Teen Angels
Eddie Cochran and gene Vincent were bright lights in rock and roll’s golden age. Though Neither one of them got to shine for long.
At nineteen, Cochran was writing and singing penny bright sides like “Summertime Blues” and “Twenty Flight Rock.” Vincent, melding country and urban styles sang hits like the slinky “Be-Bop-A-Lula,” and the boogie-woogie tinged “Lotta Lovin.”
They were nipping at Elvis Presley’s heels with the great songs and smoldering stage postures that might have earned them a piece of the king’s crown. They never got the chance.
On the way to a show in England their cab crashed. Cochran was taken to the hospital where he died two days later. Vincent was crippled for life and ended his career wracked with pain and in the grip of alcoholism. He passed away in 1971.
But like so many others who were gone too soon, they rock on.
