Born on 14 May 1953 in Lynn Lake, Manitoba in Canada, Cochrane got his start in music early, having purchased his first guitar at age 11 by selling a toy train set. In the early 1970s, Tom was performing in coffee houses across Canada eventually making his way to Los Angeles, California where he found a job writing theme music for the movie “My Pleasure Is My Business, the Xaviera Hollander Story.” Unfortunately, he was unable to find a steady income from music, Cochrane returned to Toronto, where he drove a taxi cab and later took a job on a Caribbean cruise liner.
In 1978 Cochrane met and joined the Canadian rock band Red Rider in the El Mocambo Tavern in Toronto. Alongside Ken Greer, Jeff Jones, Peter Boynton and Rob Baker, Cochrane was the lead singer and main songwriter for Red Rider, and together they recorded and released six studio albums, one live album and a best of album. Because of his time spent with Red Rider, Cochrane was able to flawlessly transition into his solo career in 1991. His first release was the single “Life Is A Highway,” which went on to become a global success. He then released his first solo album in 1991 called “Mad Mad World” and it sold over six million copies. He went on to release four more albums from 1995 to 1998, on top of continually making live appearances, and in 2003 he was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. In 2006 he recorded and released “No Stranger” and in 2014 was inducted in the Canadian Music Industry Hall Of Fame.
‘Life is a highway, I want to ride it all night long’…if you don’t know this absolute classic, you must have been living under a rock. Tom Cochrane’s hit Life Is a Highway, amongst other massive hits, was the song I was desperate to hear him play live. The Canadian rock singer/songwriter has had an immensely successful career, and now even features on the Canadian Walk of Fame.
Seeing him live was slightly surreal, as well as having his music on my ipod, I also had his CDs, and even vinyl’s, so after so long of listening, it was awesome to see him live. The venue was absolutely packed, it’s a shame that he doesn’t tour so much any more, because it was evident from the crowd that he wouldn’t have any problem filling venues! Everyone there appeared to be like me, a long time fan, who knew all the lyrics to the songs, and enjoyed dancing along.
Cochrane was wonderful at interacting with his audience, keeping everyone engaged, and even asking for song requests. It was cool to hear that he’d still been writing new music, and one song that he played should definitely be released! He’s a man of so much talent, who can still rick like he could 30 years ago, he should really come back to the stage full time!
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