Michael Thomas Cocks (11 January 1955 – 22 December 2009), known professionally as Mick Cocks, was an Australian

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

, most noted for his

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

and songwriting work with

Rose Tattoo Rose Tattoo are an Australian Pub rock (Australia), rock and roll band, now led by Angry Anderson, which formed in Sydney in 1976. Their sound is hard rock mixed with blues rock influences, with songs including "Bad Boy for Love", "Rock 'n' R ...

. His original sound and style heavily influenced

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...

, who recorded a cover of the Rose Tattoo song "Nice Boys". He was also a member of

Heaven Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...

, The Headhunters, Illustrated Men, Doomfoxx, Pete Wells' Heart Attack, and the

Ted Mulry Gang Martin Albert Mulry (2 September 19471 September 2001), known professionally as Ted Mulry, was an English-born Australian singer, songwriter, bass player and guitarist. As a solo artist, his second single, "Falling in Love Again" (February 197 ...

. On 16 August 2006, Rose Tattoo were inducted into the

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival Records (Australia), Festival, Sony Music ...

(ARIA)

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

. In April 2009, Cocks was diagnosed with

liver cancer Liver cancer, also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy, is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary in which the cancer starts in the liver, or it can be liver metastasis, or secondar ...

and died from the disease eight months later, on 22 December 2009. He was the fifth member of Rose Tattoo to die of cancer, preceded by

Dallas Royall Dallas Leslie "Digger" Royall (19491991) was an Australian hard rock drummer. He was a member of Band of Talabene (1973), Buster Brown (1975) and Rose Tattoo (1976–1983). He died of an unspecified cancer in 1991 while being treated for hero ...

(1991), Peter Wells (2006),

Ian Rilen Ian William Rilen (12 August 1947 – 30 October 2006) was an Australian musician. He was bass guitarist and songwriter with rock and roll band Rose Tattoo, and led punk rock group X (Australian band), X on guitar and vocals. Rilen was born in ...

(2006), and

Lobby Loyde Lobby Loyde (born John Baslington Lyde, 18 May 1941 – 21 April 2007), also known as John Barrie Lyde or Barry Lyde, was an Australian rock music guitarist, songwriter and producer. He was a member of two 1960s groups: Purple Hearts, which had ...

(2007).

Biography

Michael Thomas "Mick" Cocks was born on 11 January 1955.

formed in 1976 in Sydney with a line-up of Leigh Johnston on

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

, Tony Lake on

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

, Michael Vandersluys on

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

and Peter Wells (ex- Buffalo) on

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that ...

from Band of Light joined on bass guitar. Cocks soon joined the group and replaced Johnston on rhythm guitar. Lake and Vandersluys were substituted by former

Buster Brown Buster Brown is a comic strip character created in 1902 by Richard F. Outcault that was adopted as the mascot of the Brown Shoe Company in 1904. The characters of Buster Brown, Mary Jane, and his dog Tige became well known to the American publ ...

members

Angry Anderson Gary Stephen "Angry" Anderson (born 5 August 1947) is an Australian rock singer, songwriter, television personality and actor. He has been the lead vocalist and the longest-tenured remaining member of the hard rock band Rose Tattoo since 1976 ...

on vocals and Dallas "Digger" Royall on drums respectively. Rose Tattoo made their public debut on

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve refers to the evening, or commonly the entire day, of the last day of the year, 31 December, also known as Old Year's Day. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated with dancing, eating, drinkin ...

at the rock club Chequers. The band's debut single "Bad Boy for Love" peaked at No. 19 on the Australian

Kent Music Report The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music historian David Kent from May 1974 through to January 1999. The chart was re-branded the Australian Music Report (AMR) in July 19 ...

Singles Chart in 1977. When Rilen left the group Cocks switched to bass guitar then Chris Turner (ex-Buffalo) was brought and, in turn, was replaced by Geordie Leach (ex-Buster Brown). This line-up recorded their debut album, ''

'' which reached the top 40 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart in November 1978. The group was briefly banned from appearing on Australian TV pop TV show, ''

Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...

'' after Anderson kissed Cocks during their performance of "Bad Boy for Love". Early in 1981 the band's single, "Rock N' Roll Outlaw" started to chart in Europe, peaking at No. 2 in France, No. 5 in Germany and No. 60 in UK. The line up of Anderson, Cocks, Leach, Royall and Wells toured Europe from April. Three years after their debut album the band issued the follow-up album, ''Assault and Battery'' in September, which reached the top 30 in Australia. Both ''Rock N' Roll Outlaw'' and ''Assault and Battery'' peaked at No. 1 on the UK heavy metal albums chart. In 1980 Cocks was also a founding member of The Headhunters – an ''

ad hoc ''Ad hoc'' is a List of Latin phrases, Latin phrase meaning literally for this. In English language, English, it typically signifies a solution designed for a specific purpose, problem, or task rather than a Generalization, generalized solution ...

'' collection of R&B musicians – initially with

Todd Hunter Todd Stuart Hunter NOTE: Requires user to input song title, e.g. POLITICS (born 22 June 1951) is a New Zealand musician and composer known for his involvement in the band Dragon. Their best known songs are "April Sun in Cuba", " Are You Old En ...

on bass guitar and his brother Marc on vocals (both from

Dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

); John Watson on drums and

Kevin Borich Kevin Nicholas Borich (born 27 October 1948, Huapai, North Island, New Zealand) is a New Zealand-born Australian guitarist and singer-songwriter. He was the mainstay of the La De Da's, the leader of Kevin Borich Express, and a founding member of ...

on lead guitar (both Kevin Borich Express). A later line-up included Cocks with Dave Tice (ex-Buffalo) on vocals and Mark Evans (ex-

AC/DC AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock and Heavy metal music, heavy metal, although the band calls it simply "rock and roll". They are cited as a formativ ...

, Finch) on guitar. In the mid-1990s Cocks, Evans and Tice performed as an acoustic blues trio in Sydney pubs and clubs. In late 1981, Rose Tattoo, with Cocks, returned to Australia from a tour of Europe and began work on their third album, ''Scarred for Life''. In 1982, before recording commenced, Cocks had left to join

and was replaced by Robin Riley on guitar. In 1980 Heaven was a heavy metal band formed in Sydney, they had issued a debut album, ''Twilight of Mischief''. In May 1982 Cocks replaced John Haese on guitar and the group toured the United States' West Coast supporting

Mötley Crüe Mötley Crüe is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Hollywood, California, in 1981 by bassist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee, with guitarist Mick Mars and lead vocalist Vince Neil joining right after. The band has sol ...

and Dio. They relocated to Los Angeles and recorded a second album for RCA during 1983, ''Where Angels Fear to Tread'', which spawned the single, "Rock School". In September 1983 Cocks "had been ousted from Heaven" to be replaced by Evans. In November 1984, Cocks re-joined his ex-Rose Tattoo bandmates, Rilen, Leach, Royall and Wells to form Illustrated Men – with Rilen handling lead vocals – which toured Australia. The group "played loud, barnstorming rock'n'roll in the Rose Tattoo tradition. Most of the songs in the band's repertoire had been written by Rilen". By mid-1985 Illustrated Men had disbanded. From 1990, Anderson attempted to reform Rose Tattoo with Cocks but the death of Royall in 1991 of cancer stalled the process. In 1993, Rose Tattoo reunited, with Cocks and new drummer Paul DeMarco, to support

on the Australian leg of their

Use Your Illusion Tour The Use Your Illusion Tour was a concert tour by American rock band Guns N' Roses which ran from January 20, 1991, to July 17, 1993. It was not only the band's longest tour, but one of the longest concert tours in rock history, consisting of 19 ...

. However, the reunion was short-lived and the band's members returned to other projects. Cocks had been a member of Pete Wells Heart Attack (1995) and the

. Rose Tattoo reconvened in 1998 as Cocks, Anderson, Wells, Rilen and DeMarco, and undertook an Australian tour. The following year Rilen was replaced by Leach again but Cocks left soon after. In 2003, Cocks rejoined Rose Tattoo to write tracks with Anderson which were recorded for a future album, ''Blood Brothers''. Sessions were disrupted by Wells' illness and eventual death of

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...

on 27 March 2006, four years after his initial diagnosis. At this time Cocks was also a member of Doomfoxx. On 16 August 2006, Rose Tattoo were inducted into the

(ARIA)

. On 30 October 2006, Rilen died from

bladder cancer Bladder cancer is the abnormal growth of cells in the bladder. These cells can grow to form a tumor, which eventually spreads, damaging the bladder and other organs. Most people with bladder cancer are diagnosed after noticing blood in thei ...

two months after his appearance at the Hall of Fame ceremony. On 21 April 2007,

, briefly a bass guitarist for Rose Tattoo, died of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...

Death

In April 2009, Cocks was diagnosed with

, manager Steve White stated, "Mick ... is now under the advice of the very best doctors in Sydney. Treatment plans are underway and eis in good spirits and ready for a fight". In July, a benefit concert with Rose Tattoo,

Jimmy Barnes James Dixon Barnes ( Swan; born 28 April 1956) is an Australian rock singer. His career, both as a solo performer and as the lead vocalist with the rock band Cold Chisel, has made him one of the most popular and best-selling Australian music a ...

You Am I You Am I are an Australian power pop band, fronted by its lead singer-songwriter and guitarist, Tim Rogers. They formed in December 1989 and are the first Australian band to have released three successive albums that have each debuted at the ...

Ian Moss Ian Richard Moss (born 20 March 1955) is an Australian rock musician from Alice Springs. He is the founding mainstay guitarist and occasional singer of Cold Chisel. In that group's initial eleven year phase from 1973 to 1984, Moss was recorded ...

and

The Screaming Jets The Screaming Jets are an Australian hard rock band formed in Newcastle, New South Wales from the band Aspect formed in high school by Grant, Dave, Frank Manitta and Grant Wiltshire (deceased) in 1984 which Paul Woseen was also a later member o ...

played at the

Enmore Theatre The Enmore Theatre is a theatre and entertainment venue in Enmore, New South Wales, Australia. It was built in 1908. It is located at 118–132 Enmore Road in Newtown, in the inner west of Sydney's suburbs. It was first opened in 1912 as a ph ...

in Sydney to raise money for Cocks. Mick Cocks died from liver cancer on 22 December 2009, aged 54. He was the fifth member of Rose Tattoo to die of cancer and was survived by his partner, Mary.

Discography

Albums

;

* ''

'' – (1978,

Albert Productions Albert Productions, a division of music publishing and recording company Albert Music, is one of Australia's longest established independent record labels to specialise in rock and roll music. The label was founded in 1963 by Ted Albert, wh ...

) * '' Assault & Battery'' – (1981, Albert Productions) * ''Blood Brothers'' – (2007) ;

* ''Bent'' – (1982) * ''Where Angels Fear to Tread'' – (1983) ; Doomfoxx * ''Doomfoxx'' (2005)

Singles

;

* "Bad Boy for Love" (1977) * "Rock 'N' Roll Outlaw" (1978) * "One of the Boys" (1978) * "Realise Legalise" (1980) * "Rock 'N' Roll Is King" (1981) * "Out of This Place" (1981) ;

* "Rock School"(1983) ;The Headhunters: * "I Believe I'm Love"(1986)

References

;General * Note: Archived n-linecopy has limited functionality. ;Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:Cocks, Mick 1955 births 2009 deaths Australian heavy metal guitarists Musicians from Sydney Deaths from cancer in New South Wales Deaths from liver cancer in Australia 20th-century Australian musicians 20th-century Australian guitarists Rose Tattoo members