Radio de Tom Cochrane

Tom Cochrane, O.C. (born May 14, 1953) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and musician, whose story-telling songs have earned him the nickname "The thinking man's rocker." His music has been critically referred to as the "soundtrack to a mid-life crisis". His best known song is the hit single "Life Is a Highway" which peaked at #6 on the US Billboard charts in 1992 and was a number one hit in his native Canada. The track also hit #1 in Australia where Cochrane has a very loyal following. He still remains a major act in his home country. Cochrane was born in Lynn Lake, Manitoba to Violet and Tuck Cochrane, a bush pilot. The family relocated to Etobicoke, Ontario in the West Deane Park area when Tom was four years old. He purchased his first guitar at age 11 by selling a toy train set. He attended Martingrove Collegiate Institute in the 1960s. In the early 1970s, he was performing in coffee houses across Canada. He eventually made his way to Los Angeles where he found a job writing theme music for My Pleasure is My Business, a Xaviera Hollander movie. Unable to find steady income from music, Cochrane returned to Toronto where he drove a taxi cab and later took a job on a Caribbean cruise liner to help pay the bills. Cochrane went back to Los Angeles in 1976, trying to sell his songs to publishers but without success, and returned to Toronto in 1977. Cochrane walked into the El Mocambo club one night in Toronto and came across a band of locals calling themselves Red Rider. After an audition, they agreed to Cochrane joining the band as lead singer and songwriter, a decision that would change their musical careers.