Cochrane’s still small town despite ‘Big League’ success

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Posted By Mark Gentili

Posted 1 month ago

What is perhaps most surprising about Tom Cochrane is that the man likes to talk. Ask him question and off he goes. Feed him a topic and he'll chat your ear off.

Saying a celebrity (and Cochrane certainly is one) is "down-to-earth" is one of the great clichés of stardom, but in the case of Tom Cochrane it applies. He doesn't act like the Grammy-nominated, JUNO-winning, Canadian Music Hall of Famer that he is.

There is a 'Canadian-ness' about the man that in a way stands at odds with the international success he has had. "Mad Mad World", the 1991 album that birthed his best known tune (at least outside the Land of Maple Leaf) "Life Is A Highway", sold one million copies in Canada alone, and another five million or so internationally.

In virtually every city in North America, he could draw a crowd. He could play stadiums should he choose (and still does), but he also chooses to hit the small towns because, in his mind, that is where Canada lives.

"I love it (playing small shows). They call them 'secondary markets' — I hate that term," he said in a July 19 interview. "[Small towns] define Canada."

And it is a Canada he has chronicled in tunes like the seminal "Big League", a song about small town boys who dream of playing hockey in the NHL, a song that seems made for Northern Ontario.

"...not many ways out of this cold northern town

You work in the mill and get laid in the ground

If you're gonna jump it will be with the game

Real fast and tough is the only clear lane

To the Big League."

Cochrane himself is from a cold northern town. Born in the nickel-mining community of Lynn Lake, Manitoba, the 57-year-old sold his train set at the age of 11 in order to buy a guitar. You could say the rest is history, but that would be another celebrity cliché.

Cochrane paid his dues. Like any could Canadian with dreams of stardom, he headed for Los Angeles in the 1970s and found a job writing the theme music for call girl Xaviera Hollander's film "My Pleasure Is My Business".

This dubious honour under his belt and little else to show for his time down there, he headed back to Toronto, drove a cab and continued to write music. The catalyst for success came in 1978 when he hooked up with the band Red Rider.

That is where the history really kicks in. Tom Cochrane and Red Rider released six studio albums in the 1980s and became stars in Canada until their break-up. He embarked on a solo career in 1991 that made him an international star.

But it is in this country that he feels most at home.

"I particularly like playing in Canada," he said. "I've had success in the States, but I've got white and red etched on my soul."

He said his success all comes down to hard work, and a simple philosophy.

"I'm not a Cancon poster boy," Cochrane said. "(Because) it doesn't matter how good you are at what you do, it's how you stand and deliver."

Standing and delivering is something he has done and continues to do. The difference is that now he can choose where to do that standing and delivering, and he often chooses to do it in small towns like Kapuskasing, where he played on Saturday night to an enthusiastic crowd.

That's something he never gets tired of.

"There is a give and take between the audience and the performer," Cochrane said. "And that's what keeps me going."

Dividing his time between a cottage on the shores of Georgian Bay and a home in Austin, Texas, Cochrane is at the point in his career where he can pretty much do as he pleases. He's paid his dues.

"I [play] enough that it's fun…it's not just punching a clock," he said.

And when he's not on a stage, Cochrane can often be found on the ice, shooting the puck around with his dog. He gave up organized hockey four years ago after breaking his ribs in a playoff game, but still loves to strap on the skates.

And that perhaps is the essence of Tom Cochrane, and the secret to his massive success.

He is like any good Canadian boy, at home with his blades carving the ice beneath his feet, and dreams of the Big League in his mind.

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