Before his death at age 21 in 1960, Eddie Cochran recorded raucous rockers like “Summertime Blues,” “C’mon Everybody,” “Somethin’ Else,” and several other hits that helped shape the sound of pop music in the decades that followed. A new documentary, Don’t Forget Me, set to premiere at London’s Raindance Film Festival on June 26 examines Cochran’s lasting influence.
“We all wanted to be Eddie,” Keith Richards says in the trailer for the film, which combines interviews with talking heads alongside rare archival footage and reconstructions of famous moments. Alice Cooper, Rod Stewart, Sting, Ronnie Wood, Roger Daltrey, John Waters, Billy Idol, and Yungblud all make appearances in the documentary. It also features commentary from family members. “For the whole family, Eddie was the baby and our precious one,” Cochran’s sister, Pat Hickey, says. Admirer Yungblud comments in the clip, “There ain’t no punk rock without Eddie Cochran.”
The Cochran family worked with filmmaker Kirsty Bell (A Bird Flew In, Quant) on the picture, which was supported by both the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and record label Universal Music Enterprises. “It has been the deepest honor to be entrusted by Eddie Cochran’s family to tell his story,” Bell said in a statement. “His life burned fast and bright, but the ripples of his sound reached across oceans and decades, shaping the very language of rock & roll. Don’t Forget Me is not just the title of this film: It is Eddie’s own plea, echoed in autograph books and in the lives he touched. My hope is to bring him vividly back into the world’s consciousness, to remind us not only of what we lost, but of the brilliance he gave.”
When the film, which is produced by Goldfinch Entertainment, gets its Raindance premiere on the festival’s closing night, Cochran will be recognized with a posthumous Raindance Icon Award, according to Variety. The award will later be displayed at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.