Tom Cochrane

Juno Award winner Tom Cochrane first drew notice during the 1980s as frontman for the Canadian rock outfit Red Rider, whose original lineup also featured guitarist Ken Greer, drummer Rob Baker, keyboardist Peter Boynton, and bassist Jeff Jones. The group issued multiple albums that earned strong critical and fan response. Entering the following decade, Cochrane shifted focus to a busy solo path marked by extensive touring throughout Canada and growing acceptance south of the border, yielding several releases and notable successes including the hit single “Life Is a Highway.” This rapid recognition rested on a foundation of early effort that began in childhood with his initial songwriting attempts.

Born in 1953 in the Manitoba mining community of Lynn Lake, Cochrane relocated with his family to Ontario while still preschool age. There he composed his first song at eleven and acquired his first guitar before reaching his teens. Upon reaching legal age for bar entry, he secured regular performing work in those venues. In 1974 he inked a deal with Daffodil Records for his debut album, Hang on to Your Resistance, which failed to register commercially, an outcome attributed more to insufficient promotion than to the material itself. Undeterred, he continued taking whatever live work was available while supporting himself through day jobs that included dishwasher, taxicab driver, and delivery man.

By 1980, accumulated experience led to his appointment as lead singer for Red Rider. That year the band issued its debut album, Don’t Fight It, which exceeded commercial expectations, attracted enthusiastic reviews, and produced the gold-certified single “White Hot.” Over the ensuing years Red Rider released more than half a dozen albums and scored several major hits, many penned by Cochrane. Internal conflicts surfaced by 1984 and soon dissolved the original configuration, yet the regrouped entity adopted the expanded name Tom Cochrane & Red Rider. In 1987 the act received a Juno Award for Group of the Year. By then Cochrane’s individual following had grown sufficiently for Capitol Records to reissue his earlier solo debut. He completed two further projects with the band: Victory Day in 1988 and The Symphony Session in 1989.

In 1991 Cochrane again pursued solo work with the acclaimed album Mad Mad World, whose impact extended from Canada into the United States. Switching to EMI for 1993’s Ashes to Diamonds: A Collection, he continued issuing full-length recordings through the decade, among them Ragged Ass Road, Songs of a Circling Spirit, and X-Ray Sierra. Two compilation sets, Anthology and Trapeze: The Collection, appeared in 2002, followed by No Stranger in 2006.