'Joe Cocker was my younger brother – I want to make sure he’s not forgotten'

Vic Cocker, 84, said he was delighted that the rock and blues star - ranked among Rolling Stone's 100 greatest singers of all time - will be honoured at a ceremony in Los Angeles in November.

The award follows a campaign by Paul McCartney – who was a huge fan of Cocker whose most famous hits include Feelin' Alright? and With a Little Help From My Friends and who died in 2014.

Vic Cocker, 84, who grew up with Joe in Sheffield, said: “I think it’s wonderful, this recognition – it’s been 10 years since Joe died but his music lives on.

"It's great to see all these fans who voted for him and musicians who supported him as well, including Sir Paul McCartney, who got him into the Hall of Fame.

“I’m really delighted. It means a tremendous amount, because I just want to keep Joe’s name alive really, the flame.

“Keep his talent and all the great music he left to us alive. This gives a great boost to his name. He made 22 albums in total and there’s some great music on there. I’ve really been pleased to see just how many fans have come out of the woodwork to support him.

“They’re all still out there and they see him as a unique artist, really.”

Vic remembered young Joe as a ‘slightly rambunctious boy’ who turned out to be a ‘great performer’ – recalling when he got up on stage to perform with him aged just 12 years old.

He said: “It really turned him on, getting up on stage and performing. We had a little skiffle group, as most people did in those days. I was three and a half years older than Joe.

“He came along to the local Walkley Reform Institute and I was playing the washboard, and then one of the band invited Joe on stage to come up and sing.

“He was only 12 or 13 at the time, but he obviously had a good voice, although it hadn’t matured then. He obviously really loved performing. Being his older brother I didn’t necessarily appreciate fully what he had then, but it soon came apparent and it wasn’t that long before he had his own band.”

The brothers would listen to pop music on Radio Luxembourg, which played music by singers including Elvis, Joe E. Lewis, and Gene Vincent.

Joe then went to technical college to complete a plumbing and gas fitting course before becoming an apprentice gas fitter with the East Midlands Gas Board.

Vic, meanwhile, went down the academic route – attending Nottingham University and completing a degree in economics – realising he didn’t have the talent that Joe had.

All the while, Joe was practising music with his friends in the family’s back room and playing music in Sheffield pubs.

His parents, civil servant father Harold and shopworker mother Madge, were supportive of his creative endeavours.

Vic said: “We were supportive, my mum loved it – my dad, not so much. He had a lovely tenor voice, but he loved the more classical stuff and popular classics. He loved the tenors: Caruso, Mario Lanza, and all that.”

He added: “I didn’t have the talent that Joe did. Joe had exceptional talent. I realised you needed to be outstanding to get on in the music business. It’s not easy. He had many ups and downs in his fantastic career.”

Living in Colorado in his later years, Joe sadly passed away from lung cancer in 2014, at the age of 70.

Vic said: “Although the picture is often painted of some of the more difficult times he had, he was actually a very happy man. He managed to achieve just about everything he wanted to do in his life, that’s what he told me when sadly he got cancer.

“He felt fulfilled. I sort of feel almost a responsibility to make sure that he’s not forgotten.”