Vaezy.com: 6-ingredient holiday recipes

Striped Bass with Toasted-Shallot Vinaigrette and Spinach Recipe

Serve With: Brown Rice Pilaf with Almonds and Parsley Recipe and Dried Cherry "Popover" Recipe

Beef with Parmesan Potatoes Recipe

Serve With: Roasted Cumin Carrots Recipe and Pecan Wedges with Brown Sugar Whipped Cream Recipe

Roasted Tarragon Lamb with Butter Beans Recipe

Serve With: Sautéed Spinach with Basil Recipe and Boozy Clementines with Pound Cake Recipe

Smoky Braised Chicken and Gnocchi Recipe

Serve With: Butter Lettuce and Herb Salad Recipe and Apple Kuchen Recipe

Brown Rice Pilaf with Almonds and Parsley Recipe

Serve With: Roast Chicken with Olives, Garlic, and Thyme Recipe and Maple Baked Apples Recipe

Roasted Cumin Carrots Recipe

Serve With: Pan-Seared Lemon Sole Recipe and Bittersweet Chocolate Cake Recipe

Dried Cherry "Popover" Recipe

Serve With: Arugula and Pear Salad with Maple Vinaigrette Recipe and Beef and Shallot Stew Recipe

Pecan Wedges with Brown Sugar Whipped Cream Recipe

Serve With: Fettucine with Bolognese Sauce Recipe and Broccoli with Lemon Crumbs Recipe

Biography

After starting out as an unsuccessful pop singer (working under the name Vance Arnold), Joe Cocker found his niche singing rock and soul in the pubs of England with his superb backing group, the Grease Band.

He hit number one in the U.K. in November 1968 with his version of the Beatles' "A Little Help from My Friends." His career really took off after he sang that song at the Woodstock festival in August 1969.

A second British hit came with a version of Leon Russell's "Delta Lady" in the fall of 1969 (by then, Russell was Cocker's musical director) and both of his albums, With a Little Help from My Friends (April 1969) and Joe Cocker! (November 1969), went gold in America. In 1970, his cover of the Box Tops hit "The Letter" became his first U.S. Top Ten. Cocker's first peak of success came when Russell organized the "Mad Dogs & Englishmen" tour of 1970, featuring Cocker and over 40 others and resulting in a third gold album and a concert film. Subsequent efforts were less popular, and problems with alcohol (both on-stage and off-) reduced Cocker's once-powerful voice to a croaking rasp. But he returned to the U.S. Top Ten with the romantic ballad "You Are So Beautiful" in 1975 and topped the charts in a duet with Jennifer Warnes on "Up Where We Belong," the theme from the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman.

He has survived, still charting into the '90s, albeit with less frequency than he did in the '70s and '80s. He also continued to work throughout the new millennium. No Ordinary World was his first release since 1997's Across from Midnight. Respect Yourself appeared in 2002, and the covers album Heart & Soul followed in 2004. The European release Hymn for My Soul, which features cover versions of songs by Stevie Wonder, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, and John Fogerty, was issued on Parlophone in 2007. ~ Cub Koda & William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide