James Ray "Bud" Cockrell (March 28, 1950 – March 6, 2010) was an American musician and singer-songwriter, best known as the original bassist and one of the lead vocalists for the San Francisco-based California rock band Pablo Cruise.[1] Cockrell was in the band at its inception in 1973, but left in 1977 before its most successful album, Worlds Away, to form a duo (Cockrell & Santos) with his wife and former It's a Beautiful Day bandmate, Pattie Santos. He was replaced by bassist Bruce Day.
He was born James Ray Cockrell in the Mississippi Delta where his father, Corbet Cockrell, and his uncle, Clint, taught him to play the guitar and bass guitar. Cockrell and his father played in bars throughout the Delta. His mother, Shugg Roncali, and his sisters Dottie, Rita, and Stephanie, still live in the region. Cockrell married Pattie Santos, and left Pablo Cruise to work with her in creating their own album, Cockrell & Santos. Santos was killed in a car crash near Geyserville in Sonoma County, California[2] on December 14, 1989.[3]
Cockrell also did a brief stint as the singer with Sons of Champlin from 1977 to 1978 in between his work with Cockrell & Santos.
Cockrell wrote many of the songs performed by his bands. He was known as the "Rock and Roller" but also played blues and country music.
He spent his last years living in the Delta on dialysis, where he died on March 6, 2010, due to complications of diabetes.[4]
Discography
It's A Beautiful Day...Today (It's a Beautiful Day, Columbia Records, 1973)
