Fred "Big Daddy" Cockfield holds down the bottom end with the band
Latigo lace on fretted
and fretless six string bass.
Fred was born in Florence, South Carolina on June 26, 1952 and graduated from Lake City high
school, Lake City, S.C. He also attended Florence-Darlington Technical College in
Florence, S.C. and received an Associate Degree in Electronic Engineering. Activities in
school included chorus and band where he played first chair flute from age ten through his
senior year.
Fred’s first band was The Epitome of
Sound, where he was featured as vocalist and lead guitarist. He began playing bass, flute
and singing professionally in 1969 and toured with many regional and national acts
including The Drifters, Clifford Curry, Brian Hyland, Jerry Butler, Percy Sledge and Wayne
Cochran.
His musical influences include Jaco
Pastorius, James Jamerson, Noel Redding, Paul McCartney, Stanley Clarke, Ron Carter,
Victor Wooten, Mark Egan, Dave Pomeroy, Glenn Worf, David Hungate and far too many others
to mention here.
Fred founded the Academy Of Music in
Bellevue, Washington in 1982 and soon became an adjunct faculty member at Seattle Pacific
University. He is a contributing writer for the
Experience Hendrix
magazine and is the Bass Guitar
Forum Manager for The Microsoft Network (MSN). He continues to teach a full complement of
students at the
Donn
Bennett Music School in Bellevue, WA. |
In 1994, he authored his first bass
instruction book---"Power Tools for 4,5 & 6 String Bass"
which is distributed by the
Hal Leonard Corporation. "Power Tools for 4,5
& 6 String Bass" is now included in the curriculum at Shoreline Community
College in North Seattle. In 1997,
Mel Bay Publications released Fred’s second book,
"Power
Tools for Guitar"---co-written with Queensryche guitarist, Michael Wilton.
Both of these books are available from Academy of Music Publications at
1-800-881-2040. Mel Bay release Fred’s newest books, "Power
Tools for 4 String Bass" in the winter of 2000 and "Power Tools for
Walking Bass" and "Power Tools for 5 String Bass" in the year
2001.
Fred is married to Lisa Wood and they live in
Bothell, WA with their two cats, Cinderella and Jezebel. |
