Joe Cocker dead at 70

BY David Boroff NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Legendary "With A Little Help from My Friends" singer Joe Cocker has died at age 70 after a long battle with lung cancer, Sony Music said in a statement Monday. 


The British-born crooner died at his home in Colorado.
“It will be impossible to fill the space he leaves in our hearts,” his agent Barrie Marshall told the BBC.

Fotos International/Getty Images Joe Cocker performs at the Woodstock Music Festival in Bethel, N.Y.

Cocker rose to fame in the 1960s and recorded 40 albums while touring into his 60s. His rendition of the Beatles' "With ALittle Help From My Friends" at Woodstock is widely considered one of the best live performances ever.

"With A Little Help from My Friends" vaulted to No. 1 and lifted Cocker to stardom. The song later became the theme for the wildly popular television series "The Wonder Years."
 
He won a Grammy for "Up Where We Belong," a 1982 duet with Jennifer Warnes, which was the theme song for the Richard Gere hit movie "An Officer and a Gentleman." 

Other Joe Cocker hits include "Feelin' Alright,""You Are So Beautiful" and "Unchain My Heart."

Cocker was knighted by Queen Elizabeth for his music achievements.
 
The Sheffield, England, native had a No. 1 album in Germany last year and performed in concert for the final time in Hammersmith, London, in June, the BBC reported. He had moved to tiny Crawford, Colo., in the early 1990s.
 
Some of Cocker's friends gathered Monday at Colorado radio station KVNF to play his songs.

David Wolff - Patrick/Redferns via Getty Images