Hank Cochran

Biography Cochran was born on August 2, 1935, in Isola, Mississippi, during the Great Depression. By the time he turned three, Cochran already had pneumonia, whooping cough, measles, and mumps. The doctor feared he would not survive to adulthood. His parents divorced when he was nine years old. He then moved with his father to Memphis, Tennessee, and was placed in an orphanage. After running away twice, he then was sent to live with his grandparents, in Greenville, Mississippi. His uncle Otis Cochran taught him to play the guitar as the pair hitchhiked from Mississippi to southeastern New Mexico to work in the oilfields. After returning to Mississippi as a teenager, Cochran went to California and picked olives. While there, he formed the Cochran Brothers, a duo with Eddie Cochran.

In 2008, singer Lea Anne Creswell came to Cochran's home to choose songs for a new album, subsequently called Lea Anne Sings Hank Cochran and ....

Marriages Cochran was married five times. His fourth wife was country music vocalist Jeannie Seely. They were married 10 years and divorced in 1979. In 1982, he married his fifth wife Suzi and they were married until his death in 2010.

Death Cochran had surgery for pancreatic cancer in July 2008. In April 2010, he had a second surgery to remove and repair a grapefruit-sized aortic aneurysm. His health did not improve, and he died on July 15, 2010, at the age of 74.

Tributes In October 2012, singer Jamey Johnson released Living for a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran, featuring his renditions of 16 Cochran compositions.

Awards and honors Awards and honors include:

20

23

1963

25

1967

70

91

77 1980

57