Eddie Cochran

American rock and roll musician from Minnesota, born 1938. One of the most influential guitarists of the original rock and roll era — his rhythm playing on Summertime Blues and C'mon Everybody defined the vocabulary of rock guitar before most players had picked up an instrument. He played a Gretsch 6120 hollow-body through a Magnatone amplifier. Died in a car crash in England in 1960 at age twenty-one while on tour. Marc Bolan, the Beatles, and Brian Setzer all cited him as a direct influence.