Bruce Cockburn

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Bruce Douglas Cockburn (born May 27, 1945) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist.

His songs range from folk to jazz-influenced rock, and Christianity covers a variety of topics, including human rights, environmental issues, education, and Christianity. Cockburn has written more than 300 songs on 33 albums in a career spanning 40 years, of which 22 have earned a Canadian gold or platinum award as of 2018, and 21 have sold more than 100,000 albums in Canada alone.

Cockburn's memoirs, Rumours of Glory, were published in 2014.

Early life and education

Cockburn was born in Ottawa, Ontario, and spent some time at his grandfather's farm outside of Chelsea, Quebec, but he grew up in Westboro, which was a suburb of Ottawa when he was a child. Doug Cockburn, his father, was a radiologist, and he later became the Ottawa Civic Hospital's diagnostic x-ray chief. He has stated in interviews that his first guitar was one he discovered in his grandmother's attic around 1959, which he adorned with golden stars and used to play along with radio hits. Since his first guitar tutor, Hank Sims, declared it unplayable, this was replaced when his parents bought him a Kay archtop with flat wound strings and a DeArmond pickup.

Peter Hall, the organist at Westboro United Church, which Cockburn and his family attended, taught piano and music theory later. Cockburn had been listening to jazz and wanted to learn about musical composition. Hall encouraged him and, with his buddy Bob Lamble, a lot of time was spent at Hall's house listening to and discussing jazz.

Cockburn's 1964 yearbook photograph shows his aspiration to be a guitarist. He moved from Europe and busked in Paris after graduating.

Cockburn attended Berklee School of Music in Boston, where his studies included jazz composition from 1964 to 1966. He dropped out and joined The Children, an Ottawa group that lasted for about a year.

Personal life

Cockburn was married from 1969 to 1980, and she has a daughter Jenny, who was born in 1975 from that union.

He suffered from a personal crisis when traveling together in Sweden with Kitty, which stems from marital breakdown. He prayed and begged Jesus for help. He felt Jesus in the room at that time, just as he had at their wedding. On that day, he became a follower of Christ.

Cockburn married M. J. Hannett in 2011, shortly after the birth of his second daughter, Iona.

Cockburn and his family live in San Francisco, where Cockburn's memoirs were published.

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Career

In early 1967 he joined the final lineup of the Esquires. He moved to Toronto that summer to form The Flying Circus with Marty Fisher and Gordon MacBain, former Bobby Kris & The Imperials members, and Neil Lillie, ex-Tripp member. The group recorded some material in late 1967 (which remains unreleased) before changing its name to Olivus in the spring of 1968, by which time Lillie (who changed his name to Neil Merryweather) had been replaced by Dennis Pendrith from Livingstone's Journey. Olivus opened for The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream in April 1968. That summer Cockburn broke up the band with the intention of going solo, but ended up in the band 3's a Crowd with David Wiffen, Colleen Peterson, and Richard Patterson, who had been a co-member of The Children. Cockburn left 3's a Crowd in the spring of 1969 to pursue a solo career.

Cockburn's first solo appearance was at the Mariposa Folk Festival in 1967, and in 1969 he was a headliner. In 1970 he released his self-titled, solo album. A single, "Going to the Country", appeared on the RPM Top 50 Canadian Chart.

Cockburn's guitar work and songwriting won him an enthusiastic following. His early work featured rural and nautical imagery and Biblical metaphors. Raised as an agnostic, early in his career he became a Christian. Many of his albums from the 1970s refer to Christian themes, which in turn inform his concerns for human rights and environmentalism. His references to Christianity include the Grail imagery of 20th-century Christian poet Charles Williams and the ideas of theologian Harvey Cox.

In 1970 Cockburn became partners with Bernie Finkelstein in the music publishing firm Golden Mountain Music. He won the Juno, for Canadian Folksinger of the Year, three years in a row, 1971–73. He was nominated for Canadian Folksinger of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year at the 1974 Juno Awards.

While Cockburn had been popular in Canada for years, he did not have a big impact in the United States until 1979, with the release of the album Dancing in the Dragon's Jaws. The album's first single, "Wondering Where the Lions Are", reached No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US in June 1980, earning Cockburn an appearance on NBC's TV show Saturday Night Live. Cockburn's label, True North Records, also signed a distribution deal with Recordi Records in Italy.

Through the 1980s Cockburn's songwriting became increasingly urban, global and political as he became more involved with progressive causes. His political concerns were first hinted at on the albums: Humans, Inner City Front and The Trouble with Normal. They became more evident in 1984, with his second US radio hit, "If I Had a Rocket Launcher" (No. 88 in the US) from the Stealing Fire album. He had written the song a year earlier, after visiting Guatemalan refugee camps in Mexico that were attacked by Guatemalan military helicopters. His political activism continues to the present. His internationalist bent is reflected in the many world music influences in his music, including reggae and Latin music.

In 1991 Intrepid Records released Kick at the Darkness, a tribute album to Cockburn whose title comes from a phrase in his song "Lovers in a Dangerous Time". It features the Barenaked Ladies' cover of that song, which became their first Top 40 hit and an element in their early success. This lyric was also referenced by U2 in their song "God Part II" from their album Rattle and Hum. Also in 1991, three of Cockburn's songs were listed in a Toronto Star survey among Toronto's top songs of all time.

In the early 1990s, Cockburn teamed with T Bone Burnett for two albums, Nothing but a Burning Light and Dart to the Heart. The latter included a song, "Closer to the Light", inspired by the death of songwriter Mark Heard, a close friend of Cockburn and Burnett. Cockburn frequently refers to Heard as his favourite songwriter and he was one of many artists who paid tribute to Heard on an album and video titled Strong Hand of Love.

In 2001 Cockburn performed as part of the Music Without Borders concert, a benefit for the United Nations Donor Alert Appeal, which raised funds for refugees from Afghanistan, at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

In January 2003 Cockburn finished recording his 21st album, You've Never Seen Everything, which features contributions from Emmylou Harris, Jackson Browne, Sam Phillips, Sarah Harmer, Hugh Marsh, Jonell Mosser, Larry Taylor and Steven Hodges.

Some of Cockburn's previously published material had been collected in several albums: Resume, Mummy Dust, and Waiting for a Miracle. His first greatest hits collection was Anything Anytime Anywhere: Singles 1979–2002, released in 2002.

Cockburn performed a set at the Live 8 concert in Barrie, Ontario, on July 2, 2005. Speechless, an instrumental compilation of new and previously released material, was released on October 24, 2005. His 22nd album, Life Short Call Now, was released on July 18, 2006.

Canadian senator and retired general Roméo Dallaire, who is active in humanitarian fundraising and promoting awareness, appeared on stage at the University of Victoria with Cockburn. The October 4, 2008, concert was held to aid the plight of child soldiers.

In 2009 Cockburn travelled to Afghanistan to visit his brother, Medical Officer Capt. John Cockburn, and to play a concert for Canadian troops. He performed his 1984 song "If I Had a Rocket Launcher" and was temporarily awarded an actual rocket launcher by the military. Cockburn has stated that, while unsure of the original Invasion of Afghanistan, he supported Canada's role there.

Cockburn released the studio album Small Source of Comfort in 2011.

In 2018, Cockburn's album Bone on Bone, was named Contemporary Roots Album of the Year at the Juno Awards.

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