George Malcolm 'Mac' Cocker Cocker, Jarvis. ''Good Pop, Bad Pop'', London: Jonathan Cape, 2022, p. 320 (1941 – 3 June 2016) was an English-born Australian radio announcer, who worked for the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

radio network for 33 years, with stints on

Radio Australia ABC Radio Australia, also known as Radio Australia, is the international broadcasting and online service operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Australia's public broadcaster. Most programming is in English, with some in Tok ...

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...

Radio National Radio National, known on-air as RN, is an Australia-wide public service broadcasting radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. History 1937: Predecessors an ...

and 105.7 ABC Darwin. He was also known for being the father of

Jarvis Cocker Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963) is an English musician and radio presenter. As the founder, frontman, lyricist and only consistent member of the band Pulp, he became a figurehead of the Britpop genre of the mid-1990s. Following P ...

, the lead singer of the English rock band

Pulp Pulp may refer to: * Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit Engineering * Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture * Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper * Molded pulp, a packaging material ...

Early life

Born in Sheffield, England, Cocker worked as a DJ, musician and actor. He married art student Christine Connolly and they had a son, Jarvis (born 1963), and a daughter, Saskia. In 1970, Cocker walked out on the family, who woke up one morning to find a note that he had left them. He moved to Sydney, Australia.

Radio career

In 1974, Cocker was recruited by the

Australian Broadcasting Commission The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-owned ...

(ABC) to work for

on special projects in Melbourne. In March 1975, he was one of the early staff of 2JJ or Double J, a new radio station established by the ABC. Cocker remained at 2JJ, which later became 2JJJ and then Triple J, until 1985 when he left to spend five years travelling around the world. In 1984, he made two minor appearances in television series, one in the cricket miniseries ''

Bodyline Bodyline, also known as fast leg theory bowling, was a cricketing tactic devised by the English cricket team for their 1932–33 Ashes tour of Australia. It was designed to combat the extraordinary batting skill of Australia's leading batsman, ...

'', and one playing himself as a 2JJ DJ in the drama series ''

Sweet and Sour Sweet and sour is a generic term that encompasses many styles of sauce, cuisine and cooking methods. It is commonly used in East Asia and Southeast Asia, and has been used in England since the Middle Ages. Dickson Wright, Clarissa (2011) ''A Histor ...

'' about a band trying to make it in the Sydney music scene. For many years, Cocker fostered the rumour that he was related to the singer

Joe Cocker John Robert "Joe" Cocker (20 May 1944 – 22 December 2014) was an English singer known for his gritty, bluesy voice and dynamic stage performances that featured expressive body movements. Most of his best known singles were recordings of son ...

, who had the same surname and was also from Sheffield, although they were not actually related. Friend and 2JJ colleague

Mark Colvin Mark Colvin (13 March 1952 – 11 May 2017) was an Australian journalist and radio and television broadcaster for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), and worked on most of the flagship current affairs programs. Notably, based in Sydne ...

would later recall that Mac produced a radio documentary as he travelled with Joe Cocker's touring entourage entitled "I'm a Cocker, Too". In 1990, Cocker returned to Australia, and moved to Darwin in the Northern Territory. He resumed his career with ABC Radio, joining 105.7 ABC Darwin where he worked each of the regular shifts at some time, as well as presenting the specialist programs ''The Night Train'', ''The Globetrotter'' and ''Louvred Lounge'', as well as a weekly ''Vinyl Museum'' program for

in the early 1990s. He retired from the ABC in 2007 after a 33-year career.

Personal life

In 1998, Jarvis Cocker and his sister Saskia flew to Australia to meet and reconcile with their estranged father. In 2006, Jarvis maintained that he had forgiven him although they did not stay in contact, saying "I don't feel any bitterness towards him at all. I feel sorry for him." Cocker died in Darwin on 3 June 2016 after a long illness.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cocker, Mac Year of birth unknown 2016 deaths ABC radio (Australia) journalists and presenters Triple J announcers English emigrants to Australia Musicians from Sheffield 1941 births