In 1982 Joe Cocker recorded the duet “Up Where We Belong” with Jennifer Warnes for the soundtrack of the film An Officer and a Gentleman…..as the song became an international hit….while reaching # 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart….and winning a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo….plus, the duet also won an Academy Award for Best Original Song….and Cocker and Warnes performed the song at the awards ceremony.
Several days later, he was invited to perform “You Are So Beautiful” with Ray Charles in a television tribute to the musician….then in 1983, Cocker joined a star-studded line-up of British musicians including Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Steve Winwood and Bill Wyman for singer Ronnie Lane’s 1983 tour to raise money for the London-based organisation Action for Research into Multiple Sclerosis…cuz Lane was beginning to suffer from the degenerative disease. The tour included a performance at New York’s Madison Square Garden….and shortly thereafter, he released his ninth studio album, Civilized Man. His next album Cocker was dedicated to his mother, Madge, who died when he was recording in the studio with producer Terry Manning. A track from the album, “You Can Leave Your Hat On” was featured in the 1986 film 9½ Weeks. The album eventually went Platinum on the European charts….while his song “Love Lives On” was featured in the 1987 film Harry and the Hendersons.His 1987 album Unchain My Heart was nominated for a Grammy Award, although it did not win….and One Night of Sin was also a commercial success, surpassing Unchain My Heart in sales and yielding his final Top 20 hit in the United States, “When The Night Comes”, written by Bryan Adams, Jim Vallance and Diane Warren….it would peak at # 11 in January 1990.
As seen in this video herewith…..music legend Joe Cocker performs one of his most famous songs “A Whiter Shade Of Pale” on stage live in convert in 1983….and we here at ImaSportsphile are “tickled pink” to have this classic rock song from the 1960’s sung by Cocker in our treasure chest of vintage memories here at our site.
