THE WHITE KNIGHT OF SOUL
Wayne Cochran
Here’s a quick trivia question. What Number 1 Cash Box Magazine song was first produced in Vidalia and then in Dublin? Give up? Well, here is the story.
Wayne Cochran was a budding rock and roll singer out of Barnesville, Georgia. In his early twenties, Cochran had heard about deadly car wrecks where teenagers were tragically killed. The surviving and most plausible story is that Cochran was composing such a song when Jeanette Clark and J.L. Hancock and a few friends were out riding around Barnesville when they were hit by a tractor-trailer truck. Hancock and Wayne Cooper were dead on the scene. Two others survived. From that point on, it has been said that Cochran attributed the song, which he had written the year before, to the victims of that tragic accident in his own hometown.
If you are over 65 years old, you might remember the opening lyric: “Well, where, oh where can my baby be? The Lord took her away from me. She's gone to heaven so I got to be good. So I can see my baby when I leave this world.”
Cochran recorded his first song, “Coo” on Scottie Records in 1959. It was in the summer of 1961 when Cochran and quartet of friends went to the University of Georgia to record Cochran’s new song. The song was released on Gala Records, a new record company associated with Ted Kirby, a former country-western, rockabilly singer from North Alabama and owner of radio station WXLI in Dublin.
In the following year in 1962, Cochran re-recorded the song, “The Last Kiss,” and released it on Aire Records, which was owned by Kirby. The second version was revamped to add a bouncier, bossa nova like tempo, which was very popular during the early 1960s. Cochran peddled the song everywhere he went. Although it received three stars from Billboard Magazine and released two more times, it never became popular around the country. There is no surviving evidence to determine exactly where the song was recorded, possibly in the studios of Kirby’s radio station. Cochran released his third single, “Cindy Marie,” on Aire Records in that same year of 1962.
Cochran traveled to Dublin on April 10, 1964 to perform in a rock and roll revue performance live on the stage of the Martin Theater. The event was produced by Kirby to promote WXLI, which had a heated rivalry with WMLT to garner listeners who were going wild over the “new music” which had been sparked by the Beatles and other British Invasion groups along with classic rock and roll.
The show featured Bobby Cash and the Nite Flyers and Bobby Leeds. Cash signed with King Records when he was only seventeen years old. In February 1963, he released his first single, “Mona Lisa and Teen Love,” which was followed by “Run Fool Run,” “Only Make Believe,” “I Don't Need Your Love & Kisses,” “Answer To My Dreams,” “Tell Star,” “Nobody Knows,” and “Only With You.” Cash and his group toured for several decades still riding the wave of popularity of early rock and roll music. Cash and Cochran were good friends and co-wrote, “I Don’t Need Your Loves and Kisses,” one of Cash’s minor hit songs. Cash is a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.
Bobby Leeds was a part time car salesman and rock and roll performer who released around ten singles during the 1960s.
Cochran was heavily influenced by the country and rhythm and blues music. Cochran moved Macon, Georgia, the big city down the road. In the Music City of of Macon, Wayne built relationships with Otis Redding and James Brown, the former of whom was also associated with Dublin’s Ted Kirby.
In June 1964, J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers released “The Last Kiss.” Cochran’s song in a more pop format spent eight weeks in the top ten earning the one hit wonder group their first million selling record and the number two spot on Billboard Hot 100 chart and a highly coveted number one on the Cash Box survey.
“Last Kiss" was also covered by the American rock band Pearl Jam for the 1999 charity album “No Boundaries.” It would later appear on the group's 2003 rarities album “Lost Dogs.”
Meanwhile, Cochran’s performing career was floundering although he was raking in the song writing royalties from “The Last Kiss.”
Cochran decided it was time to make a bold change in his music. Going back to his soul roots, the young Georgian donned a white pompadour hair style and formed a new, bold andflashy group. He called the group, “The C.C. Riders.” With a stage full of performers, the revue style was something new for concert goers in his new home of Las Vegas, Nevada. Cochran borrowed his new style from the best, “The King,” Elvis Presley.
Cochran released an eponymous album, “Wayne Cochran” in 1967 which highlighted his new style. Several more albums followed his last album was released in 1972. The mandatory tour followed. Cochran and his band appeared 1970 Joe Namath and Ann Margaret movie “C.C. and Company” as themselves.
Once again, Cochran felt the need for another change of pace. He moved to Miami to become an evangelist. He did appear on the Letterman Show in the summer of 1982.
Wayne Cochran died from cancer on November 21, 2017 in Miramar, Florida. He was seventy eight years old.
So now you know the story of the “The White Knight of Soul,” and how he began his career right here in Central Georgia sixty years ago.
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