Part Two: Gaining Altitude

Excerpts from Joe Cocker - With A Little Help From My Friends - The Authorized Biography by J.P. Bean, published by Omnibus Press, London and Hannibal Verlag, Vienna

Songs were written. Soon a demo found its way to Denny Cordell, the producer of The Moody Blues, Georgie Fame, and Procul Harum. Cordell liked what he heard of Joe, and soon set him up in London with a residency at The Marquee.

The following year Joe left the Gas Board and released his first single, a cover of The Beatles "I'll Cry Instead." His band, Joe Cocker Big Blues, built up a large following in the north of England and ventured to France for a two month stint, playing on American airbases.