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 such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...

and one of the lead vocalists for the

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

-based

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

rock band

Pablo Cruise Pablo Cruise is an American pop/ rock band from San Francisco currently composed of David Jenkins (guitar and vocals), Cory Lerios ( keyboards and vocals), Sergio Gonzalez (drums), Larry Antonino (bass and vocals), and Robbie Wyckoff (vocal ...

. 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 Pattie Santos and featured guests included

Airto Moreira Airto Guimorvan Moreira (born August 5, 1941) is a Brazilian jazz drummer, composer 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 membe ...

and his wife

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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 Pastorius III, also known as Jaco Pastorius (; December 1, 1951 – September 21, 1987), was an American jazz bassist, composer, and producer. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential bassists of all time, ...

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

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 Yazo ...

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 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 that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

and

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

. 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 po ...

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

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

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 in the United States A&M Records artists Guitarists from Mississippi 20th-century American bass guitarists Pablo Cruise members 20th-century American male musicians