Bruce Cockburn

Bruce Cockburn is the rare songwriter I'd call essential rather than merely accomplished. Berklee-trained and fluent across folk, jazz-tinged rock, and spoken soundscapes, he could have settled into comfortable craftsmanship. Instead he turned his lyrics toward human rights, the environment, and what he witnessed firsthand in Central America and Africa. That moral seriousness, sustained across a career now spanning six decades and rewarded with the Order of Canada and multiple Juno Awards, is what elevates him for me. He treats music not as escape but as a way of asking hard questions of the world, and I deeply admire that integrity.

Name (English)

Bruce Cockburn

Name (Japanese)

ブルース・コックバーン

Reading

ぶるーす・こっくばーん

Born

May 27, 1945 (age 81)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Gemini / Rooster

Origin

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Occupation

singer-songwriter / guitarist / singer / songwriter / musicologist

High school

Nepean High School

University

Berklee College of Music

Awards & achievements

• 2002 Officer of the Order of Canada
• Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame
• Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal
• Governor General's Performing Arts Award
• 1971 Juno Award for Folk Artist of the Year
• 1972 Juno Award for Folk Artist of the Year
• 1973 Juno Award for Folk Artist of the Year
• 1980 Juno Award for Folk Artist of the Year

• Official sitehttps://brucecockburn.com/
• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce%20Cockburn
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%96%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B9%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B3%E3%83%90%E3%83%BC%E3%83%B3
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q773830

Tags

• Ontario
• singer-songwriter
• guitarist
• singer

Last updated

2026-06-21

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.