Song:Life Is A Highway
Album:Mad Mad World
In Canada, Tom Cochrane is in the Canadian Music Hall Of Fame and a member of the Order Of Canada. In the US, he's a one hit wonder for the 1991 top ten hit Life Is A Highway. This shows how tough it can be for Canadians to break into the US market even if they are successful in Canada. That's why I have never liked Canadian content (Cancon) regulations. It creates an artificial success and the Canadian market isn't big enough to support musicians. They need to break the US market. Cochrane was born May 14, 1953 in Lynn Lake, MB but he grew up in the Toronto suburb of Acton, ON and then Etobicoke in the west end of Toronto. After graduating high school, he started playing local clubs and he wrote the theme for the infamous Canadian film My Pleasure Is My Business which was about and starred Xaviera Hollander AKA The Happy Hooker. Then he signed with Daffodil Records and released the 1974 album Hang On To Your Resistance. That's when I first heard of him. It's a great album that's worth getting. But Daffodil was having financial problems and they closed. Cochrane joined Red Rider in 1978. They signed with Capitol. They had success in Canada but they were unable to break into the US market. Cochrane went solo in 1989. Mad Mad World was released in 1991. Life Is A Highway topped the Canadian charts and it reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. Mad Mad World is available as a budget CD and a 25th anniversary 2CD edition was recently released. The second CD is a live recording. It would turn out to be Cochrane's only big hit in the US. But he continues to record and tour in Canada. His latest CD Take It Home was released on Universal Canada in 2015. He is also known for his humanitarianism especially with World Vision in Africa. Life Is A Highway was inspired by one of Cochrane's many trips to Africa. He's in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, on Canada's Walk of Fame and a member of the Order of Canada for his philanthropy. Here's the video for Life Is A Highway by Tom Cochrane.
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