Billy Joel has joined Paul McCartney and ZZ Top’s Billy F. Gibbons in calling for the induction of the legendary late British singer Joe Cocker into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Actually, Joel has been campaigning for Cocker to be inducted into the Rock Hall since 2014, but a video of him reading a letter he wrote back then was just publicly posted last week via Cocker’s official Instagram account.
🎬 SIGN UP for Parade’s Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox 🎬
In the clip from 2016, also posted to YouTube by documentarian John Edginton, Joel explains that he wrote the letter on Cocker’s behalf when the singer was seriously ill with cancer.
“I wrote this in 2014 when I heard that Joe Cocker hasn’t been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” Joel explains in the clip. “I was shocked. I mean they even inducted me before they inducted Joe Cocker so I was stunned to learn that, so I wrote a letter to the members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame committee.”
He then goes on to read the letter. “As a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 1999, it has been one of my finest hopes to see Joe Cocker inducted into it as well,” Joel says in the video. “When I first heard him in 1969, I was very inspired by the sound of his incredibly raw and soulful vocal style.”
The Piano Man went on to explain that in that “watershed year” of his life, he also attended the Woodstock Music Festival and heard Cocker sing his interpretation of the Beatles’ “With a Little Help From My Friends.”
“I thought Joe was the most powerful rock and roll interpretive male singer I had heard since first hearing the iconic recordings of Ray Charles. In my opinion no one has since come even close to him as one of the great primal rock ‘n’ roll vocalists of all time. I feel very strongly that Joe Cocker should be considered for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I hope you will consider putting his name on the voting ballot this year. Sincerely, Billy Joel.”
View this post on Instagram
Eleven years later, part of Joel’s wish has come true. Cocker is on the ballot this year. He’s currently in sixth place on the Fans Ballot, which is only partially considered in the selection process, behind Phish, Bad Company, Billy Idol, Cyndi Lauper and Soundgarden.
McCartney expressed his support for Cocker last month. Gibbons soon followed calling Cocker “the very embodiment of rock and roll in terms of talent and spirit.”
