BOOK CLUB LIVE: Eddie Cochran's Yorkshire shows recalled in book about tragic final tour

C'MON Everybody! Join us for a special live stream to launch a new book about the life of American rock and roll icon Eddie Cochran – recalling Yorkshire dates on his final tragic UK tour.
Eddie Cochran: A Fast Moving Beat Show – The Tragic Story of the Final, Fatal, TourEddie Cochran: A Fast Moving Beat Show – The Tragic Story of the Final, Fatal, Tour
Eddie Cochran: A Fast Moving Beat Show – The Tragic Story of the Final, Fatal, Tour

Sheffield music star Richard Hawley and Vince Eager, a celebrated UK rock 'n' roll star who actually performed on many of the spring 1960 tour dates with Cochran, have contributed to the book and will take part in the stream.

So will co-author Adrian McKenna and publisher Neil Anderson – famed for his Dirty Stop Outs retro books.

WATCH LIVE: Ask a question and share your memories of the Summertime Blues and Three Steps To Heaven hitmaker using #JPIbookclub and tune in on Thursday, July 22, at 6.45pm - CLICK HERE.

BUY THE BOOK: Eddie Cochran: A Fast Moving Beat Show – The Tragic Story of the Final, Fatal, Tour, signed by the authors, is £15.95 available now from www.retrobookoffers.net.

Check out the website for other great JPI Media Book Club offers. See details below.

The UK's first ever rock 'n' roll package tour notched up eight dates in Yorkshire with packed houses at the Gaumont Theatre in Bradford and Sheffield and a week’s residency at the Empire in Leeds.

Tragically Cochran, the tour’s brightest star, died at 21 years old in a road traffic accident just hours after the final date of the tour.

But the seismic impact he made in those few short weeks provided a blueprint for everything that followed in the sixties.

Beatlemania and the Merseybeat sound might never have happened if it hadn’t been for the punishing schedule of dates Eddie Cochran undertook with fellow American star Gene Vincent and a cavalcade of rising UK stars.

It was because Paul McCartney knew the chords and words to Twenty Flight Rock that he became a member of the Beatles. John Lennon was so impressed that he invited McCartney to play with his band, the Quarrymen.

His songs have been covered by and inspired the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen, The Who, Beach Boys, Rod Stewart, T. Rex, Cliff Richard, Led Zeppelin, the Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious, Simple Minds, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and many more.

Three Steps to Heaven, co-written and recorded by Cochran, featuring Buddy Holly's Crickets on instruments, became a posthumous UK number-one hit for him after his death in April 1960.

Eddie Cochran's influence is still as strong today as it was sixty years ago when the tour took place.

Richard Hawley, a Mercury Prize and Brit Award nominee, said: "Out of all those brilliant rockers from the '50s it was always going to be Eddie Cochran for me - he had the whole package. He was a fluent and inventive guitar player, a unique singer and a gifted songwriter."

The decade defining tour is chronicled like never before in Eddie Cochran: A Fast Moving Beat Show - the Tragic Story of the Final, Fatal, UK Tour.

Eddie Cochran's Yorkshire shows recalled in book about tragic final UK tourEddie Cochran's Yorkshire shows recalled in book about tragic final UK tour
Eddie Cochran's Yorkshire shows recalled in book about tragic final UK tour

The book is packed with personal memories of fans that attended the shows in towns and cities across the country in the spring of 1960.

Adrian McKenna, who has written the book with John Firminger, said: “Those eight dates have provided a lifetime of memories for fans and we’ve been lucky to have interviewed many of them for the book.”

The book includes rare photos and archive material and goes through the tour venue by venue and is arguably the most definitive study of the dates ever put to paper.

* If you attended any of the shows back in the 1960s -or know somebody who did - let us know with a message sharing your memories in the comments during the live stream.

The 1960 tour played at the following venues - this list also gives the building's existing status:

Jan 24th Ipswich Gaumont- Venue still in use

Vince Eager, who performed on tour dates with Eddie Cochran, will take part in our book club live stream.Vince Eager, who performed on tour dates with Eddie Cochran, will take part in our book club live stream.
Vince Eager, who performed on tour dates with Eddie Cochran, will take part in our book club live stream.

Jan 28th Coventry Gaumont- Venue still standing, now an annexe of Coventry University

Jan 29th Worcester Gaumont- Venue still standing, restoration planned – CLICK HERE.

Jan 30th Bradford Gaumont - venue still standing, restoration planned. For more – CLICK HERE.

Jan 31st Southampton Guildhall - venue still in use.

Feb 1st-6th Glasgow Empire - venue demolished.

Feb 7th Sheffield Gaumont - venue demolished.

Feb 13th Woolwich Granada - venue still standing, now a church.

Feb 14th Taunton Gaumont - venue still standing, currently used as a bingo hall. Council recently purchased. For more – CLICK HERE.

Feb 18th Leicester De Montford Hall - venue still in use.

Feb 20th Dundee Caird Hall - venue still in use.

Feb 21st Wembley Empire Pool - venue still in use.

Feb 24th Stockton-On-Tees Globe - restoration completed, reopens in September 2021. For more – CLICK HERE.

Feb 26th Cardiff Gaumont - venue demolished.

Feb 29th-March 5th Leeds Empire - venue demolished.

March 7th-12th Birmingham Hippodrome - venue still in use.

March 14th-19th Liverpool Empire - venue still in use.

March 21st-26th Newcastle Empire - venue Demolished. For more – CLICK HERE.

March 28th-April 2nd Manchester Hippodrome - venue demolished.

April 4th-9th London, Finsbury Park Empire - venue demolished.

April 10th-16th Bristol Hippodrome - venue still in use.

EDDIE COCHRAN: A FAST MOVING BEAT SHOW - THE TRAGIC STORY OF THE FINAL, FATAL, UK TOUR - SIGNED BY THE AUTHORS. Regular price £15.95 (Shipping calculated at checkout)– CLICK HERE.

OTHER BOOKS AVAILABLE:

DIRTY STOP OUT'S GUIDE TO 1980S CHESTERFIELD... IN PICTURES - COLLECTOR'S EDITION. Regular price £19.95 (shipping calculated at checkout) – CLICK HERE.

SHEFFIELD'S DATE WITH HITLER - BLITZ 80TH ANNIVERSARY - COLLECTOR'S EDITION. Regular price£19.95 (shipping calculated at checkout) – CLICK HERE.

Related topics: