By Bob Price

Rock and roll icon Joe Cocker, a singer whose legacy spanned nearly 50 years, has died at his home in Colorado after a long battle with lung cancer. He was 70 years old.

Cocker began his rise to stardom in the 1960’s, and his career skyrocketed after his legendary performance of the Beatles song ‘With A Little Help from My Friends’ at the Woodstock music festival in 1969.

Cocker won a Grammy award for performing the theme song to the movie ‘And Officer and a Gentleman’ in 1982. Other popular hits include ‘Unchain My Heart’ and ‘You Are So Beautiful’. Cocker said, “So you can call it luck or whatever, but I mean I was fortunate enough to sort of have one of those songs come along each decade. I have ‘You Are So Beautiful’ in the ‘70s, ‘A Little Help [From My Friends]’ in the ‘60s and ‘Unchain My Heart.’ So these songs just by a fluke came along, and they’ve sort of stuck in people. You know, I think that’s why I’ve been able to keep going so long.” Rolling Stone magazine has listed him as one of the Top 100 Singers of All Time.

He performed his final concert in London in June, 2014.