Hank Cochran

Garland Perry "Hank" Cochran August 2 1935 – July 15 2010 Was An American Country Music Singer And Songwriter. Starting During The 1960s Cochran Was A Prolific Songwriter In The Genre Including Major Hits By Patsy Cline Ray Price Eddy Arnold And Others. Cochran Was Also A Recording Artist Between 1962 And 1980 Scoring Seven Times On The Billboard Country Music Charts With His Greatest Solo Success Being The No. 20 "Sally Was A Good Old Girl." In 2014 He Was Inducted Into The Country Music Hall Of Fame. Born During The Great Depression In Isola Mississippi He Contracted Pneumonia Whooping Cough Measles And Mumps All About The Same Time At Age 2. The Doctor Didn't Believe That He Would Survive. His Parents Divorced When He Was 9 Years Old. He Relocated With His Father To Memphis Tennessee But Then Was Put Into An Orphanage. He Was Sent To Live With His Grandparents In Greenville Mississippi After He Had Run Away From The Orphanage Twice. His Uncle Otis Cochran Taught Him How To Play The Guitar As The Pair Hitchhiked From Mississippi To Southeastern New Mexico To Work In The Oilfields. After Returning To Mississippi In His Teens He Went To California And Picked Olives. While There He Formed The Cochran Brothers A Duo With Un-Related Eddie Cochran. Aged 24 He Hitchhiked For Hollywood But Ended Up Going To Nashville In 1960 And Teamed With Harlan Howard To Write The Song "I Fall To Pieces." It Became A Major Success For Patsy Cline Recorded November 16 1960 Reaching No. 1 On The Billboard Country Music Charts And No. 12 On The Billboard Hot 100 Chart For All Music Categories . Cline Also Recorded Cochran's "She's Got You" Recorded December 17 1961 It Was Another Major Hit No. 1 On The Country Charts And No. 14 On The Hot 100 And "Why Can't He Be You" Recorded September 5 1962 . In 1960 He Was On A Date At A Movie Theater When The Film Inspired Him. He Left The Theater Quickly And By The Time He Got Home Fifteen Minutes Later Had Composed "Make The World Go Away." Ray Price Recorded The Song And It Scored No. 2 On The Billboard Country Charts In 1963. The Next Year Eddy Arnold Would Make The Song His Signature Hit Scoring No. 1 On The Country Music Charts And Then In 1965 No. 6 On The Overall Billboard Hot 100 Charts His Highest Rated Song Ever . Arnold Would Also Record The Song "I Want To Go With You". Cochran Wrote Several Successful Songs Sung By Burl Ives "A Little Bitty Tear" "It's Just My Funny Way Of Laughin'" "The Same Old Hurt" . He Also Wrote Songs For George Strait "The Chair" With Dean Dillon And "Ocean Front Property" With Dillon And Royce Porter Merle Haggard "It's Not Love But It's Not Bad " "Don't You Ever Get Tired Of Hurting Me " A No. 1 Scoring Record For Ronnie Milsap And Mickey Gilley "That's All That Matters" . While Working At Publishing Company Pamper Music He Used To Spend Nights Performing In A Nashville Tavern Named Tootsie's Orchid Lounge. There He Took Notice Of A New Performer Whose Talent Left Cochran Amazed. He Encouraged Management To Contract The Young Songwriter Willie Nelson Giving Nelson A Raise That Was Owed To Him At The Time. Two Of His Fondest Memories Were Working With Natalie Cole Among Other Artists On A 2003 Tribute Album To Patsy Cline Remembering Patsy Cline Because Of His Love For Her Father Nat King Cole And His Collaboration With Vern Gosdin For The 1988 Album Chiseled In Stone Gosdin's Highest Rated Album At No. 7 . In 2008 He Let Singer Lea Anne Creswell Come To His Home And Choose An Album's Worth Of Songs Which The Artist Released With The Album Title Lea Anne Sings Hank Cochran And .... Cochran Was Married Five Times Jeannie Seely Was His Fourth Bride And Suzi His Fifth From 1982. He Died On July 15 2010 Age 74. In October 2012 Singer Jamey Johnson Released Living For A Song A Tribute To Hank Cochran Which Features His Renditions Of Sixteen Songs That Cochran Wrote. Awards And Honors Include 1967 Walkway Of Stars – Country Music Association
1974 Nashville Songwriters Hall Of Fame
2003 Mississippi Music Hall Of Fame
2014 Country Music Hall Of Fame Inductee Artist Recordings
Notable Artists Who Have Recorded His Songs Include Eddy Arnold
Patsy Cline
Waylon Jennings
Natalie Cole
Elvis Costello
Bing Crosby
Ella Fitzgerald
Mickey Gilley
Vern Gosdin
Merle Haggard
Emmylou Harris
Rebecca Lynn Howard
Burl Ives
Jamey Johnson
George Jones
Norah Jones
Loretta Lynn
Henry Mancini
Dean Martin
Reba McEntire
Ronnie Milsap
Brad Paisley
Johnny Paycheck
Elvis Presley
Ray Price
Jim Reeves
Linda Ronstadt
Dinah Shore
Nancy Sinatra
George Strait
Hank Williams Jr
Lee Ann Womack
Richard Thompson
Keith Whitley Discography Albums
YearAlbumUS CountryLabel
1965Hits From The Heart—RCA
Going On Training—
1968The Heart Of Hank41Monument
1978With A Little Help From My Friends—Capitol
1980Make The World Go Away—Elektra Singles
YearSinglePeak Chart PositionsAlbum
US Country
1962"Sally Was A Good Old Girl"20Going On Training
"I'd Fight The World"23Hits From The Heart
1963"A Good Country Song"25single Only
1967"All Of Me Belongs To You"70The Heart Of Hank
1978"Willie"91With A Little Help From My Friends
"Ain't Life Hell" With Willie Nelson 77
1980"A Little Bitty Tear" With Willie Nelson 57Make The World Go Away read less