Three Steps to Heaven : Hal Leonard : 9780634032523 : 0634032526 : 04 May 2003 : (Book). Outrageously talented, remarkably handsome, internationally renowned, and dead at the age of 21. More than 40 years after the tragic car crash that killed him, Eddie Cochran remains one of rock and roll's most lamented "What Ifs." A trailblazing guitarist, gifted vocalist, hit-making composer and arranger, and budding whiz-kid producer, Cochran quickly ascended from Midwestern obscurity in the late '50s to become one of nascent rock and roll's leading lights. He penned or recorded many of the most recognized songs in rock history "Summertime Blues," "Nervous Breakdown," "Somethin' Else," "C'mon Everybody," "Twenty Flight Rock," "Sittin' in the Balcony" songs whose distinctive sound and defiant, often wryly humorous lyrics have been eagerly digested, analyzed and lovingly reinterpreted by generations of rockers after him, from The Beatles to the Sex Pistols, The Who to U2. Three Steps to Heaven