[The book cover]
A Bath-based nurse and the injured songwriter she cared for are at the heart of a newly published account of one of music’s greatest tragedies
For 66 years, the Miller family preserved a skull-and-crossbones bootlace tie they say Eddie Cochran was wearing during the car crash that claimed his life.
Their account reached the authors of a detailed study of his final British tour just hours before the expanded book went to print.
It now appears in Eddie Cochran: The Complete Final Tour Experience, featuring the expanded book Eddie Cochran: A Fast Moving Beat Show.
According to the family, Cochran’s girlfriend, the American songwriter Sharon Sheeley, gave the tie to Cynthia Miller, a nurse who cared for her at St Martin’s Hospital in Bath.
Cochran died there aged 21 on 17 April 1960, following a taxi crash at Chippenham after his final Bristol performance. Sheeley and fellow American rock ’n’ roll star Gene Vincent were also injured.
Cynthia’s 14-year-old son Neil visited after school while waiting for his mother to finish work. He befriended Sharon Sheeley and met Gene Vincent, whose autograph he kept. The family’s collection later passed to Neil’s son Guy.
The episode adds an intimate perspective to years of research by co-authors John Firminger and Adrian McKenna. Their book reconstructs the tour date by date through interviews with fans, fellow musicians and venue owners, contemporary records and visits to surviving venues.
From eyewitness memories to the places where Eddie Cochran performed, the authors have pieced together a detailed account of the musician’s final months in Britain.
Publisher Neil Anderson, of Dirty Stop Outs, said: “This is arguably the most extensive account ever written of Eddie Cochran’s final British tour in 1960.
“John and Adrian have dedicated years of their lives to researching it, finding the people who were there, visiting surviving venues and examining each tour date in extraordinary detail.
“This expanded collection brings that work together with film, archive material and an exploration of Eddie’s musicianship. It is one of the finest things we have ever produced.”
Recognised as Britain’s first all-rock ’n’ roll package tour, the 1960 shows marked a turning point in British live music, bringing Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent together with an ever changing roster of emerging homegrown talent as support.
Cochran’s influence reached from the stage to the audience, passing on techniques to British musicians and inspiring a generation poised to make its own mark.
Among those watching in Liverpool was future Beatle George Harrison, who later recalled the impact of his playing and stage presence. His music had already helped bring the Beatles’ founders together when Paul McCartney impressed John Lennon with Twenty Flight Rock at their first meeting in 1957.
The original book received five-star reviews across the music press and was launched with help from British musician Richard Hawley.
The wider collection includes nearly two hours of exclusive film featuring John Firminger and Adrian McKenna, original tour support performer Vince Eager and British sixties star Dave Berry, who was in the audience at the Sheffield show and met his hero Gene Vincent.
Vince Eager shares memories of performing on the tour and his friendship with Cochran. Dave Berry recalls watching Cochran as a young fan, before finding chart success himself with The Crying Game. Fans’ eyewitness accounts feature in the book.
More than 100 additional archive photographs and images accompany the collection, alongside a Guitar Tricks Library exploring the playing behind Cochran’s distinctive sound.
Adrian McKenna, an acclaimed professional musician who performed in The Eddie Cochran 65th Anniversary Show, presents the library, demonstrating the riffs, solos and techniques that helped define Cochran’s music.
The collection costs £59.95, including free UK delivery, a certificate of authenticity, a bookmark, premium gift wrapping and digital archive access. International delivery is available.
Further information: https://dirtystopouts.com/products/eddie-cochran-the-complete-final-tour-experience
The collection is also available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eddie-Cochran-Moving-Tragic-Story/dp/191875604X/
