James Ray "Bud" Cockrell (March 28, 1950 – March 6, 2010) was an American musician and singer-songwriter, best known as the original

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a Bass (instrument), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...

and one of the lead vocalists for the

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

-based

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

rock band

Pablo Cruise Pablo is a Spanish form of the name Paul (name), Paul. People *Pablo Alborán, Spanish singer *Pablo Aimar, Argentine footballer *Pablo Armero, Colombian footballer *Pablo Bartholomew, Indian photojournalist *Pablo Brandán, Argentine footballer * ...

. Cockrell was in the band at its inception in 1973, but left in 1977 before its most successful album, '' Worlds Away'', to form a duo (Cockrell & Santos) with his wife and former

It's a Beautiful Day It's a Beautiful Day is an American band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1967, featuring vocalist Pattie Santos along with violinist David LaFlamme and his wife, Linda LaFlamme, on keyboards. David LaFlamme, who as a youth had once p ...

bandmate, Pattie Santos. He was replaced by bassist Bruce Day. Cockrell previously had a brief stint with the band

with

David LaFlamme David LaFlamme (born May 4, 1941 in New Britain, Connecticut) is an American singer and violinist best known for his longstanding association with the San Francisco band It's a Beautiful Day. LaFlamme's mother was from a Mormon family in Salt La ...

and Pattie Santos and featured guests included

Airto Moreira Airto Guimorvan Moreira (born August 5, 1941) is a Brazilian jazz drummer and percussionist. He is married to jazz singer Flora Purim, and their daughter Diana Moreira is also a singer. Coming to prominence in the late 1960s as a member of the ...

and his wife

Flora Purim Flora Purim (born March 6, 1942) is a Brazilian jazz singer known primarily for her work in the jazz fusion style. She became prominent for her part in Return to Forever with Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke. She has recorded and performed with nu ...

Return To Forever Return to Forever was an American jazz fusion band that was founded by pianist Chick Corea in 1972. The band has had many members, with the only consistent bandmate of Corea's being bassist Stanley Clarke. Along with Weather Report, The Headhun ...

and jazz fusion bassist

Jaco Pastorius John Francis Anthony "Jaco" Pastorius III (; December 1, 1951 – September 21, 1987) was an American jazz bass guitar, bassist, composer and producer. He recorded albums as a solo artist and band leader and was a member of Weather Report from 1 ...

Weather Report Weather Report was an American jazz fusion band active from 1970 to 1986. The band was founded in 1970 by Austrian virtuoso keyboardist Joe Zawinul, American saxophonist Wayne Shorter, Czech bassist Miroslav Vitouš, American drummer and vocali ...

Biography

He was born James Ray Cockrell in the

Mississippi Delta The Mississippi Delta, also known as the Yazoo–Mississippi Delta, or simply the Delta, is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi (and portions of Arkansas and Louisiana) that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo ...

where his father, Corbet Cockrell, and his uncle, Clint, taught him to play the guitar and bass guitar. Cockrell and his father played in bars throughout the Delta. His mother, Shugg Roncali, and his sisters Dottie, Rita, and Stephanie, still live in the region. Cockrell married Pattie Santos, and left Pablo Cruise to work with her in creating their own album, ''Cockrell & Santos''. Santos was killed in a car crash near Geyserville in Sonoma County, California on December 14, 1989. Cockrell also did a brief stint as the singer with

Sons of Champlin The Sons of Champlin are an American rock band, from Marin County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area, formed in 1965. They are fronted by vocalist-keyboardist-guitarist Bill Champlin, who later joined rock band Chicago, from 1981 to 2009 ...

from 1977 to 1978 in between his work with Cockrell & Santos. Cockrell wrote many of the songs performed by his bands. He was known as the "Rock and Roller" but also played

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

and

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, ...

. He spent his last years living in the Delta on

dialysis Dialysis may refer to: *Dialysis (chemistry), a process of separating molecules in solution **Electrodialysis, used to transport salt ions from one solution to another through an ion-exchange membrane under the influence of an applied electric pote ...

, where he died on March 6, 2010, due to complications of

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

Discography

* ''It's A Beautiful Day…Today'' (It's a Beautiful Day, Columbia Records, 1973) * ''

'' (Pablo Cruise's debut album, 1975) * '' Lifeline'' (Pablo Cruise's second album, 1976) * '' A Place In The Sun'' (Pablo Cruise's third album, 1977) * ''A New Beginning'' (Cockrell & Santos' only album, A&M, 1978)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cockrell, Bud American male singer-songwriters 1950 births 2010 deaths American rock songwriters American rock singers American rock bass guitarists American male bass guitarists People from Greenville, Mississippi Singer-songwriters from Mississippi Deaths from diabetes A&M Records artists Guitarists from Mississippi 20th-century American bass guitarists Pablo Cruise members 20th-century American male musicians