Cochran was involved with music from an early age, playing in the school band and teaching himself to play blues guitar.
In 1954, he formed a duet with the guitarist Hank Cochran (no relation).
When they split the following year, Eddie began a songwriting career with Jerry Capehart.
His first success came when he performed the song "Twenty Flight Rock" in the film The Girl Can't Help It, starring Jayne Mansfield.
Soon afterward, he signed a recording contract with Liberty Records and his first record for the label, "Sittin' in the Balcony", rose to number 18 on the Billboard charts.
Cochran died at the age of 21 in St Martin's Hospital, Bath, Somerset, after a car accident in Chippenham, Wiltshire, at the end of his British tour with Gene Vincent in April 1960. On April 16, after they had just performed at the Bristol Hippodrome, on their way to their next venue, Vincent, Cochran and the songwriter Sharon Sheeley were involved in a high-speed traffic accident in a private-hire taxi. The other two passengers survived with major injuries, but Cochran, who had been thrown from the vehicle, suffered serious brain injuries and died the next day.
Though Cochran's best-known songs were released during his lifetime, more of his songs were released posthumously. In 1987, Cochran was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His songs have been recorded by a wide variety of recording artists. Paul McCartney himself chose Cochran's "Twenty Flight Rock" as his audition piece, assured to impress John Lennon by his performance of it, which he did and was hired as a member of Lennon's skiffle group The Quarrymen, which later was renamed The Beatles.
Cochran was born on October 3, 1938, in Albert Lea, Minnesota, to Alice and Frank R. Cochran. He was of Scottish descent.
Cochran's parents were from Oklahoma. Cochran took music lessons in school but quit the band to play drums. Additionally, rather than taking piano lessons, he began learning guitar, playing country and other music he heard on the radio.
In 1952, Cochran's family moved to Bell Gardens, California. As his guitar playing improved, Cochran formed a band with two friends from his junior high school. In January 1955, Cochran dropped out of Bell Gardens High School in his first year to become a professional musician.
During a show featuring many performers at an American Legion hall, Cochran met Hank Cochran, a songwriter. Although they were not related, they recorded as the Cochran Brothers and began performing together.
They recorded a few singles for Ekko Records that were fairly successful and helped to establish them as a performing act.
Eddie Cochran also worked as a session musician and began writing songs, making a demo with Jerry Capehart, his future manager.
