Up-and-coming producer Lisa Saltzman has acquired the feature film rights to Joe Cocker's upcoming biography Joe Cocker: With a Lot of Help from His Friends, which arrives on November 16.
The late UK-based rocker was perhaps best known for his hit covers of the Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends" and regular Beatles contributor Billy Preston's "You Are So Beautiful," but he also won a Grammy for his original track "Up Where We Belong," and continued to release music until 2012 before dying of lung cancer in 2014.
"Joe Cocker's story is one of ambition, talent, attainment, debilitating self-esteem, self-destruction, redemption and finally joy, set in the most exciting and colourful era of popular music. Joe was a unique talent," Saltzman said in a statement.
"As a singer, Cocker's gritty bluesy rock voice and distinctive performances rendered him a true original. He lived a bigger-than-life existence, and the film Joe Cocker: With a Little Help from My Friends will show the high points, the low points, the frustrations, crippling battles with his demons, and finally the exhilaration of a life successfully lived."
For her part, Saltzman has been busy buying up rights to several biopics in the music world of late, including those of late country singer Glen Campbell and the Bee Gees' youngest brother Andy Gibb.
The late UK-based rocker was perhaps best known for his hit covers of the Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends" and regular Beatles contributor Billy Preston's "You Are So Beautiful," but he also won a Grammy for his original track "Up Where We Belong," and continued to release music until 2012 before dying of lung cancer in 2014.
"Joe Cocker's story is one of ambition, talent, attainment, debilitating self-esteem, self-destruction, redemption and finally joy, set in the most exciting and colourful era of popular music. Joe was a unique talent," Saltzman said in a statement.
"As a singer, Cocker's gritty bluesy rock voice and distinctive performances rendered him a true original. He lived a bigger-than-life existence, and the film Joe Cocker: With a Little Help from My Friends will show the high points, the low points, the frustrations, crippling battles with his demons, and finally the exhilaration of a life successfully lived."
For her part, Saltzman has been busy buying up rights to several biopics in the music world of late, including those of late country singer Glen Campbell and the Bee Gees' youngest brother Andy Gibb.
