Joe Cocker (4,720 views)

[Platypus]

John Robert Cocker (20.05.1944 - 22.12.2014)
Years Active: 1961 - 2014
Vocal Range: F♯2 - G♯5

SPOILER: Click to show

{Album Ranges}
With A Little Help From My Friends (1969): A2 - E5 Platypus
Joe Cocker! (1969): C3 - D5 Platypus
Mad Dogs & Englishmen (1970): B♭2 - D5 Platypus
Joe Cocker (1972): B2 - D5 - E♭5 Platypus
I Can Stand a Little Rain (1974): C3 - D5 Smitty.
Jamaica Say You Will (1975): E3 - E♭5 Platypus
Stingray (1976): G2 - E♭5 SailorBlue
Luxury You Can Afford (1978): C3 - G♯4 - C♯5 Platypus
Sheffield Steel (1982): C3 - A4 - B4 Platypus
Civilized Man (1984): C3 - A4 Platypus
Cocker (1986): B♭2 - G♯4 - F♯5 Platypus
Unchain My Heart (1987): A2 - A4 - F♯5 Platypus
One Night of Sin (1989): E3 - G♯4 - E♭5 Platypus
Night Calls (1991): B♭2 - C♯5 - F♯5 Platypus
Have a Little Faith (1994): A2 - A4 - G♯5 Platypus
Organic (1996): C3 - A4 Platypus
Across from Midnight (1997): C3 - A4 Platypus
No Ordinary World (1999): G♯2 - G♯4 - D5 Platypus
Respect Yourself (2002): B2 - A4 - D5 Platypus
Heart & Soul (2004): F♯2 - E♭5 SailorBlue
Hymn for My Soul (2007): B2 - A4 SailorBlue
Hard Knocks (2010): B♭2 - A4 - E5 SailorBlue
Fire It Up (2012): C♯3 - D5 Platypus

Vance Arnold and the Avengers 1963 (2016): C♯3 - C♯5 Platypus

Significant High Notes:

G♯5 ("Too Cool")
G5 ("Civilized Man" Live Berlin 1988, "With a Little Help From My Friends" Live The Prince's Trust Rock Gala 1988)
F♯5 ("Don't You Love Me Anymore", "Heart of the Matter", "River's Rising", "Shelter Me" Live Berlin 1988, "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away")
F5 ("Civilized Man" Live Berlin 1988, "Hitchcock Railway" Live Berlin 1988, "The Letter" Live Pinkpop 1988, "Love Is Alive", "Two Wrongs", "Up Where We Belong" Live Berlin 1988)
E5 ("I Hope", "Saturday Blues" live mid-eighties, "Something's Coming On", "Summer In The City", "There's a Storm Coming", "Unchain My Heart" Live 1988, "With a Little Help From My Friends" live Fillmore 1986)
E♭5 ("Another Mind Gone", "Come Together" Live AVO Sessions 2007, "Delta Lady" Live Night Music 1988, "Every Kind of People", "Feelin' Alright", "I'll Go Crazy" Live Detroit, "Moon Dew", "Oh Mama", "Sandpaper Cadillac", "Satisfied", "Two Wrongs" Live Berlin 1988, "What's Going On", "When the Night Comes", "Woman to Woman")
D5 ("Bird on the Wire" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "Born Thru Indifference", "Cry Me a River" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "Dear Landlord", "Do Right Woman", "Eye On The Price", "Get On", "It's All Over But The Shoutin'", "I Get Mad", "I Can Stand a Little Rain", "Let Love Decide", "One", "Respect Yourself", "She's Good To Me", "Something to Say", "Soul Rising", "St. James Infirmary Blues", "You Can Leave Your Hat On" Live Dortmund 1992, "You Can't Have My Heart")
C♯5 ("Fire It Up", "Fun Time", "Hitchcock Railway", "I Can Hear The River", "If I Love You", "I'm Free", "The Letter" Live Dortmund 1992, "Love Is Alive", "Maybe I'm Amazed", "Night Calls", "Shelter Me", "Stay the Same", "Thankful", "This Is Your Life")
C5 ("Bye Bye Blackbird", "Do Right Woman", "Fever", "Hard Knocks", "I Broke Down", "I Come In Peace", "I (Who Have Nothing)", "Let's Go Get Stoned" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "The Man in Me", "Oh Mama", "A Song For You", "Space Captain" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "Sticks and Stones" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "Wasted Years", "You Can Leave Your Hat On")
B4 ("Cry Me a River" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "I've Been Loving You Too Long" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "Look What You've Done", "Midnight Rider", "(That's What I Like) In My Woman", "Too Cool", "You Are So Beautiful")
B♭4 ("Girl From the North Country" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "I'm Free", "I Get Mad", "Marjorine", "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away")
A4 ("Can't Find My Way Back Home" Organic, "Catfish", "Civilized Man" Live Pinkpop 1988, "Delta Lady" Organic, "Dignity", "The Great Divide", "Hard Knocks", "Hold On (I Feel Our Love Is Changing)", "I'm Listening Now", "Just Like a Woman", "Let Love Decide", "The Letter" Live The Prince's Trust Rock Gala 1988, "The Letting Go", "Living In America" Live Detroit, "Love Not War", "Many Rivers To Cross", "Midnight Without You", "The New Age of Lily", "Night Calls", "Respect Yourself", "River's Invitation", "A Song For You", "Tonight")
G♯4 ("Another Mind Gone", "Can't Find My Way Home", "Chain of Fools", "Different Roads", "Do Right Woman", "Don't You Love Me Anymore", "Every Kind of People", "Feels Like Forever", "Fire It Up", "Fun Time", "Got to Use My Imagination", "Have a Little Faith in Me", "Heart Full of Rain", "I Love the Night", "I Put a Spell On You", "I Think It's Going To Rain Today", "I Will Live For You", "I'll Be Your Doctor", "I'll Go Crazy" Live Detroit, "I'll Walk In The Sunshine", "I'm So Glad I'm Standing Here Today", "I'm Your Man", "It's Only Love", "I've Been Loving You Too Long" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "Lady Put the Light Out", "The Letter" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "Love Don't Live Here Anymore", "Love Is Alive", "Love To Lean On", "Loving You Tonight", "Maybe I'm Amazed", "Money (That's What I Want)", "No Ordinary World", "The One", "One Night of Sin", "Out of the Blue", "Out of the Rain", "River's Rising", "Satisfied", "She is My Lady", "Shelter Me", "Shocked", "Sing Me a Song", "Sixteen Tons", "So Good, So Right", "Soul Time", "Southern Lady", "Standing Knee Deep in a River", "Summer In The City", "Take Me Home", "There Goes My Baby", "There's a Storm Coming", "This Is Your Life", "Too Cool", "Trust In Me", "Unforgiven", "Walk Through the World With Me", "Wasted Years", "What Do I Tell My Heart", "When the Night Comes", "Where Would I Be Now", "With a Little Help From My Friends" Live Cologne 2013, "A Woman Loves a Man", "Woman to Woman", "Worrier", "You Are So Beautiful", "You Know It's Gonna Hurt", "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away")
G4 ("A to Z", "Ain't Gonna Cry Again", "All Our Tomorrows", "Angeline", "Another Mind Gone", "Bad Bad Sign", "Bird on the Wire" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "Boogie Baby", "Born Thru Indifference", "Bye Bye Blackbird", "Catfish", "Chain of Fools", "Change In Louise", "Civilized Man", "Come on In", "Come Together", "Could You Be Loved", "Crazy in Love", "Cry Me a River" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "Dear Landlord", "Delta Lady", "Different Roads", "Dignity", "Do I Still Figure In Your Life?", "Don't Drink the Water", "Don't Give Up On Me", "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me", "Don't Forget Me", "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", "Even a Fool Would Let Go", "Every Time It Rains", "Everybody Hurts", "Eye On The Price", "The Fall", "Feelin' Alright", "Feels Like Forever", "Fever", "First We Take Manhattan", "Five Long Years", "Five Women", "Forever Changed", "Forgive Me Now", "Get On", "Girl From the North Country" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "A Girl Like You", "Give Peace a Chance" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "The Great Divide", "Hard Knocks", "Heart Full of Rain", "Heart of the Matter", "Heaven", "Hell and Highwater", "Hello, Little Friend", "High Lonesome Blue", "High Time We Went", "Highway Highway", "Honky Tonk Women" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "Human Touch", "Hymn 4 My Soul", "I Broke Down", "I Can Hear The River", "I Can't Say No", "I Come In Peace", "I Can Stand a Little Rain", "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", "I Hope", "I Know (You Don't Want Me No More)", "If I Love You", "I'll Drown in My Own Tears" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "I'm Listening Now", "Inner City Blues", "Into the Mystic", "It's All Over But The Shoutin'", "I Get Mad", "I Stand In Wonder", "Isolation", "It's A Sin When You Love Somebody", "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It)", "Jack-A-Diamonds", "Jamaica Say You Will", "Jealous Guy", "The Jealous Kind", "Just Like a Woman", "Just Pass it On", "Just to Keep from Drowning", "The Last One to Know", "Leave a Light On", "Let It Be", "Let The Healing Begin", "Let's Go Get Stoned" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "Little Wing", "Living Without Your Love", "Long As I Can See the Light", "Love is For Me", "Love Is on a Fade", "Love Lives On", "Love To Lean On", "Loving You Tonight", "Lucinda", "Many Rivers To Cross", "Marjorine", "Midnight Without You", "Moon Dew", "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress", "Need Your Love So Bad", "Never Tear Us Apart", "My Father's Son", "Night Calls", "N'oubliez Jamais", "Now That the Magic Has Gone", "Oh Mama", "On My Way Home", "One", "One Word (Peace)", "Out of the Rain", "Pardon Me Sir", "Please No More", "Put Out The Light", "Performance", "Ride on Josephine", "Ring Them Bells", "Ruby Lee", "Runaway Train", "Sail Away", "Satisfied", "Saturday Blues" live mid-eighties, "Seven Days", "She Believes In Me", "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window", "She Don't Mind", "She is My Lady", "Shelter Me", "She's Good To Me", "The Simple Things", "So it Goes", "Something to Say", "Something's Coming On", "Soul Rising", "Space Captain" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "St. James Infirmary Blues", "Standing Knee Deep in a River", "Sticks and Stones" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "Summer In The City", "Sweet Little Woman", "Take Me Home", "Tempted", "That's the Way Her Love Is", "(That's What I Like) In My Woman", "That's Your Business", "This Old World's Too Funky For Me", "Tonight", "Two Wrongs", "Unchain My Heart", "Unforgiven", "Up Where We Belong", "Watching the River Flow", "Wayward Soul", "Weight Of the World", "What Do I Tell My Heart", "What Do You Say?", "What's Going On", "What You Did to Me Last Night", "When a Woman Cries", "Where Am I Now", "While You See a Chance", "A Whiter Shade of Pale", "With a Little Help From My Friends", "You and I", "You Came Along", "You Love Me Back", "You'd Better Move On", "Younger", "You Are So Beautiful", "You Can Leave Your Hat On", "You Can't Have My Heart", "You Haven't Done Nothin'", "(You'll Never Amount To Anything If You Don't Go To) Collage (A Fortuitous Concatenation Of Events)")
F♯4 ("Across From Midnight", "Beware of Darkness", "Bird on a Wire", "Black Eyed Blues", "Can't Find My Way Home", "Darling Be Home Soon", "Don't Let Me Be Lonely", "Every Kind of People", "Fun Time", "A Girl Like You", "Give Peace a Chance" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "Guilty", "Have a Little Faith in Me", "Hitchcock Railway", "Hold On (I Feel Our Love Is Changing)", "I Hope", "I Keep Forgetting", "I Shall Be Released", "I Think It's Going To Rain Today", "I'm So Glad I'm Standing Here Today", "Inner City Blues", "I've Been Loving You Too Long" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "Jamaica Say You Will", "The Last Road", "I Will Live For You", "Lawdy Miss Clawdy", "Let Love Decide", "Living Without Your Love", "Look What You've Done", "Love Is Alive", "Love Not War", "Loving You Tonight", "Marie", "Midnight Rider", "Midnight Without You", "Money (That's What I Want)", "My Strongest Weakness", "Naked Without You", "Need Your Love So Bad", "The New Age of Lily", "News Is Out", "No Ordinary World", "The One", "One Night of Sin", "Out of the Blue", "Please No More", "Respect Yourself", "Right In The Middle (Of Falling In Love)", "Sandpaper Cadillac", "She Believes In Me", "So", "Something", "Something to Say", "Soul Time", "Stay the Same", "Sing Me a Song", "Talking Back To The Night", "Thankful", "That's All I Need to Know", "That's Your Business", "There's a Storm Coming", "This Is Your Life", "Unforgiven", "Up Where We Belong", "When Something Is Wrong with My Baby" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "Where Would I Be Now", "A Whiter Shade of Pale", "A Woman Loves a Man", "Woman to Woman", "You Don't Know What You're Doing To Me", "You Know It's Gonna Hurt", "You Took It so Hard")
F4 ("Ain't Gonna Cry Again", "All Our Tomorrows", "Bye Bye Blackbird", "Change In Louise", "Could You Be Loved", "Dear Landlord", "Do Right Woman", "Don't Drink the Water", "Don't Forget Me", "Every Time It Rains", "Feels Like Forever", "Fire It Up", "Forgive Me Now", "Georgia on my Mind", "Got to Use My Imagination", "The Great Divide", "Heart Full of Rain", "Heaven", "Hello, Little Friend", "Highway Highway", "Hymn 4 My Soul", "I Know (You Don't Want Me No More)", "I Stand In Wonder", "I (Who Have Nothing)", "I'll Be Your Doctor", "I'll Cry Instead" "I'll Walk In The Sunshine", "I Love the Night", "I'm Free", "I'm So Glad I'm Standing Here Today", "I'm Your Man", "Into the Mystic", "Isolation", "It's A Sin When You Love Somebody", "It's Only Love", "Just Like a Woman", "Lady Put the Light Out", "The Last Road", "Let It Be", "Let The Healing Begin", "The Letter" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "The Letting Go", "Long Drag off a Cigarette", "Love Is on a Fade", "Love To Lean On", "The Man in Me", "N'oubliez Jamais", "Ride on Josephine", "River's Rising", "Sail Away", "Sandpaper Cadillac", "Saturday Blues" live mid-eighties, "Shocked", "The Simple Things", "So it Goes", "Southern Lady", "Space Captain" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "Sticks and Stones" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "Tempted", "There Goes My Baby", "This Old World's Too Funky For Me", "Tonight", "Two Wrongs", "Walk Through the World With Me", "Wasted Years", "Watching the River Flow", "What You Did to Me Last Night", "When a Woman Cries", "When the Night Comes", "While You See a Chance", "Worrier", "You Love Me Back", "You'd Better Move On", "You Are So Beautiful", "You Can't Have My Heart", "You Haven't Done Nothin'", "Younger", "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away")

Significant Low Notes:

E3 ("A to Z", "Angeline", "Bird on the Wire" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "Chain of Fools", "Civilized Man", "Cry Me a River" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "Darling Be Home Soon", "Do I Still Figure In Your Life?", "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", "Five Long Years", "Forgive Me Now", "Get On", "A Girl Like You", "Give Peace a Chance" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "I Get Mad", "I Hope", "I Put a Spell On You", "I Think It's Going To Rain Today", "I'm Listening Now", "It's A Sin When You Love Somebody", "Jack-A-Diamonds", "Jealous Guy", "Leave a Light On", "The Letting Go" One Night of Sin, "Little Wing", "Midnight Without You", "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress", "Marie", "Marjorine", "Need Your Love So Bad", "Night Calls", "Now That the Magic Has Gone", "One Night of Sin", "Out of the Blue", "Performance", "Please No More", "Saturday Blues" live mid-eighties, "Seven Days", "So", "Soul Rising", "Sweet Little Woman", "That's All I Need to Know", "That's Your Business", "There's a Storm Coming", "This Old World's Too Funky For Me", "Unchain My Heart", "Weight Of the World", "What Do I Tell My Heart", "A Whiter Shade of Pale", "With a Little Help From My Friends", "You Know It's Gonna Hurt", "You Love Me Back")
E♭3 ("Beware of Darkness", "Delta Lady", "Feelin' Alright", "Georgia on my Mind", "I'll Be Your Doctor", "Into the Mystic", "It's Only Love", "Let's Go Get Stoned" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "Living Without Your Love", "The Man in Me", "News Is Out", "On My Way Home", "She is My Lady", "The Simple Things", "Sixteen Tons", "Southern Lady", "Take Me Home", "Wasted Years", "What's Going On", "Younger", "You Are So Beautiful", "You Can't Have My Heart", "You Haven't Done Nothin'", "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away")
D3 ("Bird on a Wire", "Boogie Baby", "Crazy in Love", "Don't Forget Me", "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", "Even a Fool Would Let Go", "Hold On (I Feel Our Love Is Changing)", "Isolation", "Little Wing", "Jealous Guy", "The Jealous Kind", "Just Like a Woman", "Let Love Decide", "Long Drag off a Cigarette", "Love Not War", "Moon Dew", "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress", "Naked Without You", "Never Tear Us Apart", "Pardon Me Sir", "Performance", "Ring Them Bells", "Sail Away", "She Believes In Me", "She Don't Mind", "So it Goes", "Something to Say", "Soul Time", "Trust In Me", "Up Where We Belong", "Weight Of the World", "You and I", "You Came Along", "You Don't Need a Million Dollars")
C♯3 ("Across From Midnight", "Ain't Gonna Cry Again", "Fire It Up", "Five Long Years", "Georgia on my Mind", "Guilty", "I Get Mad", "Love Don't Live Here Anymore", "No Ordinary World", "Out of the Rain", "Shelter Me", "Southern Lady", "Stay the Same", "Talking Back To The Night", "Thankful", "Unforgiven", "Walk Through the World With Me", "When the Night Comes", "Where Would I Be Now", "You Don't Know What You're Doing To Me")
C3 ("Change In Louise", "Every Time It Rains", "Everybody Hurts", "The Fall", "Heart Full of Rain", "Hello, Little Friend", "I Can Stand a Little Rain", "Just Like a Woman", "Just Like Always", "Lady Put the Light Out", "Leave a Light On", "Let The Healing Begin", "Let's Go Get Stoned" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "Long Drag off a Cigarette", "Love Lives On", "Many Rivers To Cross", "Moon Dew", "My Father's Son", "Need Your Love So Bad", "On My Way Home", "A Song For You", "That's All I Need to Know", "That's the Way Her Love Is", "Walk Through the World With Me", "What Do You Say?")
B2 ("Cry Me a River" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "I Hope", "Naked Without You", "The New Age of Lily", "Out of the Rain", "River's Invitation", "Shelter Me" Live 1987, "Something to Say", "You Love Me Back", "You Took It so Hard")
B♭2 ("Five Women", "Forever Changed", "Girl From the North Country" Live At The Fillmore East 1970, "I'm So Glad I'm Standing Here Today", "Inner City Blues", "Sandpaper Cadillac")
A2 ("Don't Let Me Be Lonely", "I Shall Be Released", "Isolation", "Let The Healing Begin", "A Song For You", "Up Where We Belong")
G♯2 ("I'm So Glad I'm Standing Here Today", "Where Would I Be Now")
G2 ("A Song For You")
F♯2 ("I Keep Forgetting")

SPOILER: Click to show

{Questionable Notes}G♯5 ("I Put a Spell On You" ^[1])
F♯5 ("Just to Keep from Drowning" ^[5], "Trust In Me" ^[3])
E5 ("Everybody Hurts" ^[1], "I Will Live For You" ^[5], "It's A Sin When You Love Somebody" ^[3])
E♭5 ("Let's Go Get Stoned" Live At The Fillmore East 1970 ^[5])
D5 ("N'oubliez Jamais" ^[3])
C♯5 ("I Hope" ^[1])

C♯3 ("Every Kind of People" ^[1])
A2 ("Chain of Fools" ^[1])
G♯2 ("Forever Changed" ^[1])
G2 ("Naked Without You" ^[1])
.......................................................
[1] marks yelps and short trills in high range or anacrusis and short dips in low range.
[2] marks notes of questionable identity that cannot be confirmed to be the singer in question.
[3] marks non-melodic notes that don't have a significant enough pitch to warrant inclusion.
[4] marks notes that possess uncertain pitch or have been pitch-shifted.
[5] marks notes that do not fit the previous criteria but are not of a substantial enough quality to warrant counting towards the singer's range.

.......................................................
Blue marks falsetto or whistle notes.
Underlines mark notes that are obscured in the song mix.
Italics mark non-melodic notes.
Boldface marks notes that are considered to be particularly notable examples of this person's vocal capabilities.

[Seb]

Joe Cocker? More like Cock Joker

[Hennison Macklemore III]

Courtesy of Holsety on TRP2:

There are some harmony A4s here that I don't know his voice well enough to identify as him or not, and there was never a verdict reached on TRP2, so I figured I'd bring them up here and see if you lot can determine as much. Other than that, there are some F4s that you can jot down from this cover.

[Deleted]

I have a few suggestions for bold notes, if that's alright.

The E♭5 from Sandpaper Cadillac.

The C♯5 from Hitckcock Railway.

The F♯4 from Sandpaper Cadillac.

The G4 from Don't Forget Me.

The G♯4 from You Are So Beautiful.

Also, I think the G5 from Civilized Man could remain black.

There's a really distorted scream from the song A to Z that you appear to have excluded from the thread. I have no idea what it is, but it sounds like something around D5 or E♭5 to me.

And one final thing, if this is the A5 from River's Rising, I think it could definitely be included in the thread. It doesn't sound that bad to me, especially compared to the apparently countable C5 from You Can Leave Your Hat On.

I apologize if I sound overly critical, I actually think you did a really good job with this thread otherwise.

[Platypus]

Those notes are pretty good, but none of them really stick out to me as boldworthy, except for maybe the F4 from Sandpaper Cadillac (I didn't even list the F4 in the thread, that's my bad).

Multiple people have suggested bolding the G♯4 from You Are So Beautiful, which baffles me because that is one of the ugliest notes I've ever heard

The G5 from Civilized Man is actually here.

That scream from A to Z doesn't really have any pitch to speak of.

After doing some isolating in Audacity, I'm thinking the A5 from River's Rising is probably a mispitched C♯5 joecocker.mp3 (47.31 KB))

[Deleted]

How is Joe Cocker able to produce such distorted screams like many of the green notes in this thread? (Besides the G#5, that appears to be something else entirely).

[Homelander]

Nice! Joe Cocker is easily my favourite singer. He had always managed to make his technically imperfect voice sound pleasant to the ear. Although I wish he used his falsetto more, he had a basically perfect discography; not one album of his was bad in my opinion.

[Homelander]

Bold suggestion: The C5 from Oh Mama.

[Homelander]

Here are some non-melodic A5s.

Also, I think the E-flat 5 from Moon Dew is probably falsetto.

[Homelander]

I'm pretty sure Joe's highest chest note is actually this B♭4 from "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away". As far as I can tell, everything above that appears to be one of three vocal techniques:

1. His signature mixed voice screams.
2. Coarse falsetto.
3. The extremely distorted screams he employed mostly in his later years.

Also, for better or worse, there is this green F5 in (That's the Way I Like) In My Woman.