, P out of the way...

Sad. My earliest exposure to him was my mom listening to "Up Where We Belong" in the car when I was young. He was attached to a lot of movies and TV shows I'll always link him with. Other than the obvious (Wonder Years), I distinctly remember his version of "Summer in the City" under the opening credits of Die Hard with a Vengeance (until it cut off rather abruptly...), Carlito's Way, 9 1/2 Weeks... And for a lot of songs, I heard his version first (like "The Letter") and I didn't realize until older that he wasn't the first or even the definitive version of so many songs.

Talented guy.

[Stix]

I hate that most people only know him for those sappy 80s songs. No, he didn't write most (any?) of the songs he was famous for, but his versions were almost always better than the original.

My favorite: "Feelin' Alright", written by Dave Mason when he was with Traffic

http://youtu.be/FoAO0851FwA

[Stix]

Joe Cocker and John Belushi impersonating Joe Cocker on SNL:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZsOyO_lXD8