Anita Renee Cockerham (born February 6, 1967), known professionally as Anita Cochran, is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer, songwriter, and guitarist. She has released two albums for

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

Nashville and one for Straybranch Records. Cochran is best known for her late 1997-early 1998 single " What If I Said", a duet with

Steve Wariner Steven Noel Wariner (born December 25, 1954) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Initially a backing musician for Dottie West, he also worked with Bob Luman and Chet Atkins before beginning a solo career in the late 1 ...

that reached the number-one position on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

charts.

Biography

Anita Cochran was born in

South Lyon, Michigan South Lyon is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 11,746 at the 2020 census, up from 11,327 at the 2010 census. As a western suburb of Metro Detroit, South Lyon is about northwest of the city of Detroit an ...

, into a family that enjoyed listening to country music. She began to play guitar at an early age, and later learned to play

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

and

Dobro Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally ...

as well. A local country musician, Anita's father often took her to country music festivals. She later found work both in bands and as a solo act, and was eventually hired to manage Pearl Recording Studios, a studio in

Canton, Michigan Canton, officially the Charter Township of Canton, is a charter township of Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the township had a population of 98,659. Canton Township is Michigan's second most-populated townshi ...

. In 1997, after moving to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

, she was signed to

. Released in 1997, her debut album, '' Back to You'', was produced by her as well. She co-wrote all but one of the album's songs and played several instruments on it. The album's lead-off single, "I Could Love a Man Like That", peaked at No. 64, followed by the No. 69 "Daddy, Can You See Me". The third single, a duet with

titled "What If I Said", reached the top of the U.S. ''Billboard''

Hot Country Singles & Tracks Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

charts in early 1998. Following this song was the album's fourth and final single, "Will You Be Here?" also at No. 69. Her second album, ''Anita'', produced three singles, all of which failed to reach the top 40. For the first single from her third album, ''God Created Woman'', Cochran spliced in

Conway Twitty Harold Lloyd Jenkins (September 1, 1933 – June 5, 1993), better known by his stage name Conway Twitty, was an American singer and songwriter. Initially a part of the 1950s rockabilly scene, Twitty was best known as a country music performer. ...

's vocals from earlier songs of his to form a duet entitled "(I Wanna Hear) A Cheatin' Song". This song peaked at No. 57; the album was never released. In 2007, Cochran produced country music singer

Tammy Cochran Tammy Cochran (born January 30, 1972) is an American country music artist. Signed to Epic Records Nashville in 2000, she released her Tammy Cochran (album), self titled debut album that year, followed a year later by ''Life Happened''. These two ...

's album ''Where I Am''. The two singers are not related. Cochran was diagnosed with breast cancer in late 2017. In 2018, several artists gathered to hold a benefit concert for her.90s Country Stars Band Together at Anita Cochran Cancer Benefit
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Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Music Videos

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cochran, Anita 1967 births American country guitarists American country singer-songwriters American women country singers American country record producers Resonator guitarists Living people American mandolinists People from South Lyon, Michigan Country musicians from Michigan Singer-songwriters from Michigan Guitarists from Michigan 20th-century American guitarists American women record producers 20th-century American women guitarists 21st-century American women